Re: Bobcat has arrived
I've got a JCB165. Yup the one with the one arm and the side door.
When I purchased it I ordered an auger motor. Before you jump in just get one there are a couple of things I've learned.
The standard auger motor everyone offers is chain drive. That ain't good. I picked up the Lowes that requires thirty gallons per minute. It's direct drive.
My JCB only has fourteen gpm on the low side hydraulics but it has twenty eight on the high side.
I drill two foot holes in gumbo clay eight feet deep with no problems. I also drill twelve and sixteen inch holes down to twelve feet, again with no problems.
My augers I ordered as assemble yourselfers out of California. I threw away the thirty inch stems and replaced them with sixty inchers. My lowes came with the two inch hex coupling. So I ordered extra female couplings from the supplier in California.
This has allowed me to make adapters where I can use anyone elses augers. But it seems no one else can use mine. That's terrible.
I also allowed me to weld up a four and a half foot stem of two inch hex bar stock to use as an extension that fits inside my augers. That gives me the flexibility of going deeper while keeping the auger manageable for doing regular sized holes.
I use the pengo system for the business end. Most folks don't understand just how important sharp and full sixed teeth are.
All of mine are carbide tipped. I've even went so far as to pick up the silver solder and carbide pieces to do patterns I feel might be more efficient.
A couple of other attachements I've made for my JCB is a boom with a winch for setting poles, not posts, poles. I can set a forty foot telephone pole. I've also made my own backhoe attachment. Now that is one working son of a gun! I've designed my own little deally for moving trailers around the shop with the forks without putting anykind of a permanent modification to the forks. I've made my own concrete dispensing bucket which is real handy on the job. Another thing I've done which might not work on a bobcat or other two arm skid steer is I've added a half circle out of heavy stock to the regular bucket. This allows me to rock a telephone pole sized post or rail road tie. Then I slip this half circle down over the post and by rolling the bucket just right the post is grabbed and it can be lifted out.
The other day I was helping a guy load some debris on his trailer. In the pile was a telephone pole about sixteen feet long. I was able to approach the pole from the end. I put the blade under it and rolled the blade back until when I pushed forward the end of the pole slid into the half circle. I then picked the pole up with only about a foot sticking through the half circle and using the bucked rolled back I was able to load it upon his trailer end first.
I named my tractor Iris. I have some pictures of her at
http://photos.yahoo.com/wroughtnharv. She's a sweetheart. And yes she's a girl. I checked.
