Building a trailer to store backhoe.

[tractchores]

I would recommend making something like this: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/236155-bh65-backhoe-dolly-build.html

I did it for my bh65 and it's held up well for over a year now. If you don't have a paved surface you could try using bigger wheels to better roll / support it. I move mine around my garage all the time and all implements have dolly's so that I can store them in close quarters and then pull them out when I want one.

 

[ljames]

Your BHoe is a lot shorter than mine. Mine is about 12' long from bucket to the front of the frame that locks into the underside of the tractor. Also yours is probably lighter than mine. I will need bigger wheels because I need to move it around the back yard. Another thing is building it out of lumber. I built a dolly out of 2x10s & 2x12s to store my snow plow on during the summer in the back yard because I didn't want it out front in the driveway. It was on 4 - 10" casters first, then 12" casters; two of each size got wrecked pulling around it around the yard. (This is probably a whole separate thread on these forums). It's good that your dolly works well for you; it's a simple solution. I have a 3 point 64" snowblower and a 60" box blade each stored on a Hrbr Freight 40" x 48" trailer which works well; but they are 1/2 the weight & length of the BHoe and easy to pick up with the FEL. These trailers are inexpensive if you buy them with a 25% off coupon. I am trying to do this as cheap as possible and still have a reliable piece of equipment. I don't really want to pay for a custom built trailer.

 

[Sysop]

I'm thinking about something similar to transport my backhoe. I've not put anything on paper yet, but I've had the tape measure out and have ideas in my head. What I've got thus far would be made similar to a "tow dolly" used for cars; the type you drive the front wheels up on, strap down, and tow. I would have some suspension under it unlike a tow-dolly, and there would be room under my hoe for the suspension without issue. Basically though, it would just be an axle with springs hooked to some bits of framework with a somewhat long tongue.

How I see it working is to back it up under the backhoe, set the stabilizers down on framed up "stirrups" mounted directly behind the wheel/fender of the trailer, set the bucket down on a stirrup up on the tongue. Pull the pins and get it loose from the tractor but leave the hydraulics connected for a moment. Lower the hoe to the trailer frame with the stabilizers (they would need folded up or the fenders would need to support them the way things measure out on my hoe and a standard cheap axle I had laying around), there would be sections of channel frame the backhoe mainframe would lower into to rest. Tie the bucket down to the stirrup made for it up on the tongue, then use the backhoe arm curl to drag the mainframe of the backhoe a few inches further up onto the trailer above the axle and tie it down. Disconnect the tractor hydraulics and off you go.

Another thought I had rather than sliding the mainframe forward onto the axle of the trailer was to have a "hitch receiver" somehow mounted at the back of the trailer that I could slide a piece of subframe into for supporting the end of the hoe mainframe. That seemed too much like manual labor though. The hoe shouldn't have any issues dragging and pushing the hoe mainframe in the channels to shift the weight up onto the axle.