Mowbizz
Platinum Member
Turns out to be a major P.I.T.A. (if ya know what I mean...
Zero instructions except an exploded diagram of the whole backhoe...have to search out the little bits and parts for the thumb and the parts needed are loose in a plastic bag. Altogether, too small of a diagram for these eyes to see well...
Okay...this can't be too difficult to figure out...finally getting the parts oriented correctly, and can visualize how it installs. No mention of having to remove an existing bucket pin
and replace with the retro-fitted one to hold the bottom end of the thumb...okay..now I see it!
Start pinning the parts together and find that the main pin for the top of the thumb (that's supposed to fit into the new BX25D welded on thumb bracket) and the pin won't even start to go into either those holes nor the one on the part that installs there...okay...what am I doing wrong?? Going over the tiny diagram again...hmmm...looks correct to me!!??
So I decide the pin is too large to enter the holes or the holes are too small for the pin...call the dealer and the guy says "oh, you need to hone out all the holes first."
Okay...figured it was something stupid like this...after all, the machine sits for who knows how long in the dealer's lot with the "holes" exposed to the weather. Make phone calls to several hardware and auto parts stores and Auto Zone has a drill type brake cylinder hone that will fit into the 1 inch hole...drive an hour round trip and return with my honing booty put it in the drill and commence to hone...
Never honed before so I don't know if I'm doing it right...oil? No oil? Anyway after an hour of honing just the one hole on the part that hangs from that welded on bracket and the pin still won't go in.
Decide the hone is a cheap chinese product (for $19.00 mind you) but it says "made in USA" on it...hmmm... Well I guess it's USA made junk.
Off to the basement for my Dremel kit. Happen to have a few of those tiny sanding drums and try one of these in the hole...removing some metal now...this should work! Pin still won't go in.
Now I'm looking at the pin to see if it has any burrs or imperfections on it. Nothing that I can see with the naked eye...put pin in vise and start using the Dremel on it...okay...forming a nice taper on the end and smoothing the
area around the hole drilled through the pin (where a small bolt secures it in place when installed) Steel wool the pin to smooth it out a bit and voila...one end of the pin can now start into the hole but only part way.
About another two hours of sanding, dremeling, honing and steel wooling both the hole and the pin and the pin now almost goes through all the way! Yay!
Good to go with the pin and the part...now back outside to start the whole process again with the holes on the welded on thumb bracket...another two hours of the same routine and I FINALLY can hang that damned part on the welded on thumb bracket! Yay. The rest must be cake! Find the correct orientation of that part because there are no instructions and there seems to be some interference with the part and the backhoe boom...figure that out and now to replace the bucket pin with the new pin and retainers. Old pin comes out slicker than snot...okay...now to pin the thumb on at the bucket end and not as easy as it looks as there are more things to line up than my two hands can handle...Call the GF to come outside...she jumps out of the shower and puts ona robe and comes to help...I give her some rubber gloves because I have grease smeared all over creation trying to line up the pin holes
and after a few minutes we come up with the right combination of swinging and lining up the holes and the pin goes in! Yay.
The rest of the install is just installing the new pin retainers. No problemo. I now have a greasy thumb installed!
I gotta tell ya...some of the folks on here that create these custom parts get all my respect. If the lowly mechanical thumb took me this long to install...I have to wonder about my abilities and tool collection...:laughing:
But...I did it with will and determination and a few hand tools and a lot of swearing...no thanks to Kubota and their seemingly, poor instructions and parts fit, etc.
I'll take pics tomorrow...
Zero instructions except an exploded diagram of the whole backhoe...have to search out the little bits and parts for the thumb and the parts needed are loose in a plastic bag. Altogether, too small of a diagram for these eyes to see well...
Okay...this can't be too difficult to figure out...finally getting the parts oriented correctly, and can visualize how it installs. No mention of having to remove an existing bucket pin
and replace with the retro-fitted one to hold the bottom end of the thumb...okay..now I see it!
Start pinning the parts together and find that the main pin for the top of the thumb (that's supposed to fit into the new BX25D welded on thumb bracket) and the pin won't even start to go into either those holes nor the one on the part that installs there...okay...what am I doing wrong?? Going over the tiny diagram again...hmmm...looks correct to me!!??
So I decide the pin is too large to enter the holes or the holes are too small for the pin...call the dealer and the guy says "oh, you need to hone out all the holes first."
Okay...figured it was something stupid like this...after all, the machine sits for who knows how long in the dealer's lot with the "holes" exposed to the weather. Make phone calls to several hardware and auto parts stores and Auto Zone has a drill type brake cylinder hone that will fit into the 1 inch hole...drive an hour round trip and return with my honing booty put it in the drill and commence to hone...
Never honed before so I don't know if I'm doing it right...oil? No oil? Anyway after an hour of honing just the one hole on the part that hangs from that welded on bracket and the pin still won't go in.
Decide the hone is a cheap chinese product (for $19.00 mind you) but it says "made in USA" on it...hmmm... Well I guess it's USA made junk.
Off to the basement for my Dremel kit. Happen to have a few of those tiny sanding drums and try one of these in the hole...removing some metal now...this should work! Pin still won't go in.
Now I'm looking at the pin to see if it has any burrs or imperfections on it. Nothing that I can see with the naked eye...put pin in vise and start using the Dremel on it...okay...forming a nice taper on the end and smoothing the
area around the hole drilled through the pin (where a small bolt secures it in place when installed) Steel wool the pin to smooth it out a bit and voila...one end of the pin can now start into the hole but only part way.
About another two hours of sanding, dremeling, honing and steel wooling both the hole and the pin and the pin now almost goes through all the way! Yay!
Good to go with the pin and the part...now back outside to start the whole process again with the holes on the welded on thumb bracket...another two hours of the same routine and I FINALLY can hang that damned part on the welded on thumb bracket! Yay. The rest must be cake! Find the correct orientation of that part because there are no instructions and there seems to be some interference with the part and the backhoe boom...figure that out and now to replace the bucket pin with the new pin and retainers. Old pin comes out slicker than snot...okay...now to pin the thumb on at the bucket end and not as easy as it looks as there are more things to line up than my two hands can handle...Call the GF to come outside...she jumps out of the shower and puts ona robe and comes to help...I give her some rubber gloves because I have grease smeared all over creation trying to line up the pin holes
and after a few minutes we come up with the right combination of swinging and lining up the holes and the pin goes in! Yay.
The rest of the install is just installing the new pin retainers. No problemo. I now have a greasy thumb installed!
I gotta tell ya...some of the folks on here that create these custom parts get all my respect. If the lowly mechanical thumb took me this long to install...I have to wonder about my abilities and tool collection...:laughing:
But...I did it with will and determination and a few hand tools and a lot of swearing...no thanks to Kubota and their seemingly, poor instructions and parts fit, etc.
I'll take pics tomorrow...
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