Connecting custom-made backhoe to iseki tx1500

marcelPL · Feb 25, 2019

I have this custom-made backhoe that came with my iseki tx1500.

From what i read on internet it is not a good thing to connect such a structure directly to the tractor.

Because the tx1500 does not have a frame ( it is just the connections between engine, tunnel, gearbox, and differential) the weight of such a thing on the back could easily break it in two.

I know that some users here actually have such construction installed. Does anybody have (detailed) photo's on this subframe, and how it is connected to the tractor?

thx, M.

chrismac · Feb 27, 2019

If you look here now its going to be hard to work it out but I will do my best for just now,

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/iseki/269494d1339780661-pto-shaft-tx1240-dscf7682-jpg

there is a blue frame, a flat curved flat bar attaching to the side of the weight frame, that runs to the back of the tractor, this can be any shape you choose as llong as its well fixed to the tractor, this supports the front loader that you dont have, but gives you an idea of some fixing points,,

here is a backhoe the same as above with clear pictures of the fixings,

COMPACT TRACTOR REAR BACKHOE DIGGER | eBay

scroll down the page to find it, as you can see there is not a lot holding it on, the main support it a approx 1 inch round bar that the backhoe slides into with
the long box sections running to approx the front of the foot plates where from memory they also attach to channel with hole drilled with the pins pointing upwards only loacting in the holes,

I would not worry too much about exact measurments, but can see how its easier to copy a previous design as I have done the same on other projects,

Without spending too much time with paint and so on, drawing arrows and such like, thats about help as I can give at the moment.

Chris

marcelPL · Feb 28, 2019

Ok super, thanks for the photo/link.

First of all i have to say i really love your tractor. This is one ready-for-battle piece of hardware. Especially the double wheels i like. I have a 2WD, the double rear wheels would be a great option to give it more grip. I will go looking for these. Also love your greenhouse

Second i have brought my little tractor to a Polish company that can install a front loader. I made some sketches of what i want them to make, because the iseki tx1500 is (for them) a real light-weight, and they are afraid even the front loader will break the tractor in two pieces. I will have to wait two weeks to actually see how they fixed it.

This weekend i am going to take this custom backhoe apart, to clean it, and if possible to correct some design mistakes that i have noticed. I will publish some photos after the weekend, i am always interested in getting some feedback, and maybe other people are interested in creating their own backhoe. If i look at this thing, it is really not so difficult and expensive, as long as you know how to weld

chrismac · Feb 28, 2019

Unfortunately I can not take credit for the tractor or green house, this is another forum members photo, the tractor is the same as mine, but I have not fitted/restored the loader or backhoe yet, if I ever will, it could be a money pit,

Chris

marcelPL · Mar 19, 2019

Chris, i read somewhere that you also have/had double wheels on your iseki. Can you explain or show how the outer wheels are connected to the 'normal' wheels?

The ground i'm working on is really bumpy and 'not straight' (horizontal), and getting double wheels would be a good way to prevent tipping over....

chrismac · Mar 19, 2019

Hi, the outer set of wheels were attached by basically 2 ring flanges with a length of pipe welded on to make the spacer, lengths of screwed rod running through the inner wheel to the outer wheel through the spacer flanges picking up additional holes drilled in the wheel centre (not the existing narrow PCD) on a larger diameter (PCD)

Hope that makes sense, it was a pretty crude method as proper dual wheels have a ring of steel which sits inside the wheel rim and are clamped/bolted hard with a solid fixings with no room for movement, all that held my dual wheels in place was how tight the long bolts were.

marcelPL · Mar 26, 2019

Chris, i did some research on giving this backhoe it's own hydraulic pro pump. I thought you might be interested.

I found i can buy a pto hydraulic pump for 700 zloty, roughly converted into 160 euro. The shop says it is a really good pump.

Connected to this, i can buy a 10 liter reservoir for about 100 zloty, converted into a bit less than 25 euro.

I think both prices are really good.

Maybe you are helped with this info?

chrismac · Mar 26, 2019

marcelPL said:
Chris, i did some research on giving this backhoe it's own hydraulic pro pump. I thought you might be interested.

I found i can buy a pto hydraulic pump for 700 zloty, roughly converted into 160 euro. The shop says it is a really good pump.

Connected to this, i can buy a 10 liter reservoir for about 100 zloty, converted into a bit less than 25 euro.

I think both prices are really good.

Maybe you are helped with this info?

Thanks for the info that interesting to know. Chris

shootemup604 · Mar 28, 2019

Depending on the capacity of the pump, you may need a bigger tank to minimize foaming and heat.

marcelPL · Mar 29, 2019

The pump i am looking at now has 15L/min. (my little tractor has 10L/min).

I know nothing about hydraulics. What would you think should be appropriate size of reservoir?

thx M.

shootemup604 · Mar 29, 2019

Rule of thumb for hydraulics is a reservoir that is at least three times the capacity of the pump. If you have a 15L/minute pump, you should have a 45L tank.

marcelPL · Apr 3, 2019

Ok thanks for the info, i didn't know that. It doesn't match my little iseki tx1500: 10L/min, and oil reservoir is 17liter.

I am hoping to keep the weight down on this backhoe for obvious reasons, so i will start looking for a 10L/min pump, and connect a 20 liter reservoir.

Thanks!

Dave M7040 · Apr 8, 2019

Some thoughts to share with you.

Owners of small tractors who chose to add a 3 pt hitch style backhoe to their tractors, often find the Hoe causes serious damage to the top link mount of the 3 pt hitch. It breaks off.....

Owners with small sub frame mounted backhoes have a much better experience re durability than the 3 pt hitch owners.

Dave M7040

marcelPL · Apr 9, 2019

Hi Dave,
I am aware of this problem. I actually bought my little iseki tx1500 without the 3-point hydraulics unit, but with a backhoe connected in a somewhat forced way, and some damage to the differential that shows breaking off. So i guess one of the previous owner(s) already had this experience.

I am equipping my tx1500 with a subframe, and then will adapt the backhoe in such a way that connecting and disconnecting will be more easy/flexible , and adding it's own hydraulics running through PTO so i don't have to fiddle with hydraulic connections of the tractor.

Thanks for sharing though.
M.

chrismac · Apr 10, 2019

Hi Marcel, how are you getting on with your sub frame, I have just returned from a 1000mile round trip to collect a backhoe similar to the one that was fitted to my tractor so if you needed some clear photos of the attachment method I can got those for you, my original backhoe is stored in the back of a barn at the moment and not very accessible, now with this one here in way better condition its clearer to see how it is fitted.

Chris

marcelPL · Apr 10, 2019

Haha Chris, nice of you to ask, so many things have happened here that i lost track. And 1000mile roundtrip? Where did you have to pick it up? And photo's of attachment would be great.

Anyway what happened here:
- my tractor went to get a FEL connected. I instructed these guys about the subframe that i wanted to have built/used to connect this FEL into the structure of the tractor
- building this FEL took forever, and in the waiting time i had a chance to buy very cheap a TX1300F tractor. This is a 4wd, and i really love it! So i bought it. So now i end up with a TX1500 2wd, including the FEL and the subframe, and the TX1300F 4wd, naked, but in really good shape.

The plan is to strip the FEL and subframe from the TX1500, and put this stuff onto the TX1300F. And then sell the TX1500 (maybe).

After this i will get back to connecting this backhoe onto the subframe that the people from the FEL have built. It looks really good.

Meanwhile i am working really hard with the 4wd to prepare my land for the growing season, building a greenhouse, plowing (?) the land and preparing it with some implement (glebogryzarka, don't know english name). Really love this iseki. I really have no clue how i managed in the time before i had this little tractor

here are some photo's:

The cat enjoying the traktor while i'm building the greenhouse (polish style) in the back

Moving some stuff on the land with the little trailer (?) i acquired. Saves a lot of time and physical work...

Using both my tractors when building the greenhouse.

my tx1500 2wd with the FEL connected coming home....

preparing ground around the new greenhouse with the tiller (??)

One of the older trees around my house died during last storm. Using little trailer to move parts after cutting for burning wood...

More tiller (?) on the 1300F.

marcelPL · Apr 29, 2019

Ok this weekend i started taking the sub-frame (build to connect a FEL to my iseki TX1500) from the tractor, in order to connect it to my TX1300F. In the time that i have it, i already found that this FEL really needs a 4wd to operate it.

The total device looks like this:

I removed the FEL bij disconnecting the hydraulics and taking the front part off, leaving only the subframe connected to the tractor. Then the subframe came off. This it what the construction looks like:

The guys that made this construction took their job pretty serious, it is a pretty solid construction, with in total 19 connections to the original tractor frame:
- 3 on the rear (middle), connected to the bottom of differential
- 4 on the rear (left and right) connected to the sides at the back of differential
- 4 on both sides of the original frame around the engine
- 4 on the front of tractor to support the vertical arms of the FEL's subframe.

I was really hoping the measures/sizes of the TX1500 are exactly identical as the TX1300F, so i just started trying to connect it to the tx1300F. Because of the vertical arms i had to 'slide' this subframe kind of sideways onder the rear of the tractor to get it under it. So i took the 1500 out of garage using the 1300 (hydraulics of 1500 were disconnected).

I moved the subframe under the tx1300F:

Then i connected the first two bolts to the side of the rear-end of differential:

After this i prepared to connect the frame to the frame on both sides of the engine:

And there is where i ran into trouble. There is about 0,5 cm difference in size between the two tractors. I will have to make a few choices here, not sure what to do yet. To be continued.....

Dave M7040 · Apr 29, 2019

It is dangerous to operate a FEL without a rear counter weight on the 3 pt hitch.

The front axle pivots sided to side and offers no resistance to rolling over.
The rear axle is where the stability comes from as it is fixed in place.

Having a lot of weight on the rear will also lighten the load on the weaker front axle and make steering easier

For years farmers used FEL with 2 WD tractors.

Dave M7040

marcelPL · May 13, 2019

Ok, it took a while to move this subframe from the TX1500 onto the TX1300F. The reason is that there is a 0.5 cm difference in length between the two. And this steel subframe is not something that you can easily bend.

To make it fit with a minimal number of changes, i first connected the front 12 bolts, to the front, and to both sides of the engine.

I had to cut a few centimes from the end of the subframe (because my rotary tiller would not fit anymore), and also cut the parts that connect the subframe to the rear sides of the differential. These connections had some 'wings' welded onto the subframe, that would block the steel pipe going through the holes at the bottom of differential. And i still want to use the tractor for 'normal' 3-point operation, so it had to go.

I bought some 1.5 meter of steel H-profile. The size should fit exactly around the square profile of the subframe connected to the tractor.

So i cut the H-profile into two 75cm pieces, and welded a connection/bridge between the two parts.

Please no comment on the welding, it was the first time i did this. Anyway time to test this how it fits the subframe: like a glove. I could slide the whole 75cm under the tractor.

Having this into place i welded the original central (bottom) part of the backhoe onto the sliders. You can clearly see the pivot, and the two side-points used to 'park' the backhoe. You can also see the 'hook' that was used to connect the old structure directly onto the differential. Which was what i am trying to avoid.

So far so good. Next issue is the hydraulics. I was looking for an external oil-pump, but this is proving to get too expensive. This is still a hobby project. Also the minimal reservoir i can get is 50 liter. I am trying to keep the weight of this construction as low as possible. So i decided to 'cut' the rubber hose (delivery) from the oil-pump going to the 3-point hydraulics, and insert this bajonet-type of connection. Then i can get the same type of bajonet connection onto the hydraulic hoses coming from the backhoe, making it relatively easy to connect and disconnect. And this way i will still be able to use all hydraulics (FEL and 3-point), even when backhoe is connected.

At least i have the slide-on/slide-off into place. Next is putting the backhoe back together again.To be continued...