Dig-It towable Backhoe partial restoration

[Wa11banger]

Great info and thanks for sharing. I currently have a cylinder leaking a fair amount and I am going to try this one by myself. Ive been taking them to a shop and they charge 150 per rebuild. and if we can get those parts I can mess up a time or two

 

[vpd66]

Alright time fro me to join! LOL I think I have the rarest Dig-it of them all. This past weekend I purchased a Dig-it model 102 serial #84021. Its the smallest Dig-it I've ever seen. It has a 8hp Kohler engine,12" bucket,20" drive tires, and 2" ball hitch. I brought it home on my trailer because the pervious owner didn't know how road worthy it would be towing it and the lights and safety chains had been removed. By how it pulled on my trailer I'd say it doesn't weigh more then 1500lbs. It seems to work perfect and doesn't leak a drop of oil. It could use some paint,maybe next winter. I called Mission and they had absolutely nothing on this machine. They said it was a real old model. I bought it to use around my property (trenching, some stump removel, and light landscaping) should work perfect. Its a real simple machine and it looks like all the hydraulic parts are off the shelf stuff and any frame or boom parts could easily be fabricated out of stock steel.

 

[Wa11banger]

vpd66, welcome to the thread.. That little bugger looks awesome. You will find that with a little patience they will do much more than other people say they will.. Everyone told me mine was about worthless but it has done a great job around the property. I did get a bigger backhoe JD410G but that was because of the depth capabilities I required. I could have dug out one side and dug in with the dig it but time was not on my side and the teleboom on the 410 meant I could dig 16ft almost straight down from up top

Still have the digit and used it this weekend matter of fact since completing the big dig I haven't used the 410 since. I put a manual thumb on the digit last year and use the heck out of the guy.. Most of my digging needs are similar to yours small farm stuff.

If you do rebuild it or repaint post here or start your own thread and post us the link to it here so we can follow you. I have only done a functional rebuild so far but plan to let it rest long enough for a complete rebuild soon

 

[vpd66]

Thanks for the welcome. This little hoe is perfect for what I need to do. I was looking for a 3 point backhoe for my Case 411b, then this came along. I know what you mean about people thinking its a toy and can't do any real work. I just hand them a shovel and tell them its a lot better then that. The guy I bought it from was kind of emotionally attached to it and would only sell it to me if I agreed to give him first chance to buy it back if I was to sell it. He had a 8" tree cut off in his yard and I got to try it out removing that little stump. He did most of the work and he was pretty handy with it and it had no problem digging it out.
Vince

 

[vpd66]

vpd66, welcome to the thread.. That little bugger looks awesome. You will find that with a little patience they will do much more than other people say they will.. Everyone told me mine was about worthless but it has done a great job around the property. I did get a bigger backhoe JD410G but that was because of the depth capabilities I required. I could have dug out one side and dug in with the dig it but time was not on my side and the teleboom on the 410 meant I could dig 16ft almost straight down from up top

Still have the digit and used it this weekend matter of fact since completing the big dig I haven't used the 410 since. I put a manual thumb on the digit last year and use the heck out of the guy.. Most of my digging needs are similar to yours small farm stuff.

If you do rebuild it or repaint post here or start your own thread and post us the link to it here so we can follow you. I have only done a functional rebuild so far but plan to let it rest long enough for a complete rebuild soon

Got a picture of that thumb you added. I'd like to make one for mine.

 

[Wa11banger]

I don't have a close up picture of it on the dipper but I will try to remember to take one this weekend. Got it for a great price on eBay all laser cut metal, keyed assembly, quick pin removable or stows straight up, and cheap. BTW his design is way over engineered for this BH but I liked it that way so I wouldn't break it. The guy is in Az and was a real class act to deal with! First one had wrong dimensions and he sent a second one no questions asked. I told him I would send the original back and he said nah just keep it. I was using it this past weekend to pick up pile after pile of branches (yah I know way overkill) but you should see how many of them I have to go through.. was a lot easier to use the BH to pick them up and cut them into the dump trailer from the backhoe's jaws of death. Then go to where I wanted them and touch them only once while dumping. It was a menial task for it but hey it made my job of cutting those branches down to size real easy. I could do bundles about 18-20" (chainsaw limitation not BH) at once and I didn't have to touch them. The point is although way below the machines capability I had a good time making tedious work a lot more fun

 

[vpd66]

I don't have a close up picture of it on the dipper but I will try to remember to take one this weekend. Got it for a great price on eBay all laser cut metal, keyed assembly, quick pin removable or stows straight up, and cheap. BTW his design is way over engineered for this BH but I liked it that way so I wouldn't break it. The guy is in Az and was a real class act to deal with! First one had wrong dimensions and he sent a second one no questions asked. I told him I would send the original back and he said nah just keep it. I was using it this past weekend to pick up pile after pile of branches (yah I know way overkill) but you should see how many of them I have to go through.. was a lot easier to use the BH to pick them up and cut them into the dump trailer from the backhoe's jaws of death. Then go to where I wanted them and touch them only once while dumping. It was a menial task for it but hey it made my job of cutting those branches down to size real easy. I could do bundles about 18-20" (chainsaw limitation not BH) at once and I didn't have to touch them. The point is although way below the machines capability I had a good time making tedious work a lot more fun

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Looks like that thumb is well engineered and very handy. I'll have to try and find that guy on Ebay. I noticed your using your Dig-it without the outriggers down. Does yours seem light on the backend when using it this way? Mine will jerk the rear casters off the ground with the outriggers up and there is a warning sticker not to operate unless the outriggers are down.

 

[Wa11banger]

The thumb is very sturdy, I will look back through my history and see if I can find the seller for you.. mine is stable enough to do this kind of work without the outriggers deployed but for the pics I was still positioning where I needed to be.. I dont use it without the outriggers deployed, I had gone to get the quad and trailer and didnt know if this spot was going to be good .. for lifting sticks mine has enough balast but anything heavier I would have had them deployed before ever starting

 

[vpd66]

I found the seller on Ebay. Thanks

 

[Wa11banger]

In case there is more than one seller titan-thumbs is who I dealt with.. Great guy really and man they were cheap compared to many others.. Which is amazing because of how thick the steel is