Finally Building my Backhoe

[dcyrilc]

Pathological auction impulses.

I paid $50 for two tillers. Neither works. I may have to count the tillers in the "You lose some" category. All is well, though. I've already doubled my money on this most recent auction (even including the tillers) via a few ebay sales.

You caught my eye as I'm looking for a PTO tiller. I need a project that I can justify to the wife. She wants to turn the entire backyard into garden.:confused2:

I've got a 40+ year old 8HP walk behind tiller. That's too much like work. Time to get a PTO unit and bring the tractor home.:thumbsup:

 

[Iplayfarmer]

You caught my eye as I'm looking for a PTO tiller. I need a project that I can justify to the wife. She wants to turn the entire backyard into garden.:confused2:

I've got a 40+ year old 8HP walk behind tiller. That's too much like work. Time to get a PTO unit and bring the tractor home.:thumbsup:

These are walk behinds. Used PTO tillers are scarce.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

One year later, I finally got a minute to do a little more work on this backhoe.

I'm working on the bucket. See pictures below. The curved piece is 1/3 of a 16" pipe. It's 8" wide. Hopefully you can see in the second picture how the bucket is going to come together. I'm going to have to cut the sides of the bucket out with a torch. I'm even worse with a torch than I am with a welder.

 

[dcyrilc]

Nice to see you back on the project for a bit.:thumbsup:

 

[powergod1]

looks like a cool project

 

[NormL]

Hi Iplayfarmer: That looks to be one honkin' heavy bucket when you have it done!! It looks like it should empty easily. Some designs I've seen look like they might be stingy about letting a load of clay go. That is what I will be digging in when I get mine built. I'm watching your build as well as another one on this forum and expect to glean lots of good information, tips and cautions to guide me along. If you are going to use the cutting torch a lot, have you considered using propane for fuel? It requires a special tip but the savings can be significant.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Hi Iplayfarmer: That looks to be one honkin' heavy bucket when you have it done!! It looks like it should empty easily. Some designs I've seen look like they might be stingy about letting a load of clay go. That is what I will be digging in when I get mine built. I'm watching your build as well as another one on this forum and expect to glean lots of good information, tips and cautions to guide me along. If you are going to use the cutting torch a lot, have you considered using propane for fuel? It requires a special tip but the savings can be significant.

Yeah, the bucket will be heavy duty. 1/4" is what they had in that diameter pipe when I was at the steel yard. We'll see how it works. It may or may not dig well. It likely will not break, though.

Be patient as you watch this build. I'm split a hundred directions between all my hobbies and such, so this backhoe will only get a few hours every now and then. The major benefit to watching this thread is to get all the advice from the real experts when I propose some crazy amateur idea that will never work.

I have cut with both propane and acetylene. I suck equally with both, so I don't know what I'll do. I have a few pounds of acetylene left in the tank that I'll probably use and then switch back to propane. I haven't checked local acetylene prices, but rumor has it there's a shortage.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Here is the bucket all done for now. I'll also post a closeup of some of my welds. Feel free to criticize the welding as much as you want. I'm self taught and out of practice. Now that I'm done for the night, I'm wondering if I should have turned my heat up. The welding was done with a Lincoln AC/DC stick welder with 6011 rod.

This will probably be all I get done for another little while. It sure has been fun to be back into this project, though.

 

[NormL]

If'n the weld holds - its a good one, I always say! Don't go dissing your welds till you see some of mine. Also self taught and out of practice but game to keep on doing it anyway. I hope to get started on mine later this month.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

If'n the weld holds - its a good one, I always say! Don't go dissing your welds till you see some of mine. Also self taught and out of practice but game to keep on doing it anyway. I hope to get started on mine later this month.

Are you building from any set of plans or are you planning your own? What size tractor are you going to mount it to?