Home Made Backhoe thumb

[rswyan]

Definitely a great idea. I, like Henro, have 10" and 16" buckets. I also found some old leaves from a set of override springs in the attic of the shed last time i was up there.

Unfortunately they don't have tubes on them, but that should be a relatively easy matter to fix by welding a little DOM tubing on the ends. That, some u-bolts, and a spare set of pins and I should be good to go.

Thanks !

 

[GuglioLS]

rswyan,

That DOM stuff sounds like I want some for other projects.
I have called around several steel suppliers here in the Albuquerque NM area and they do not know what that stuff is let alone have any.

Do you know of a supplier that I can contact to get a couple short peices of 1", 7/8", & 3/4" ID
THANK YOU.

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue"> Metkit (click here) </font> sells some 1/4" wall, 1" and 1.5" DOM by the inch, as well as some round stock in matching sizes.

Expensive when shipping is included for small amounts though. My 1" ID pieces that I bought would not slip over 0.996 round pins though, so I had to drill them out with a 1" drill to get them to work.

www.baumhydraulics.com (1800-228-9222) has a variety of sizes of telescoping steel tubing in their current catalog, on page P4. Don't know if it is "DOM" but it is cold drawn to size... looks like it is sold in 5' lenghts though.

Hope this helps

 

[GuglioLS]

Well the darn thing broke.
Seems my Idea of using Spring steel for the thumb mount was Smart but not Wise. The spring steel snapped in half under too much stress.
Here is a new & improved version. The only thing I was able to salvage were the square U bolts and the plates that pinch the mount to the dipper. I used Cold Rolled Steel 1/2" thick - (the good stuff) This mount is rigid it does not bend or spring. It works much better.

 

[GuglioLS]

Attachment New & Improved 1

 

[GuglioLS]

Attachment New & Improved #2

 

[GuglioLS]

Attachment New & Improved #3

 

[GuglioLS]

Attachment New & Improved #4

 

[GuglioLS]

Attachment New & Improved #5

 

[Henro]

Love those action shots!

Now I remember what I should have been doing these last couple weeks! Copying your work!

Love it! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif