How to move boulders with a backhoe

[workinallthetime]

I too would would recommend a thumb. Doesn't need to be hydraulic at all for what you're wanting to do. But thinking along the lines of a sling is a cheap and safe way to handle rocks and boulders. Or a type of mechanical boom grapple would work great. You can buy or make one pretty easy.
It's sort of like a pallet puller or tongs concept, except for vertical lifting.

I never thought of it that way, you could make a set of sized down pallet forks for the bh bucket. maybe even have them set up to be reversable, just something to slide under the rocks and pick them up, hmmmmm

 

[mc faulkner]

mc faulkner is at M. C. Faulkner and Sons, Inc - let me know if there is something I can specifically help you with

 

[3RRL]

I never thought of it that way, you could make a set of sized down pallet forks for the bh bucket. maybe even have them set up to be reversable, just something to slide under the rocks and pick them up, hmmmmm

It would probably be better if you could just pick up since the goal would be to "place" the rock or boulder with it. Sliding something under would require getting off the backhoe and then when you placed the rock, it might be pinched in between?
I would make one with 3 jaws instead of just 2 or have the tines be real "jaws" like a grapple.

I found this interesting and site for "Boom Grapples" Here is their Home Page They have jaws to stabilize the load. I think a guy could make a mechanical one fairly inexpensively using a pallet fork or log tong principle.
Here are some photos I borrowed.



I'm particularly interested in this thread because I plan to build a rock wall in the near future and will need to place rocks and boulders too. My idea is to go around the property and collect them in a dump trailer and haul them to where I need to build the wall. The pluck them one by one out of the trailer and place them on top of each other. Perhaps just dump the trailer into piles every so many feet and have my wife collect more rocks with her tractor? Not sure if I would use cement or just place them since mine is a decorative (out of the way) project.

I made my backhoe thumb mechanically articulating so I'm thinking it should work for what I'm planning to do. It took a little bit of work but was also a DIY project and relatively cheap to make. But maybe a boom grapple might be better? Here are some shots of my articulating backhoe thumb where I can pick up rocks or logs and place them with accuracy.
So it is pretty handy.

 

[workinallthetime]

i built several walls using sandstone from around the property and for a few customers. When I built them i would use the fel to do 90% of the work and the fine tuning with a few rock bars and some back work. i would think one of these ideas would get you to 98% of the position if not all of it.
Those grapples are great !!! I was just thinking that instead of having a bucket on the BH you would have a small set of pallet forks, if you could somehow have the forks reversed, (forks facing away from the tractor) you could slide right under the rock, then dump into position. I agree this grapple would be a hole lot easier though.
when i built the walls i would arange the rock piles so that i had ones of the same thickness together, this really makes things go faster. I will post some pics when i get home.

 

[3RRL]

I'd love to see the pictures Dan.
Especially how you arranged to work with the piles and such.
The articulaing thumb on the backhoe is like and upside down bucket grapple mounted to the backhoe.

 

[workinallthetime]

I dont know what kind of rocks you are dealing with but i have one of these,
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
it works great for sizing sandstone, beats the heck out of a rock bark scoring the thing.

 

[irwin]

mc faulkner is at M. C. Faulkner and Sons, Inc - let me know if there is something I can specifically help you with

This is a couple of rock piles, they're both a bit bigger now. Some of those stones are 1000lbs or more, many more go a couple hundred lbs.

..........


This looks like it could get into the earth and help me work them out'a da dirt.
not real keen on the color though.

 

[IslandTractor]

Here are a few more rocks from New England soil uprooted by a grapple. The big ones are not much trouble. Smaller than a foot or so across and they tend to bounce out between the tines when traveling.

They can be placed very accurately though with the FEL/grapple. I know some guys are excellent with backhoes but my FEL technique is a lot smoother than my BH so if I were trying to place one of these boulders in a tricky spot, I'd use the grapple.

 

[irwin]

Here are a few more rocks from New England soil uprooted by a grapple. The big ones are not much trouble. Smaller than a foot or so across and they tend to bounce out between the tines when traveling.

They can be placed very accurately though with the FEL/grapple. I know some guys are excellent with backhoes but my FEL technique is a lot smoother than my BH so if I were trying to place one of these boulders in a tricky spot, I'd use the grapple.

Ed, those lower teeth look pretty impressive, I'm just not sure 48" will be wide enough for me. Sure would be nice to be able to push an area greater than my wheel width.

It'd be no problem for brush work, it's the dirt/rock/root stuff I'm thinking of..

So.. Spending extra dollars and getting what I think I need... vs getting something a little more affordable. Affordable and less weight to subtract from the maximum loader capacity.

 

[Eagleview]

You could buy 2 more teeth for 1 of your buckets and make them longer . They would fit onto the outer tooth adaptors and would look like Walrus teeth . That would enable you to scoop the rocks up and place them . You would need to be carefull when placing the rocks that they do'nt roll towards you when you uncurl the bucket , but at least this way the bucket is behind them stopping them rolling towards the house . When your finished with them just knock the pins out and refit the standard teeth .