hydraulic thumb

apatche1964 · Oct 17, 2010

I have a terex hr 16 mini excavator i want to build a thumb for it. It would sure be nice to have some drawings and design ideas , any ideas?

oc3crwler · Oct 17, 2010

Im in the same boat. I was given a backhoe from a family member, and have been looking around the net. I think Im going to wing-it and make my own. Not sure if it is going to hydraulic or not.

1010 · Oct 17, 2010

I thought these looked good!! Click on the work tab to see the excavator thumbs.Home

DAVID,

SomeGuyFromOlympia · Mar 31, 2011

Did anyone get one?

adjusterr · Apr 1, 2011

Before you spend money on steel to build a thumb, check out Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons. I bought one last Fall and couldn't be happier with it. Mine is on a Woods Groundbreaker on a Kubota L2250. According to Richard at Bro-Tek, he can fabricate a thumb for any backhoe. I don't think you can design, purchase the high quality hard steel and bolts and build a thumb for the price of the Bro-tek, approx. $300. There are plenty of pics and videos on u-tube and other forums. The unit bolts on in minutes and works perfectly. No one has been able to explain why it is necessary to spend lots of money for a hydraulic thumb when the bucket does all the work. The hydraulic unit on a thumb is only used to adjust the position of the thumb. I set my thumb in the desired position by adjusting the top link and have never had to move it. If you want the thumb totally out of the way, it takes one or two minutes to pull the pins, rotate the thumb up against the boom, replace the pins, throw the top link on the tractor and you are ready to go. Good luck.

SomeGuyFromOlympia · Apr 1, 2011

adjusterr said:
Before you spend money on steel to build a thumb, check out Bro-Tek: Tractor Add Ons. I bought one last Fall and couldn't be happier with it. Mine is on a Woods Groundbreaker on a Kubota L2250. According to Richard at Bro-Tek, he can fabricate a thumb for any backhoe. I don't think you can design, purchase the high quality hard steel and bolts and build a thumb for the price of the Bro-tek, approx. $300. There are plenty of pics and videos on u-tube and other forums. The unit bolts on in minutes and works perfectly. No one has been able to explain why it is necessary to spend lots of money for a hydraulic thumb when the bucket does all the work. The hydraulic unit on a thumb is only used to adjust the position of the thumb. I set my thumb in the desired position by adjusting the top link and have never had to move it. If you want the thumb totally out of the way, it takes one or two minutes to pull the pins, rotate the thumb up against the boom, replace the pins, throw the top link on the tractor and you are ready to go. Good luck.

Looks like a nice product
no cylinder and no grease zerks though

racerboy832 · Apr 1, 2011

If it's not in the budget for a hydraulic then it's understandable. However, once you use the hydraulic setup you wouldn't want to go back. I've spent alot of time sorting out a rock pile. When you are picking from the top of the pile you want the thumb at one angle, once you get lower you have to adjust it. There are times when you try to curl the bucket to get something and it's too wide to grab so you have to back the thumb off. It's nice to be able to just hit a lever. I had to tap off my hydraulics block with a new port and lever. Once that it hooked up it's only 2 lines. Alot of you guys have it easy cause there is already extra ports you can plug into. If you have to do any welding to the dipper arm for a thumb, then wait till you can afford what you really want. I would hate to weld for a manual thumb then turn around and cut it off down the road for a hydraulic cylinder.