Junkyard Skidsteer Loader

[candubobby]

This is a skid steer that is built from whatever I have lying around in the shop.

Picture from another angle before I painted it a couple of days ago.

In case you guys are wondering why there are so many curves in the lift arm, it's from an old reebok gym machine that I had, and all the parts are curved. I just recycled them.

Actually , this reebok has a lot of hydraulics in it, and I even reuse a lot of ORB6 to 3/8 jic connectors and the parker hoses that were in it.

With hindsight, will save me a lot of time if I am working with new materials rather than changing the design to fit all the materials. Well, my wife wants me to get ride of all the scrap lying around and this is one way of doing it.

Will post more pictures, details, specifications as I am putting the machine through it's tests in the next few days. There will be a lot of new driveway and pathway in my neighourhood in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, all the changes will be done this week if my other half do not give me more "assignments".

Parts used:
13 hp electric start Honda
2 eatons hydraulic motor 3 cu.
1 ronzio pump
2 19.5 x 2 inch cylinder
1 10 x 2 inch cylinder
1 4 bank open centre control with motor spool in 2 of them
4 18 x 8.5 x 8 tires with rims.

tons of scape metal, connectors, bearing blocks, gear and chains. Whatever I have lying around.

will add a powerbeyond and joy stick for the bucket tilt and lift and to allow more accessories.

13 HP is pushing pretty hard, I have to gear it down pretty good ( 5 to 1 ) in the drive system. it's just that I have a few of these kicking around from other projects. Will pop in a 22 HP that I have over the winter to get more power.

Futur plans:
-snowplow ( hopefully before it snows )
-backhoe ( actually attached to the front )
-Drill ( I am trying to make my own auger just to be more challenging, so if someone knows how and have plans, please PM me )
-demolition hammer.

When ever times allows depending on better half.

 

[GeneD14]

That is a great little project. The important questions are:
What color are you going to paint it, plastic or metal hood, lift capacity at pivot pins or center of bucket? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Please post more pictures as you progress.
Nice job!

 

[candubobby]

I am a metal type of a guy, so metal for sure.

As to what color, depends on the paint on hand when I finally get to painting it. This is a junk yard project after all.

The detachable buckets is made of 3 x 3 X 1/4 angles and 4 x 1/4 inch flat bars as a frame. This cut down on the weight of the bucket quite a bit. I used 12 guage metal I had lying around to fill in the areas. I used a frame design to cut down on weight ( anticipating tipping problem ) and also, I can build other accesories for it, like a grated bottom to sort gravel and sand etc.

Lift arm tested for 1000 lbs each and I am sure they can take more, and the 2 two inch cylinders will lift that easy since I set my system at 2000 psi for now. ( max 3000 safely ). Without counter weight, I can lift about 400 lbs at centre of bucket, I had about 5 pieces of broken 30 x 24 patio slabs in it. But you better be sitting on the seat or the thing will tip over. With some counter weight, I will try to lift 600 next week. All the frames are 3/16 inches 2 x 2 tubing and all the pivots are 1 inch in diameter.

My biggest problem is that the machine is so small and light weight that it lift itself off the ground too easily and the rear wheel digs in and put a big hole there. I have to make the bucket "floating" when I am trying to final grade. I will do that tomorrow. Hopefully, it will help. If anyone has any suggestion or don't think it will help, please let me know, it will save me 2 or 3 hours of hooking up a bypass valve to my cylinders.

For now, I made a few modifications and heading off to my neighbour a few houses over to demolish his backyard for him. He has 2 little mounts of dirt 20 x 20 x 3 feet that has been there since 1980.

I will post more details as time allows.

 

[RonMar]

That is pretty cool. Can you try to get some pics in action?

 

[candubobby]

Weather finally broke after torential rain here in the big TO. My basement was flooded and have lots of fun cleaning it out.
Reduced neighbour's 2 three foot high mount to level ground, did not know how long it took, just lots of cold ones and 1/2 tank of gas on the honda engine.
More later.......More modifications to come.

 

[Mith]

Sounds like youve got yourself a really useful and unique tool. Looks great, and fun /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Dont you have traction problems with the turf tyres? I always found they just clog and spin in the dirt.
May I ask about the hydraulics, what diameter cylinders are you using on the lift and curl? How much flow does the pump give out?
Thanks very much, great work

Edit, sorry just noticed you put the cylinder info in te first post /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Thanks

 

[MACHINIST01]

I love your loader!!!Could you tell me how you built the drive system(I dont know that much about hydraulic motors)and how you control it?I was wondering how it stacks up to a small commercial skid steer?The size of it makes it great because you could get it into alot of backyards and down alot of small trails thru the woods.I was thinking about getting a small tractor with a fel for cutting trail on the farm but I am thinking that I would be better off with something like your loader.How is the traction in soft soils,mud or snow for that matter?I for one would give myself a big pat on the back if I built,that congrats on a awsome machine.You should make a set of plans and sell them on the net!!!!

 

[MACHINIST01]

One more question how much do you think that your loader weighs?

 

[candubobby]

New modifications this week:

-joy stick with bypass valve for arm lift and curl.
-2 more spool for aux. equipments
-better braking system, more comfortable and more braking power ( I will be work on a hill that is about 15 degree incline.
-put in two electically controlled valve to release the pressure of the cylinders so they can "FLOAT"
-put in electrically controled valve to lock the hydraulic motors ( blocked return to tank ) to get additional braking power on steep hills ). it will automatically release when any of the motor spools is activated
-put in some digging teeh on another set of replaceable front blade to chew up grounds more efficiently.

The tires are not too bad a problem. I have a second set of tires with less agreesive lateral pattern on it, more like a trailer tire that is 18.5 x 8.5 x 8 that I will try next week.

Being 4 wheel drive and fairly heavy, the traction does not seemed to be a problem. Of course if you lower the arm too much, it will just lift the whole machine right off the ground ( that's how I change my tires actually ) and you will lose traction. These are pretty fat tires so even after the big rain storm, it still handles pretty good in the mud without too much sinking.

I have just modified the arm system with a bypass valve such that after I level the curl and arm, I hit a botton on the joy stick that control the curl and lift ( that's also a new modification ), it will release the pressure on the lowering of the arm cylinder and it will seek it's own level according to soil and ground conditions.

I will GUESS the weight of the machine to be about 1000 lbs to date, but it's growing everyday with new modifications and accessories adding on. If you are to use new materials, you can probably cut down on the weight a fair bit by using thinner wall tubings and angles.

The reason I build this machine is that I have several jobs that have to squeeze through 36 inches in some very tight turns. Some of the places I only have less than 1/4 inches on both side and manage to drive through.

The drive system is purely gear and chains. If you are buying the hydraulic motos new, you could actually bypass the gear reductions by choosing a larger displacement motor.
THe pump is about .4 cu inches and the motors are 3 cu inches. with gearing down of 5 to one. The drive is from the front wheel and chains connect between the front and back set of wheels. There are two 7 inch disk for braking on the two fron axles.

In the interest of building this thing in a hurry, I made a lot of compromises and since most of the parts are recycled from other projects, if I start from scratch, it will be design quite differently.

the motor are control by a control valve with a motor spool in it. ( i.e. both ports drain to tank in centre postion ). with this type of valve, you can control the speed from barely moving to full speed of about 8 MPH based on the gearing and size of wheel of my present design. If you use a normal valve with the working ports blocked in the center postion, I found it to be too jerky to drive comfortably.

Chains are usually trouble for something with so much torque, if I were to build this from scratch, I would put in 4 motors ( if money is no concern ) one on each wheel, and hook up each side in series with case drain to tank. If you pick the right combination of displacements, you can get ride of all the chains, get better traction, since any wheels that is spinning will not waste any power and being bypass automatically.

This will do all the small commercial skid steer will do, except it will take a lot longer because of lack of weight and power. Putting in a larger engine and scaling everything up will of course speed thins up. The only advantage I have is that I can drive over almost any surface without damaging it. You do that with a bobcat on your lawn, and you will not have much of a lawn ( or walkway or driveway for that matter ) afterwards. The best part is it's cool that you build it yourself .

In fact, I am going to make the hydraulics components of this machine to share with all my other tools and gadgets. The hydraulics is where the money is.

I will post more pictures as this project goes on. Will try out all the new modifications tomorrow.

By the way, seat belt and roll cage is a must. I tipped over with a full bucket of wet clay (about 4 cu feet) goind down a slope with the bucket raised too much. It's sort of a controlled test, so I was prepared for it, but the seat belt keep you in your seat, otherwise you will be probably land in the bucket. ( or worse, under it. )....more later.

 

[RonR]

Please, lots of close up & detail shots. Your project is a jewell.

Ron