davedj1
Veteran Member
I decided to build a thumb for my bucket. It's all scrap and re purposed bits I had lying in the shop, nothing fancy. Then I had to plumb it. I had thought about adding a third valve at the loader valve but since I already have rear remotes with it's own valve and tee's at the quick connects in the rear I figured I would just run the lines back there. I won't be using front and rear anything at the same time and I am using my hydraulic top link for the thumb.
Whoever plumbed the rear remotes had installed two sets of quick connects on a tee, one pointed down and one set pointed straight back. When I use the top link in the rear I use the ones pointed straight back so I figured why not use the ones pointed down?
After some measuring I made the trek to my local TSC in hopes of finding the hoses and fittings in stock. I needed about 16' of hose but ended up buying two 14' x 1/2" hoses , two 4' x 1/2" hoses, two female to female connectors and a pair of swivels to make my life easier for the rear.
I used the rear set of quick connects up front.
In all it cost me just under 200 bucks including some rubber caps for the QC's and some heavy duty zip ties. I'm happy with the results, now I need to finish welding the thumb together, I had it tacked until I tried it, I'm no engineer so it's trial and error...lol
The rear
the valve:
and the hose routig:
Whoever plumbed the rear remotes had installed two sets of quick connects on a tee, one pointed down and one set pointed straight back. When I use the top link in the rear I use the ones pointed straight back so I figured why not use the ones pointed down?
After some measuring I made the trek to my local TSC in hopes of finding the hoses and fittings in stock. I needed about 16' of hose but ended up buying two 14' x 1/2" hoses , two 4' x 1/2" hoses, two female to female connectors and a pair of swivels to make my life easier for the rear.
I used the rear set of quick connects up front.
In all it cost me just under 200 bucks including some rubber caps for the QC's and some heavy duty zip ties. I'm happy with the results, now I need to finish welding the thumb together, I had it tacked until I tried it, I'm no engineer so it's trial and error...lol
The rear
the valve:
and the hose routig:
