LS backhoe questions. please post pics of subframe mount.

[hutchman]

Paint Department



... switching to a stealth fighter motif. Na, it's just primer.

 

[hutchman]

Paint Department

All better now ...

 

[George2615]

Re: Paint Department

Looking good

 

[hutchman]

Re: Paint Department

Looking good

Thanks! It's Rustoleum Sail Blue so it isn't going to match and I'm OK with that for now. My main concern was to protect where I welded and grinded the reinforcing plate and the rest of the mount was dinged up some too so I wanted to nip any rusting. Lord willing if I ever get my road and pole barn built I'll have better facilities than I do now (... working in the driveway in my back yard under a canopy), I'll redo it with the proper matching paint.

 

[Underdog57]

Re: Paint Department

Looking good

I agree Hutch!! Very nice project and very good looking work......keep the pic's coming. :thumbsup:

 

[hutchman]

Tonight was fun. I bolted the sub frame back up so I could finish tacking the finishing pieces on (after I cut them out) and I guess it heat warped just a hair when I took it off to do the root welds ... was fun getting the bolt holes to line back up. That always happens to me no matter how hard I try.

Actually, I think the biggest problem was aligning the holes of 3 stacked parts ... my mount, the 3pt. anti-sway bar bracket, FEL rear rails and the ROPS/transaxle (that's 5 things actually! ). Hard to see up in the hole to make sure everything is lined up.

Next I'm going to cut a bunch of triangle gusset plates to add strength to some key areas and fabricate a new draw bar mount (I don't want to give up my draw bar like with the factory mount ... I want it all ) and of course last but not least, the 4 point cradle.

Since it isn't fun to take this thing on/off (it's getting pretty heavy) I'm going to tack up as much as I can this time so hopefully I'll only have to take it off again to do the final welding (still haven't done the 7018 yet) and maybe one more time for cleanup/paint.

I found a new use for my creeper. I put the subframe on it and roll it up under the tractor and use two small floor jacks to lift the subframe in place. I also found a new use for tree felling wedges. They were good to shim up (heavy) stuff while I tack welded. I'm learning all kinds of things on this project.

 

[hutchman]

Test Fit

Tonight I test fit the new drawbar mount that bolts to the 6 holes around the PTO. I could of hacked up the original mount but I wanted to be able to put it all back original if I ever wanted or needed to. Plus the new one is made out of 1/2" so it's about an 1/8" thicker than the original.

The bottom of the plate hangs down almost 3" because I will have another 1/2" plate welded at 90 degrees (horizontal) that runs back to the cross member between the ROPS mount to help reinforce it. I plunge cut the drawbar hole (my first plunge cut!) and cut out the parts to make the new drawbar mount.

I stuck the drawbar in the hole just to make sure it had enough clearance to fit through the 'hidey hole' I made for it.



This one shows how the plate comes down level to the cross member (which will have a horizontal plate running back to the cross member and triangle guessets):

 

[DaveNJ]

Re: Test Fit

Pretty Cool! I envy you guys that can do this kind of stuff and actually have it work.

 

[hutchman]

Re: Test Fit

Pretty Cool! I envy you guys that can do this kind of stuff and actually have it work.

You could do it if you put your mind to it. I never had any formal training in any of this ... well I did have 1yr. of high school shop class but that was forever ago.

 

[hutchman]

Mock-Up Continues

... twas the night of 1/8" mistakes . Nothing major, just hits to my pride. The wife's 'honey do' list was quite large so I didn't get the time I wanted to work on the project for the past few days. Working in the dark and trying to hurry doesn't go together very well.

I tack welded the parts I cut out a few days ago. Here is the underside of the new drawbar mount around the PTO where it ties into the cross member (you can see where my one of my triangle gussets is an 1/8" oversize):



I started tacking on the actual drawbar mounts and screwed up and got it 1/8" off center (still need to cut pin holes in the top/bottom parts):



Kind of a side view shot:



And here you can see why I lost an inch of clearance ... big rigid hydraulic line was in the way: