Mini-Backhoe

[J_J]

Have you ever seen one of these?

I built this just to see if it would work, and it did quite well.

I used a fork tine as the base and welded the pin mounts on the tine. The pictures show a 16 in bucket, and there is a picture of the hole I dug.

Fairly inexpensive, using a spare fork tine, a cyl, bucket, pins and brackets.

And yes, I know the cyl barrel is touching the fork base.

With my Power-Trac, I can turn the front end to dump.

 

[ScoopCzar]

Have you ever seen one of these?

I built this just to see if it would work, and it did quite well.

I used a fork tine as the base and welded the pin mounts on the tine. The pictures show a 16 in bucket, and there is a picture of the hole I dug.

Fairly inexpensive, using a spare fork tine, a cyl, bucket, pins and brackets.

And yes, I know the cyl barrel is touching the fork base.

With my Power-Trac, I can turn the front end to dump.

That's pretty slick. It raises a few questions for me about the stock PT mini hoe for the 425.

1. Could it make sense to have a wider bucket fabricated that could bolt on in place of the 9" bucket when desired?

2.Would it be possible to dig deeper by adding a 2-3ft fabricated extension between the QA and the mini hoe?
(I guess one end would need a manually activated QA.)

3. Would it be possible to fabricate a QA adapter that mounted the mini hoe at a 90ｺ angle so it could grab a tree trunk or pole using a thumb?

These questions may be way off due to my inexperience with the PT. But just wondering...

 

[J_J]

The bucket width will depend on the soil condition, If it is sandy like I have, it could go really wide like a ditch bucket. Someone has all ready done something similar. I also have a 6 in bucket for drainage ditches.

Here is something to grab trees and and cut off trees.

 

[BobRip]

The bucket width will depend on the soil condition, If it is sandy like I have, I could go really wide like a ditch bucket. Someone has all ready done something similar. I also have a 6 in bucket for drainage ditches.

Here is something to grab trees and and cut off trees.

I have tried the 12 inch bucket and it works very well on clay and wet stuff. This is most of what I have. PT makes one, I just cannot justify it yet.

 

[SpringHollow]

Have you thought about adding some braces to keep the fork from bending? It looks like you have room.

Ken

 

[20 20]

Thanks for sharing J J, I have seen those for skid steers{or atleast they were very close}. I think they would be handy for some simple jobs, but I would not want to dig a pond out with it:laughing:

 

[KentT]

Thanks for sharing J J, I have seen those for skid steers{or atleast they were very close}. I think they would be handy for some simple jobs, but I would not want to dig a pond out with it:laughing:

They're certainly not a backhoe. I've used mine (made by PT) to dig a footer for the foundation of a family room addition. At least initially, it is much faster to use it, and back the tractor up, ripping a trench rather than digging it one little bucketfull at a time. Once you get a couple feet deep then you have to start scooping it out with the bucket.

I too would like to try a 12" bucket (I have only the 9"). The PT certainly has enough hydraulic force to handle one -- but I wonder if it is heavy enough to push a 12" bucket into the ground -- if I hit a rock or root with the 9" one, it will quickly lift the front of the PT up off the ground.