mini hoe

toy · Aug 28, 2003

did i see a post on someone that had put metal on their mini hoe to make have like a thumb to help pick up things with?

Sedgewood · Aug 29, 2003

toy: did i see a post on someone that had put metal on their mini hoe to make have like a thumb to help pick up things with? 

Yes indeed. There's a discussion and pictures of my contraption in the "Grapple Designs?" thread (a search on "minihoe" and "thumb" should turn it up).

There's also a couple of pages and pictures at my web site here.

This thing really really works well. Err.. "worked" well until I got a bit carried away and bent the boom. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif As soon as I get my tractor back on line, a minihoe rebuild will be a priority item. This thing rocks!

Engine is back in,
Sedgewood

Taylortractornut · Sep 1, 2003

Sedgewood, i used to operate a WA 250 Komatsu Loader with a hydraulic quick tach plate. When i wasnt on the excavator id do loader duty and we had alot of loose rocks and shot rocks landscapers lusted over. I built a hoe like yours and put one of my Ford hoe buckets on it and a thumb and it worked good for stacking rocks on trailers and setting pipe in trenches when the excavator was tied up. I liked the pictures on your web page you have a very nice spread.

toy · Sep 2, 2003

How much lift capacity does your pt have is it higher than that of the pt425? Does anyone know if the gauge of the metal in the mini hoe is the same as that for the pt425? Sure looked like that thing could really lift.

Sedgewood · Sep 4, 2003

toy: How much lift capacity does your pt have is it higher than that of the pt425? Does anyone know if the gauge of the metal in the mini hoe is the same as that for the pt425? Sure looked like that thing could really lift. 

Lift capacity is 1200 pounds. The lift height is 6 feet at the quick attach. The minihoe has a reach of about 3-1/2 to 4 feet as I recall which would put the bucket a max of 8-10 feet above grade.

The minihoe boom, alas, is (I'm working from memory here) 3-1/2 inch square tubing with only 1/8 - 3/16 wall. It may be ok on the 425 but the weight and power of the 1845 just overwhelmed it. Catch the bucket under a root, and if you lift while reversing you can back the tractor right into a wheelstand (PT pucker deluxe edition - but don't try this at home while articulated!). /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Sedgewood

toy · Sep 5, 2003

could you mount four peices of angel iron around the boom all the way from the quick attach plate to the bucket,and then weld or bolt two peices of metal to stick up above the quick attach plate, and then hooked two cables from those two peices out to the end of the boom for additional support? Do you think that would give you the extra reinfordcement you needed to do the work you want to do? If that would work do you think that maybe another weak point might giveway, a point say like the lifting arms on the machine itself . That thumb lookes like you could stack a rock wall with it pretty easily.

Sedgewood · Sep 5, 2003

toy: Do you think that would give you the extra reinfordcement you needed to do the work you want to do? 

Yeah that might work. My first thought was a bigger, heavier tube but that requires a lot of cutting and fitting.

 If that would work do you think that maybe another weak point might giveway, a point say like the lifting arms on the machine itself 

The bucket first. That's already bent a bit. The lift arms seem pretty tough but... we're asking a lot of them here. Maybe a little restraint is in order but this gadget just encourages one to "grab it and growl" as they say.

Gotta be carefiul here - toughen it enough and extra weight reduce the lift capacity to zero. Or it'll be so industrial it'll just have to be painted yellow /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

That thumb lookes like you could stack a rock wall with it pretty easily. 

Indeed it would.

Gotta go wire a PT,
Sedgewood