My Backhoe Dolly

[DaveK OR]

After getting my new Woods BH75 backhoe for my Bobcat CT230, I needed a way to store it away in my shop when not mounted on the tractor. This is what I came up with:




It's got two wheels under the main weight of the hoe, like this one. I built it to slip up inside the footrest for positioning:




And then I put a swivel caster at the bucket end, with a "tiller" to steer it. I tried without the tiller, but it was simply too hard to change direction, even on a smooth concrete floor. I also mounted two cross-pieces of tube to prevent the bucket and dipper from wandering out of place when stored. You can see one here, close-up, and the pair of them in the first photo.



Finally, I made a retaining cable to hold the outriggers in position.



I'm very pleased with how it works to mount the hoe. It rolls in smoothly at nearly the right height, and alignment is a snap, so mounting is fairly easy.

 

[sixdogs]

That is very creative and useful. Any chance it would tip over?

 

[DaveK OR]

It's actually slightly more stable than when the hoe is sitting on the shop floor. Of course if I were to race it around some tight corners, there could be an embarrassing surprise:duh:

Still, the center of gravity is fairly low, so the danger of a tip-over isn't very high. Before I put the steering tiller on it, I had to do a lot of lateral pushing to change directions, and there was no sign of over-balancing.

 

[sixdogs]

I would guess you could hook up way faster than with it just sitting on a pallet. Rolling platforms really work for certain tools. My 1200 lb rototiller was a real bear until I made a rolling platform for it. I've seen rolling setup for snowmobiles and fertilizer spreaders that work great.

 

[DaveK OR]

The first couple of times I hooked up the hoe, it was a real pain to get everything lined up properly. The connection slots on the 4-point mount don't have much room for alignment error, and then you also have to get the front to back alignment right as well. It worked a little better when I set the hoe on a rolling piano dolly, but even that, with the swivel casters was difficult to align. That's why I went with building one from scratch with the 1 1/4" tube I had laying around. I ended up buying 5-inch casters off e-bay, and its wheels have sealed ball bearing pairs that make rolling resistance negligible on a smooth floor.

As for the swivel caster, it has the same low-resistance wheel bearings, but the swivel wasn't nearly as low-resistance as were the wheels. It was still a small challenge to get the hoe aligned properly, so I ended up putting the steering tiller on it to solve that problem. With the leverage of the tiller, getting the alignment right is really easy.

The one fault I find with my new dolly is getting the hoe lined up with it's "parking spot" on the dolly itself when dismounting. The wheel mounts need to slip up under the foot-steps of the hoe, and it turns out to be just a bit fiddly to get it right. Still, it makes mounting the hoe so very much easier, and allows me to store the unmounted hoe in an out-of-the-way spot in the shop. It also lets me easily move the dismounted hoe if I need to put it temporarily in another spot.

 

[texasranger556]

The first couple of times I hooked up the hoe, it was a real pain to get everything lined up properly. The connection slots on the 4-point mount don't have much room for alignment error, and then you also have to get the front to back alignment right as well. It worked a little better when I set the hoe on a rolling piano dolly, but even that, with the swivel casters was difficult to align. That's why I went with building one from scratch with the 1 1/4" tube I had laying around. I ended up buying 5-inch casters off e-bay, and its wheels have sealed ball bearing pairs that make rolling resistance negligible on a smooth floor.

As for the swivel caster, it has the same low-resistance wheel bearings, but the swivel wasn't nearly as low-resistance as were the wheels. It was still a small challenge to get the hoe aligned properly, so I ended up putting the steering tiller on it to solve that problem. With the leverage of the tiller, getting the alignment right is really easy.

The one fault I find with my new dolly is getting the hoe lined up with it's "parking spot" on the dolly itself when dismounting. The wheel mounts need to slip up under the foot-steps of the hoe, and it turns out to be just a bit fiddly to get it right. Still, it makes mounting the hoe so very much easier, and allows me to store the unmounted hoe in an out-of-the-way spot in the shop. It also lets me easily move the dismounted hoe if I need to put it temporarily in another spot.

Regarding getting the hoe lined up with your dolly during dismount, would it be easier to strap the dolly to the hoe before removing the hoe from your tractor? Not sure I totally understand how the foot holds engage though.

Nice idea. I wish I had the indoor space to do that with mine.

 

[DaveK OR]

Not sure I totally understand how the foot holds engage though.

The footsteps on the hoe are shallow, upside-down U-shapes, welded to the frame of the hoe (technically,the 4-point mounting frame that is "semi-permanently" bolted to the hoe itself) at a level that is a little above the bottom of that frame. The weight of the hoe actually rests on the frame of the dolly, and the caster mounts slip up alongside the hoe frame to keep it aligned left-to right. Those caster mounts are just the width of the U in the footsteps, and slip up into the footstep to align it fore and aft. They don't actually use the footsteps to hold the weight of the hoe, though I think I could have gotten away with doing that. I had to have the caster mounts higher than the bottom of the hoe frame anyway, as they are just tall enough that I might not be able to mount the hoe into the 4-point subframe connector points. It makes a sort of cradle to set the hoe down into when unmounting it.

I've ended up using some metal clips to get the dolly aligned to the footsteps, and it's more fiddly than I like, but does work. I may end up adding some kind of permanent alignment aid to make it easier, but that is something for another day.

 

[dickfoster]

After getting my new Woods BH75 backhoe for my Bobcat CT230, I needed a way to store it away in my shop when not mounted on the tractor. This is what I came up with:

View attachment 503836 View attachment 503837


It's got two wheels under the main weight of the hoe, like this one. I built it to slip up inside the footrest for positioning:

View attachment 503838


And then I put a swivel caster at the bucket end, with a "tiller" to steer it. I tried without the tiller, but it was simply too hard to change direction, even on a smooth concrete floor. I also mounted two cross-pieces of tube to prevent the bucket and dipper from wandering out of place when stored. You can see one here, close-up, and the pair of them in the first photo.

View attachment 503839

Finally, I made a retaining cable to hold the outriggers in position.

View attachment 503840

I'm very pleased with how it works to mount the hoe. It rolls in smoothly at nearly the right height, and alignment is a snap, so mounting is fairly easy.

Good job.
I made mine out of wood but you're right a dolly makes all the difference.

 

[sixdogs]

I made my dollies with wheels from Harbor Freight. If you do too, make sure to disassemble and grease. None was in mine.

 

[DaveK OR]

I considered the HF casters, but they were marginal for the weight I needed to carry. The 5" casters from e-bay were less expensive, had better weight-bearing capability (600 lb, each), and used a pair of sealed ball bearing units on the axles. They roll very smoothly.

I was not as happy with the swivel caster... its wheel rolled just fine, but the ball-bearing swivel was a problem. The bearing cup wasn't able to reliably retain the balls, and it would spit one or two out from time to time. I ended up fabricating a little retaining ring to surround the cup and that solved the problem. I could have returned the thing, but by the time I realized its problem I had already done some other modifications, and for the price I paid it wasn't really worth the trouble of trying to exchange it. It swivels well enough for my needs.