Summer project, smaller bucket and manual thumb install E70B

[JerryK]

Got the stick partially cleaned off. Playing with the placement for a few days before I go any further. That is a 4' by 8' sheet of plywood behind it so you can get a size reference.....

 

[JerryK]

Finally got time to put the thumb on this morning. Want to get the excavator done and out of the barn so I can start bringing in next winters wood whilst the weather is dry. Metal was warm after welding and the paint got ' dry enough ' so I could throw it together. Still have one pin drying that I have to put in, then get it the heck out of the barn and clean up.

[ don't know why the order of the pictures changes after I upload them.... ]

 

[JerryK]

She's a boot done, and moved outside. Going to try to get my next winter's wood moved into the barn, then put her to work clearing stumps of tress I have wacked down. If you drive up I-75 here in Northern Lower Michigan and see stumps flying up in the air off in the distance..... it's just an old guy playing....

 

[JerryK]

I bought her last summer, put her to work, then worked on it over the winter. She is a boot ready to go back to work after I do some work on the tracks. Here are a couple before and after pics. She was pretty beat on when I bought her. Still some rough edges, but good enough, and a lot better shape than she was.

 

[Tags]

Nice job on the whole project! Theres only thing that I see that may be a potential problem....it "looks" like when you welded the thumb on you welded across the face of the stick, that is a big no no. It is hard to tell if you did or not from the pics. If you did, just keep a close eye on the stick for cracks...hopefully it will never be an issue.