Thumb ... GEEZ IT"S HANDY !!!

[F100Panel]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

I have a thumb on my 6.5 foot Woods backhoe.. It welds on & folds. VERY handy indeed. Got it from Andy Tatro who is mentioned prominiently with E-Mail adress in the Grapple Question thread. About $200.. Unfortunately Andy at the moment is not listing anything on E-Bay but while looking I found a similar sized/designed unit for an example. Click on the link below for a look. I'm not having any luck posting a pic of my thumb here/the pic I have was taken at too high definition/too large a file to post. If interested in seeing, send me a PM with your E-Mail & I'll send a pic /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26199&item=3880215059&rd=1

 

[Banjo]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Ubuildit plans has plans for a thumb that looks pretty good. I haven't ordered from them so cant comment further. I did consider their plans before I built my hoe. If I hadn't ended up designing it myself I would have goin with them.

cheers, Andrew

 

[F100Panel]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Hey THANKS KiotiJohn, he passed along how to cut the picture definition to make it fit here... Foldable thumb from Andy Tatro...

 

[dbelisle]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Here is the thumb I put on my machine. It is folded up and out of the way. It sure comes in handy.

Dave in NH

 

[PineRidge]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Nice looking thumb on your backhoe. Andy Tatro makes a nice looking product.

 

[EddieWalker]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

You guys and those pictures of thumbs really get me going. Everytime I see photo's of one, I get to planning it out.

The day is coming when I get off my but and do it.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

db,

How useful do you find the static thumb on a hoe that size? Just looking for various opinions.

 

[F100Panel]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

I have an Andy Tatro Grapple ( htatro@bwsys.net ) on my Koyker Loader. saves TONS of time cleaning up piled brush, scrap metal piles & various other things. Loaded a whole Late 80's Ford full size pickup box onto a truck just by grabbing on to the bed side rail.. Uses just go on & on... The thumb.... It opens & folds with the pins in seconds. That to comes in usefull for reaching into tight areas & grabbing brush & scrap. Several times I've had rocks I could not get out of a hole with just the bucket but were too large/heavy to get out by hand & I just reached into the hole with the thumb & plucked it out. Granted I don't use it all that often but when I do it definately earns it's keep....

 

[HomeBrew2]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Update: I fixed the design flaw yesterday which was that the outboard top mounting bolt limited the outward curl of the bucket by hanging up the bucket link shackle. I took a 1/2"-20 x 5" grade 5 bolt and ground the head thickness down to 3/16" and, did the same with the nut and cut the bolt flush (thanks to the handy carbide-particle sawsall blade).

 

[PineRidge]

Re: Thumb ... GEEZ IT\"S HANDY !!!

Now that you have the little quirks worked out I might suggest taking it back off and painting it orange. Can't have any rusty parts hanging off that tractor of yours.