To Thumb Or Not To Thumb?

[v8dave]

Moving a rock down the drive way to a storage pile. Repeat this step a hundred times.

Note in this and the previous pix--the movable thumb. It enabled placing the rocks accurately later when I rebuilt the wall. Since you could grab from any angle, it was also easier to pick the rocks straight up with the movable thumb too. Whithout a movable thumb, you have to scoop the object into a fixed thump.

 

[v8dave]

The rock retaining wall, view from the shop. This has about 200 boulders in it it is roughly 3' high and is a bit over 110' in length.

The excavator with a thumb was used to place all these boulders.

 

[v8dave]

Here is the wall viewed toward the shop.

This wall wouldn't have happened if I didn't have the excavator with a moveable thumb to transport and place the boulders.

 

[MicroPilot]

I've always wanted to rent one of those excavators. They look like they would be too much fun!!

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[coopers]

A thumb can be a very good addition to your machine depending on what you need to do with it and just how often. If you don't have a backhoe seat that is easy to turn around or just pop the machine in forward (like on case backhoes, large JD backhoes etc.) than it can get frustrating fast like someone mentioned. But if you get the right thumb, it can be soooooooo nice to have one. Hyd. is always of course, better because it's more maneuverable than a mech. thumb and so on, but it's more expensive I'm sure and can add weight to the machine (some people don't like, not that a mechanical thumb doesn’t) and you may not have the capability to put another pump in the engine compartment. That's how it was for my old boss's backhoe, couldn't do it because the extend-a-hoe took too much room hydraulic wise (pump wise) in the engine, so he stuck with a mechanical thumb, the best style I've seen so far....most are really funky looking and not as effective and can only be adjusted by hand and they don’t move with the bucket, not a good design IMHO.

Blake
WA


Here's his backhoe and the thumb. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/35-225837-Scan002%2CJanuary12%2C2003.jpg

 

[Rowski]

I love my thumb! It is a "mechanical" type. I use it a lot. Done more thumb work with my backhoe than digging. I use it to move and load stone, dig out small stumps and move them, grapple brush and move it, carry whole trees, rip out saplings.

Rock work

More rock work

I would like to think that a thumb would be more usefull on a larger backhoe, mine is 9.5'. It has more power and has a larger reach area. My thumb is about 110lbs so I loose that on my overall lifting capacity. This is what my thumb looks like. Picture of it on my tractor.

I've got tons of pictures of working with rock but I don't have any from moving brush, trees, and saplings /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

 

[Henro]

Today as I was nocking down standing dead trees and getting the stumps out of the ground I was thinking a thumb would be nice...

But at the same time I was thinking a hydraulic thumb would be nice...not sure if a mechanical thumb would have been an advantage or a pain...

Still up in the air on thumgs I guess... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[KiotiJohn]

Henro, I believe the thumb kits I posted about are also useable with hydraulics. They have different models and the owner will honor the $20 off any model. John