Using BH as crane

Bob_Young · Apr 23, 2007

Cranes have a big counterweight that rotates with the boom and counter balances the load....the TLB counterweight is fixed.

If you lift something up straight behind the tractor, you have the full weight of the tractor and the FEL as counterbalance with a substantial moment arm (leverage). As you swing the load to the left or right, you progressively lose the counterbalance effect as the moment arm drops to near zero. At 90 degrees the weight of tractor and FEL are essentially at the pivot point so all you have left as counterbalance is one rear tractor tire.

Lifting up a load and driving out from under it seems the best way to handle the unloading task.
Bob

bx23barry · Apr 23, 2007

My backhoe will lift alot more than my front end loader. A dana 60 front end got the front wheels off the ground. The loader wouldn't buge it. Little tractors ain't much in the way of crains or forklifts, but I guess that is why them crains and forklifts exist.

HomeBrew2 · Apr 23, 2007

Agree w/ Barry that the loader seems limited sometimes compared to the BH, maybe a BX thing. With a cheap thumb, yanking T posts is easy without getting off the machine. On sturborn posts, having the ability to wiggle the BH seems to help them come out easier too.

escavader · Apr 23, 2007

HomeBrew2 said:
Agree w/ Barry that the loader seems limited sometimes compared to the BH, maybe a BX thing. With a cheap thumb, yanking T posts is easy without getting off the machine. On sturborn posts, having the ability to wiggle the BH seems to help them come out easier too.

HOME BREW,
You beat me to it,i was just gonna say that.Im lazy,i dont want to climb off and hook,and unhook.Wiggle it pull it out pick it up and carry it,place it in the pile.
ALAN

crazyal · Apr 24, 2007

First off I would never use the backhoe without the outriggers firmly planted. Counting on a flexable rubber tire filled with air (or liquid) will make things very bouncy at best and very risky for injury at worse. The backhoe has it's advantages for moving things over the loader. I set a 30' 10" I beam for my deck with my backhoe. I was easily able to move it sideways without moving the machine, impossible with the loader. However if you need to move something any amount of distance the loader is the way to go.