Backhoe Update

[powermax_paul]

Deb and I spent our tax rebate this weekend on some trees for the yard. We planted a couple of evergreens and a decorative dogwood. All were 6' tall or higher. Anyway, I broke the backhoe dipper stick. We have a lot of clay and limestone on our hill. The dipper stick was made of 3"x 1/4" square tube and had one side cut out where the cylinder attached (see DIY section). That's where it broke, right at the base of that notch. We also had an incident where we were carrying a tree with the loader and nearly tipped the tractor over. We had a rope attached to the tree trunk and the bucket. The root ball was quite large (about 30") so the bucket was fairly high. The backhoe pivot, likes to creep and had crept to one side. That shifted all the weight to one side of the tractor and she tipped until the backhoe buchet hit the ground. I dropped the loader and the tree and the tree rolled down the hill thru the woods about 75 feet. Had to drag it back up with one of my 9020's. I guess it just goes to show that even when you're taking your time, accidents can happen. Paul

[PGL]

Paul - A real bummer to break the backhoe. As far as I can figure out from the picture, if I am identifying the proper part, it looks like you should be able to weld in some plate to reinforce the area where you would have the stress concentration, perhaps on both top and bottom. Peter

[powermax_paul]

You're right Peter, and I wasn't as upset as I thought I would be, because it IS a prototype. I actually need to weld two wider steel plates on either side of the top of the dipperstick. That would make the top cylinder connection much more rigid. Paul