Backhoe Feet

[3RRL]

Being that my Nardi Backhoe is mounted kinda tall on the big Kama, the stabilizer legs could stand to go down farther. On uneven ground they don't give good enough support 'cause they're too short. So I decided to cut off the feet to make them taller.

 

[3RRL]

I've been so darn busy I hadn't really thought everything through. I'm just going to put some spacers in between the pivots and the feet and see how that works.

I milled off the feet so they were flat again. (flat feet for more height )



Then squared up some 3/4" thick plates to use as the spacers. They are 4" tall, but I figure I lost some from the OEM parts when I sawed and milled the feet and pivot parts. Net gain should be about 3-1/2" or so.



That's all for now. I was trying to think up a more elaborate mod like making the feet self-leveling? But this one is pretty straight forward, huh? Better keep it simple for now. Tomorrow, if I have time, I'll mill the pivot parts flat and weld them all together and see what that looks like. Maybe I should drill another pivot location in case I want to move them lower again? What do you think

 

[hazmat]

Rob - I'm going to start keeping metrics on how much of your tractor is custom vs. stock. You're probably at 30% custom so far - I'll bet in 5 years you'll be 75% and in 10 - 100%...

So, when are you going to turbocharge the thing and chrome the wheels? !

PS - I'm very jealous of your fabrication skills. The tent at your property is better outfitted for metal work than my basement...

 

[3RRL]

Hazmat,
You are too cool man ... thanks. That is one of the reasons I bought a Chinese tractor in the first place. I knew I would be doing mods like this and the others no matter what kind I got. It gave me a bigger budget for my add-on toys. It's almost like my Harleys. I bought them stock and have about twice as much into them with mods and upgrades! Except the stock Harleys are expensive to start with.

I got a little more done on the feet...
This is what the extensions will look like, giving that added 3-1/2". You can see the difference in thickness between the material I chose and the stock steel. I will add the gussets later after I fixture weld all the plates. If I screw up, I can use my hydraulic press to straighten any crookedness. They are just sitting there but I'm not ready to weld just yet.





I'll add chamfers for welding and do it all later....assuming I have time. I guess I'll HAVE to make time if I ever want to use the backhoe again. They are fixtured and clamped pretty good though with all the right clearances and the pin holes all line up.

 

[3RRL]

I dragged myself out of bed this morning to look at my rusted backhoe feet project. I decided to weld them up. But first, I had to fixture all the pieces properly to insure
a) Good line up of the existing brackets so the pivot pins go in and out.
b) Good center position of both the existing and new spacers.
c) Good clamping of ALL pieces forcing them together during welding.

Here is the set-up I came up with:







It was a good set up but difficult to tack all the welds due to all the spacers between the loose pieces and all the clamps holding it all together. My intention was to not only tack everything first while clamped, but also run as many beads while fixtured like this.

 

[3RRL]

Some of the welds came out really good and some I got sloppy on. On one bead, my glasses slid off my nose so my vision was blurred but I kept welding anyway ... duh. ??? The difference in spacer thickness made for a natural ledge to weld to. I don't have one of those fancy MIG welders. These are all from my 30 year old Forney stick welder. I used several passes with Ø1/8 6011 rod at 150 amps for good penetration. I burned through some paint and dirt, but they are solid.







I am still debating on putting in gussets or a spacer bar between the spacers. They are so thick they may not need it? The skinny old 3/8" thick ones did not have any, and my spacers are 3/4" thick. But I will probably add them anyway to insure the spacers don't buckle or fold up sideways. On the other hand, I don't want those feet to become a small bucket full of dirt. Dirt gets lodged between the pivot pin and the top of the feet. When I raise them up and hit home, they kind of "snap" up and toss dirt all over me now. Right now there is a chance for the dirt to fall off first? I'll post more later on what I decide to do.

 

[mboulais]

Looks really good so far. You might be right 'bout gussets leading to buckets o' dirt, but I would still think about some, It wouldn't be fun to see them fold over at the welds while ripping a stump out.

 

[tommu56]

Rob
Next thing you know you will be on Pimp my tractor show on speed tv

what about angeling the gussets sort of like a tire chevron so they will be self cleaning?
tommu56

 

[john_bud]

Rob,

Wouldn't it have been technically better and even easier to lengthen the stabilizer tubes ? ?You would have gotten more height and more width, which you probably need with the big tractor. This looks like you've got a set of '70's high heal disco shoes for the tractor. Maybe a fashion statment?


jb

 

[schmism]

my concern is they are high compresson members and as such any side force is going to want to buckle them (rack... trapazod) them quickly as you have very little to prevent them from just folding over.

in short... id ad some gussets at the bottom to help prevent fold over.

 

[3RRL]

I really wrestled with the gusset idea and decided to leave them off. The 3/4" thick risers are sitting an a flat milled surface and I clamped them up tight before welding them. I'm gonna try it like it is. LOL ... If they fold over, I won't tell you guys.

John,
Lengthening the stabilizer legs themselves would have increased the distance between the hydraulic cylinder pivots. I'm planning on using the same cylinders. But you are right about gaining more width that way. Plus I got everything cut and milled already.

tommu,
Pimp my tractor? Well, it is an Italian backhoe ... a Nardi. So I figured red high heel pumps would be just the ticket.

Oh la la!

 

[3RRL]

I got my feet back on the backhoe and this is how they look.



You can see where the cylinder attaches and lengthening the legs themselves would require longer cylinders. The ones I have would bottom out before the feet hit the ground and then they couldn't retract fully anymore.



I haven't tried them out yet, but I am more confident that they won't fold over. That 3/4" bar stock is pretty hefty and the fit over the stabilizer legs helps too.

 

[3RRL]

So I decided to add to my project.
My stabilizer legs bleed down and I am constantly re-setting them. This is annoying...
I bought two DPOCV's (double pilot operated check valves) from Mark at CCM. I have one of their hydraulic top links and their DPOCV's are small compared to the ones I bought from Surplus Center. About 1/4th the size. Problem is they are Metric. But then so are my hydraulic cylinders on the backhoe.

Mark warned me there would be some work in hard plumbing them.
Here's some of the stuff I got for this part of the project:
Cylinders and Banjo fitting hoses which are from the Nardi Backhoe.



CCM's DPOCV



Banjo Bolts and crush washers.

 

[3RRL]

Here's my plan. I want to mount the DPOCV's with hard lines to the cylinders. That means I have to make a fitting that goes into the cylinder ports. Guess what, they are 13mm x 1.5 pitch. Yup, not 12 or 14 but 13mm! The bolts measure .511" in diameter. I looked all over and found a supplier in Florida who sells 13mm x 1.5p taps and dies so I bought one of each.

The fitting I will make will have a 13mm male thread and an "O" ring groove to seal it. Then I will drill and tap it on the side for a 1/4NPT hole. I wil shave off what I need to have it facing the right way when tight... whatever it takes. That will fit the tube I am making too. Reason is because the DPOCV's have a compression fitting, not a flare end! And it is 12mm so no one has tube in stock and the minimum you have to order is a 20' length, so I'm making my own out of tubing stock I have for my plastic injection molds.



OK, now the tube will have a 12mm OD on one end that will fit into the compression fitting of the check valve and the other end will screw into the 1/4 NPT port fitting. The reason for a compression fitting is so you can assemble the whole thing with the tube inside the check valve and screw in the 1/4NPT into the port fitting. Wherever it screws to, it will leave some tube inside the check valve and you tighten the compression fitting at that point. After that, I plan on reusing the hoses, which have the banjo fittings and bolts. But they are the 13mm ones. They also have a 90° metric JIC on the other end to fit the valve spool, so I'm not going to try to chase that down too.

Now for the last fitting. The outlet and inlet on the DPOCV is 3/8NPT of all things! So I got a 3/8NPT bushing to thread into the check valve and will drill and tap the inside of it to 13mm x 1.5. Then I can bolt the old hoses on with the old 13mm banjo bolts and be done with it.
This how I'd like to have the check valve sit on the cylinder.



This adds another dimension to my "no-brainer" project.

 

[3RRL]

Well, I got the 13mm tap and die ... set me back a cool 68 bucks for nothing. I drilled and tapped a practice hole to see if the banjo bolt goes in ... no dice. So they are not 13mm after all. Now I think they are British straight (parallel) thread. Crap.

I'll order some adapters from Discount hydraulics and get several different kinds until one fits.

 

[sandman2234]

I was just wondering why you didn't remake the whole part instead of welding in short pieces? Seems like cutting out the shape and drilling the whole would have been about as easy and almost as pretty, and a little stronger.
David from jax

 

[dtd24]

Rob,
Did you get a deal on that red paint? I enjoy reading and watching your customizations. Gives me lots of ideas.

 

[3RRL]

I was just wondering why you didn't remake the whole part instead of welding in short pieces? Seems like cutting out the shape and drilling the whole would have been about as easy and almost as pretty, and a little stronger.
David from jax

David,
I used a 3/4" x 3" bar I had in the garage. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

 

[3RRL]

Rob,
Did you get a deal on that red paint? I enjoy reading and watching your customizations. Gives me lots of ideas.

Thanks,
I guess some mods I have done are pretty cool and others ... well ...
Yeah, red paint is cheap at Home Depot. And it matches my tractor. Now I've got to paint the backhoe and fel red too.

 

[3RRL]

Here's an update. I started trying to make the hydraulic tube that goes from the cylinder ports to the DPOCV. This required making an NPT thread on on side and a Ø.480 on the other to fit inside the metric compression ring. I used 303SS hex stock, turned one side and used a 1/4NPT die to put the threads on. Then flipped it around to turn and drill through.







This is how they turned out.
I left the hex for a wrench so I wouldn't need to use a pipe wrench and scuff up the tube.