Backhoe BX24 Backhoe Operation

[megaboz]

I have a question for anyone who has a BX24 or knows how the BH works. I recently just purchased a new BX 24 with a MMM.

The one thing I noticed when working the BH is that if I am curling the bucket, retracting the main boom and retracting the lower boom, almost every part slows to a crawl. As soon as I quicking trying to raise the main boom, it seems to work fine. I even tried bumping up the RPMs to abotu 3000, but it didn't help. Is this normal?

Thanks

Brian

 

[DiezNutz]

Yes. (S)CUT backhoes aren't really designed to do more than one function at a time - one pump, one main hydraulic loop. Even attempting to feather the controls to move cylinders simultaneously, you're splitting a finite amount of hydraulic flow among two cylinders, so of course they're going to move only half as fast. Makes sense, right?

If you require full control over multiple functions, you would've needed to buy a mini-excavator that has multiple pumps and loops.

 

[TedLaRue]

After some experience using the backhoe, you'll learn to take advantage of that property. For instance, suppose you're digging a ditch the same width as your bucket.

Old way: You dump a load of dirt on the spoils pile, then quickly swing back over the ditch. Stop swinging. Then you quickly drop the bucket down into the ditch. Except that the bucket wasn't directly over the ditch because you were swinging fast and stopping quickly. So you've knocked a bunch of clods back down into the ditch and they roll back into that nice clean section just out of reach of the hoe.

New way: You dump a load of dirt on the spoils pile, then swing back quickly, but as you get close to the ditch you start lowering the boom. That draws fluid away from the swing, so the swing slows down smoothly and when you're directly over the ditch you give all the fluid to lowering the boom. Nice and smooth.

It takes some practice to learn to do this, but it's less wear and tear on your backhoe and it's faster digging, too.

 

[DiezNutz]

Good point, Ted. Swing and boom typically move pretty quick, so alot of folks will feather them with another function to gain more control, like you said.

 

[RayCo]

I also often use the method of starting to uncurl or something else to slow the swing. That does work well. The other dual function that I find to be perfectly engineered is bringing in the boom and the dipperstick together. By pulling both levers back evenly, it does an excellent job of keeping the bucket at the same height. It's great for making a nice flat bottom to your hole. I assume that this is designed this way on purpose.

I haven't been able to master this motion going the opposite direction, though. If I am using the hoe to sweep some dirt away from the tractor without gouging the ground, I'm quite clumsy with that still.

 

[TedLaRue]

RayCo mentions using the boom and dipper together to move the bucket on the level (rather than cutting an arc) such as when digging a ditch. I use the reverse motion (pushing the bucket away), but not to sweep dirt away as RayCo mentions.

I use that motion when my spoils pile gets too big or too close to the hole. With the bucket full of dirt and mostly curled, I set it down part of the way down the spoils pile slope, and then shove the pile away at the same time I'm uncurling the bucket to dump the new load. I'm using three cylinders to do that; boom being lowered a little, dipper being raised, and bucket being uncurled. That's not as hard as trying to sweep dirt away because the motion needn't be very precise.

 

[megaboz]

Thanks for the input. I've had a few minor problems with this new tractor, I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't another issue.

The first issue started when I was backing up a steep hill (it's a good think there was a seatbelt, that was the only think holding me in the seat), but I noticed that it was trying to shut down, I thought it was because I was coming off the seat. Nope that wasn't the issue, the single bolt that holds the seat to the frame had come loose and the spacers were not in the correct places.

Second issue was something I read on here about the front axle, sure enough it was two qarts low, but the dealer said it was still safe to operate. I don't even drive my car when it is a half quart low.

On my third day using it, I got a flat tire, should have done a check on things, but hey I only put 2 hours on it, so I thought it would be fine.

And the last great problem was that the PTO engagement switch was not hitting the safety switch thus not allowing it to start.

So with working the bugs out so far, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a real problem. I know it is no exevator, I just thought it would have a little more power. I guess I will just have to learn how to use it better.

Thanks for all the quick replies and suggestions.

 

[TedLaRue]

Originally Posted by megaboz
Second issue was something I read on here about the front axle, sure enough it was two qarts low, but the dealer said it was still safe to operate. I don't even drive my car when it is a half quart low.

For what it's worth, the level of the gear oil in a gearbox isn't nearly as critical as the level of the oil in your engine. Two quarts low is not acceptable, but probably didn't do any damage as long as some of the gears were picking up some oil.

Hope you don't have too many more bugs to work out.

 

[DiezNutz]

Yes that is an unusual number of bugs for one Kubota. I agree that the axle fluid being low wasn't terrible. The norm seems to be that they're about a quart low. Some theorize it's intentional, to keep the fluid from weeping out the vent hole.

Rayco, does the BX24 not have a boom float? That's the easiest/preferred method of pulling the bucket along a flat bottom, just by using the dipper and slighly uncurling the bucket as you go.

 

[RayCo]

Rayco, does the BX24 not have a boom float? That's the easiest/preferred method of pulling the bucket along a flat bottom, just by using the dipper and slighly uncurling the bucket as you go.

It doesn't have one that I know of. Although sometimes I think it floats on its own. For example, if I have the bucket curled so the smooth edge is on teh ground and I bring the dipperstick in without touching the boom stick at all, the bucket will follow the contour of the ground instead of staying firm in place. It's not often that I do something like this, but I find it out that it seems to float freely. Should it do this? I don't know.