Backhoe LITW backhoe on T273

[flyer91]

I got some pictures of the LITW hoe in action, digging out some stumps.

See 'em here http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/5129/sort/1/size/big/cat/683/page/

So far I'm really impressed with this tractor, and the LITW hoe.
The thing is a little beast.
I've dug around some huge stumps (5 foot dia. root ball of Oak and Buckeye) tugged them out with the hoe using the thumb, and placed them on top of a burn pile using the loader and a nylon strap (after I installed some tow hooks) doing duty as a poor man's grapple, all with no problems.
I did have to ballast the loader to pick one of the larger stumps out of the hole using the hoe/thumb because the front end wanted to get airborne as I lifted the stump, but a scoop of dirt was all it took to keep it level until I could get the stump out of the ~ 4 foot deep hole, then I drug it to the pile (using the loader hook/nylon strap) going backwards up a bit of an incline, and then hog tied it to the loader hooks, and lifted it up onto the pile.

The only nit'pic issues I've had are ..... the rubber mat slipping, and the lower muffler mount rattling.
I fixed the lower muffler mount by using an extra washer, and will do the floor with spray on truck bed liner.
I don't think this would be as much of an issue if I was on flat ground, but on the hills I have on my property ... the mat slipping is a bit of a pain when getting in and out of the tractor when it's on an incline.

 

[Roady]

Looks good flyer. I'll try to post some pics of my muffler. Last summer TYM redesigned it putting a extra brace on it. My original one broke within the first month. You can look at the pics and see if you have the newer one. If you don't, I'd request it from the dealer.

Roady

 

[flyer91]

Thanks Roady!
I appreciate you doing that.

 

[myyaz33]

I'd like to see the pics as well.

 

[Roady]

Here you go. The long flat brace that runs the length of the muffler on the very bottom is the new part. My first one didn't have it and ended up in 3 pieces within the first 15 hours.



Roady

 

[Roady]

Flyer, one more tip for you now that the backhoe has some use on it. I posted this in another thread but in case you missed it.

Have a magnetic level handy. Place it on the vertical sheetmetal below the joysticks. That way you know how far to tighten (or loosen) the toplink to get the platform exactly level. If it's off one way or the other, it puts undo stress on the subframe. Repeat after hard use.

Trust me on this, I'm on my 2nd subframe.

Roady

 

[flyer91]

I do not have that brace under the muffler.
I'll contact TYM and see if they will send the braced muffler before it breaks.
Hopefully they will send the new one (with the brace) and let me send the one I have back "after the fact". If not I will probably just make a brace using your pic's as a guide, and have my brother weld it on.

Thanks again for posting that Roady.
You have probably saved me from some unexpected down time.

P.S. I have the level and saw your earlier post.
Once again, thanks for the tip Roady.

 

[N.W. Logger]

I am looking at putting a backhoe on my T273 and I would like to know why you picked the LITW over the TYM backhoe?
Is yours frame mounted?
Is the LITW easy to put on and off?

 

[flyer91]

Basically .... it was what was available when I ordered my TLB (I needed to move faster than the lead time to get a TYM, to get the work I'm doing started before the burn season closes up here) and it has good reviews.

Most of the spec's 'are' a tad better that the TYM, but they really are both so close that that's probably a moot point.

It does ride with a lower center of gravity (I operate in a hilly area) while it still has a seat position high enough to put a tool box under it on the T2's rear deck, and provides a good view of the work area. It also comes with a thumb mount factory installed.
It mounts using a frame mount, and goes on and off just like the TYM hoe.

I guess time will tell if it was a wise choice, but so far it's working out very well, and I'm clearing some 'very' large stumps off my property with it.

 

[flyer91]

Well .... I have just over 42 hours on my T273 and the LITW BH6600 backhoe, and I am down for parts.
I'm not sure why, but the O-rings for the boom and swing controls both have blown up between the retaining washers and the shaft of the controls, and they are leaking badly.
I took the control plate off and you can see the blown O-ring here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/5261/size/big/sort/1/cat/685 (See the caption for explination)
Another couple of annoying aspects of this hoe are:
1 It's stabilizers creep down faster than I feel is tolerable, not only while parked, but also when in use.
I'm told this is normal. That bleeding down of a few inches overnight is within spec.
But you have to constantly reset them every few minutes or so while in use.
This issue also makes taking it off and parking the hoe a real problem, as you can't count on the stabilizers to hold it in a "parked position" when they bleed down so far and so fast.
And I can only imagine the problems when trying to put it back on it's subframe, after removing it for even just one day.

2 - The manual states you have to lube the hoe 'twice' per day (once at the start and once midway through the job).
There are a lot of zerk fittings on this hoe, but what's worse is that they are a bit too long in most cases, and actually hit the pins.
That means they you have to back them out a bit to get grease to feed into the them.
I was hoping that by 40+ hours that the inner ends would have worn down enough to not have to do this "backing them out twice a day" to get the grease to feed, and then tighten them up again, but so far every time I grease the hoe I have to back out a number of the fittings to get grease to feed into the pivots.
Actually this alone is not a biggie, and just taking some time to place washers under them, or shorten them on a grinder then pump some grease through them to clean them out, would put an end to that issue.
But ... the zerk fittings are threaded into the outer tube of the pivots and not through the pins like on the TYM hoe (where they also are recessed and protected from bumps).
On the LITW the way thay are mounted places the zerk fittings directly in harms way, especially at the bucket pivot end.
The recessed zerks on the TYM BT200, and the requirement for greasing only once a day (or every 10 hours) alone have had me sorta wishing I had waited for the BT200, instead of getting the LITW (except I really needed to get on this project in a timely manner, and the LITW was what was available at the time I ordered my TLB) but when you add that it's now down for leaking O-rings, that pretty much seals it (no pun intended).
I suspect that the T273 might have too much hydraulics for the 6600 (but it 'is' within the hoe's spec's.) or maybe the control block on mine was just not machined properly, and having the O rings blow out in itself would not put me off this hoe as much as the other things I've listed, have.
The O-rings are just the last straw.
As I initially wrote ... "time will tell" and it has.
I really can't recommend this hoe in it's current configuration with it's annoying quirks, and it will be a short time in my equipment shack to be sure.

 

[shvl73]

its too bad you've had bad luck so far. I haven't had any real problems with my BH7600. The stabilizers do leak down, though I park mine on blocks, so no biggy. I did break the zerk on the bucket pivot, though its been fine since I replaced it. All mine take grease well. I haven't had the o-ring issue. I suspect its an isolated problem. I do hope you get up and running soon.

 

[flyer91]

Thanks for the kind words shvl73.
I should be back up in short order, I just need to get the O rings, and it's an easy job to replace them.
Your 7600 has an altogether different control block than does the 6600, so I'd bet if you haven't had any isses with O rings you probably won't.

In all fairness the BH6600 hoe actually performs well (beyond the bleeding down of the stab's all the time) and the zerk fittings could be both shortened as I indicated and 'protected' by welding short lengths of ... say, 1/2" I.D. thick wall pipe to the tube that the fittings are threaded into, to surround the fittings (especially at the bucket end) so it still allows a grease gun to get to the fitting do it's job, while it goes a long way to keeping the fittings from being scraped off if you hit a rock.
I'll end up doing this before I sell it (actually have my brother do it with his welder) as I still have a lot of work to do in short time.
I have a lot of trees on my property and if I don't secure the stab's with bungees (or some other means) while I'm using the FEL, they bleed down far enough (in less than only a few minutes) to be sticking out where they could easily hit a tree if I don't stay vigilant.
Too bad there is no easy way to mod them to be able to pin them (like the boom and swing) in both the up and down positions.

 

[Scott V]

I am running the 6600 pump/tank setup on my TC-30. I bought mine at the same place you did. I just took the hoe off and it will sit flat on the floor with the stabilizers in the up position. I can put the pump on and bring up to a level to hook up. I didn't notice my Stabilizers moving down until overnight.

 

[flyer91]

I'm not back on line yet but I would like to say that Steve at Valley View is going beyond the call of duty to get me back at work.
He has taken the O-rings off a new valve block, and is overnighting them to me.
I'm really glad to have bought from a dealer that is willing to provide this level of support tor me ..... after the sale.
He's also given me some "timed tests" to run on the stabilizers, in both the up position and down with weight on them.
Once I'm back up and running I will do the tests and we'll go from there.
I'm also trying to see if I can determine the failure mechanism for the O-rings.
The control valve block is mounted to the panel by 3 bolts.
Two at one end and one at the other.
The end that has the two failed O-Rings is at the end that has two bolts, so I will check the mounting boss for flatness, and make sure there is no warp in it.
I hate to just swap parts without finding a root cause for the failure, but it may very well be that the O-rings were incorrectly installed by Nimco in the first place.
Steve indicated that they have not had any issues like this before, and Nimco valves are used in many OEM applications so ... we'll see what we can find and I'll report what I find, assuming I find anything.

 

[shvl73]

Good news! It certainly helps when the dealer is responsive. I'd be interested to know your end results. If you get an answer on the leak down of the stabilizers, please post. It has become second nature for me to bump the valves to keep the pressure on mine.
Thanks.

 

[YanmarFever]

I'm not back on line yet but I would like to say that Steve at Valley View is going beyond the call of duty to get me back at work.
He has taken the O-rings off a new valve block, and is overnighting them to me.
I'm really glad to have bought from a dealer that is willing to provide this level of support tor me ..... after the sale.
He's also given me some "timed tests" to run on the stabilizers, in both the up position and down with weight on them.
Once I'm back up and running I will do the tests and we'll go from there.
I'm also trying to see if I can determine the failure mechanism for the O-rings.
The control valve block is mounted to the panel by 3 bolts.
Two at one end and one at the other.
The end that has the two failed O-Rings is at the end that has two bolts, so I will check the mounting boss for flatness, and make sure there is no warp in it.
I to just swap parts without finding a root cause for the failure, but it may very well be that the O-rings were incorrectly installed by Nimco in the first place.
Steve indicated that they have not had any issues like this before, and Nimco valves are used in many OEM applications so ... we'll see what we can find and I'll report what I find, assuming I find anything.

Gary, I have the same bachoe as you, I also bought it from Steve.

The O rings did the same thing 2 years ago and we replaced them, since then I have had no problems at all.

Our backhoe has the thumb and pto pump, and its fast, it was well worth the money.

 

[flyer91]

I installed the new O-rings and made it through about half the day and it appears that the same ones are leaking again (fluid is dripping out of the same side of the control panel).
I will finish this project on my property (in a few more days) while keeping a close eye on my fluid level, by then I'll be at my first service point, and I'll open up the control valve block again to see what's going on.
My plan is to (hopefully) compare the I.D. of the O-ring retaining washers to new ones to see if for some reason the I.D of mine are too large, non concentric, etc, allowing the O-rings to slip through partially, and then leaking.

Nimco was absolutely no help whatsoever.
They just made a lot of noise about how they value their end users, but said "at the end of the day we can't do anything but send you back to the OEM".
They wouldn't even give me a part number, nor specifications for the O-ring, even though the valve block carries their part number, and the drawing in the LITW manual is their drawing.

Big kudos to Steve at Valley View for getting the O-rings to me as fast as he did (by cannibalizing them from a new valve block).
I think that really speaks well of him and Valley View.
Unfortunately the root problem is still to be determined.

 

[flyer91]

Well ..... they closed the burn season up here today, so I opened up the control panel and found that the top of the valve block is dry (meaning the new leak is 'not' form the O-rings I replaced).
After cleaning everything up I found 'this time' the leak was coming from the bottom cap for the right stabilizer valve.
I took off the cap and found it's lower O-ring cut in two, with most of it stuck in the spring, and the rest still in it's channel in the lower section of the valve rod.
I suspect that what's happening is a result of a bad, plugged or incorrectly set pressure relief valve.
I'm also concerned that if the relief valve has been the root cause (this is looking pretty likely) it has let the system run at much higher than design pressures, and other O-rings/seals/components might be ready to fail.
I've sent an e-mail to Steve at Valley View, and hopefully he can get LITW to agree to sending me a new/rebuilt valve block.

On the plus side .... I got most of the work I needed to get done finished, it's a really nice day, I'm 20 miles away from Yosemite and I own a '99 Prowler, so .... I'm going for a "top-down, radio-up" drive folks!!

 

[flyer91]

I wanted to let any interested parties know that I am not being quiet because of any lack of support from Valley View on my LITW hoe issue.
Quite the contrary. Steve has been extremely helpful and responded by providing parts via overnight, technical support, and even offered to loan me a gauge (to do quantified tests) if I needed it.
The reason I've not posted anything positive as a result of his efforts, is because .... I went and broke my leg just as everything was showing up to effect the repairs.

My darn dog (he's a city dog) ran down our back hill and plowed into me at full bore, breaking my fib, my tib, and rotating my foot so that it pointed south when I was heading north.
So now it seems I may need to go in for a plate and screws.

In any case, my brother is coming up to help me (read: 'help my dear wife') get some of the 'time related' projects taken care of, and he will probably be able to get my hoe back on line so we can get the TLB in it's storage (one of the projects being finished) were it will stay until I can get about again.

So ... I haven't forgotten my promise to do the 'bleed down' tests discussed earlier, and post the results.
I just need some healin' time.

BTW: Anyone wanna buy a real fast dog?

 

[myyaz33]

That sucks!! Sure you already knew that though... Hope it heals fast. Best of luck to you.