M59 Backhoe Thumb Aux Hydraulics

[mikester]

Has anyone here looked at swapping/modifying the aux. manual hydraulic control valve to electric solenoid operation to replace the foot lever?

And before I start opening things up does anyone know what kind of valve body Kubota uses if I can match up to an aftermarket valve?

 

[moparrob]

Glad you posted this as I have wondered about that myself. The foot actuated valve is kinda awkward for me, and I can't use it from the seat facing forward like the other sticks. I find that I often lower the boom or swing it from side to side while Im moving forward to get under a lean-to roof or want to put a side angle on my loader blade.

 

[mikester]

Same complaint here, it’s hard to actuate the pedal wearing steel toe boots. I want to put a toggle switch on the bucket control. Ideally I want to find some kind of electro-mechanical actuator kit I could simply bolt on to the existing valve body to replace the foot lever. I see a lot of pneumatic actuator kits for trucks but adding a compressor seems a little too costly.

 

[Smokeydog]

Surpluscenter.com have 12v linear drives for experiments. They also have 12v hydraulic valves.

A simpler idea might be a hand lever near the backhoe hand controls mechanically linked or replace the OEM foot control.

Folks using their backhoe with an auger might like the option too.

I have a B26 with thumb that makes the foot deck very cramped with my big brogans.