Need help with a thumb bushing size.

jamobaum · May 21, 2019

Hello all,

I have a 2015 Kubota KX-091 that I am trying to mount up a hydraulic thumb. I didn't want to spend a lot on a 'factory' one as I just put a lot of money on the initial purchase. Anyway, I picked up a very nice 32" long manual thumb and brackets online and they work great, but I want to make it a hydraulic one. I ordered a cylinder (2x14) with 1" pinholes. I was hoping to connect the 1" into the factory Kubota thumb attachment point on the dipper. It's metric of course so I'm not sure of the diameter. I do know that a 1 1/4" pin is only so slightly to big and a 1 3/16" pin is too 'sloppy'. Was hoping maybe to get a 1" inside diameter bushing with the correct diamter outside bushing to fit the machine.
Thanks

dfkrug · May 21, 2019

I buy plain bearing inserts (aka sleeve bearings) from bearing suppliers by size. My hoe uses both 25mm and 30mm pins, so the bores (without inserts) are about 2mm bigger. The inserts often have Teflon inside coatings. You can go to a place like astbearings.com and view their PDF catalog. I have also found the bearings I needed direct from China on eBay.

You may find that getting the old ones out is a lot harder than installation of the new ones.

guitarman · May 21, 2019

Try mcmaster carr they have a large selection of industrial supplies including bearing bushings which you order by .001 increments for od and id you will need a fairly accurate measurement to know sizes. You can get a pair of dial or digital calipers on Amazon for around $10 for some cheap imports, but they work and are handy to have around.

Rebeldad1 · Oct 18, 2019

guitarman said:
Try mcmaster carr they have a large selection of industrial supplies including bearing bushings which you order by .001 increments for od and id you will need a fairly accurate measurement to know sizes. You can get a pair of dial or digital calipers on Amazon for around $10 for some cheap imports, but they work and are handy to have around.

Thanks for that information. I need a couple bushings for my panhard bar in my F350