Thumbs can be a good thing to have.

[hankus]

Recently I got tired of hitting what I though was a little rock at the edge of my yard. The property rolls off into a small revine and when mowing along its edge I've frequently dropped a wheel a little too far down the side and scalped the grass and this rock with the blade of my riding mower. Since only about 2 sq/inches of rock was showing where my blade had scalped the tip of it, I thought a shovel would be all I needed to pry it loose. I couldn't begin to budge it when I slid the shovel down to lift it out. Time for the back hoe. It didn't take long to expose the upper third or so of this rock, so I extended the thumb, and grabbed on as you can see by the pictures. I was like pulling a tooth, but it came out first try. This is a Rankin thumb and just the right size for the JD 447 BH. Just thought I'd share.

 

[mrutkaus]

Nice of you to share thumb-thing!

Mike

 

[Coyote machine]

Nice thumby!
Are the Rankin thumbs specifically for JD tractors, and did your bh come with the mounting brackets for the thumb or did you add those?
Thanks....

 

[hankus]

Rankin offers 4 different sizes of thumbs. The model choosen for my JD 447 was their UAT-100-R. The thumb comes ready to install, with a flat mounting base that aligns with the flat on the BH. The dealer welded the thumb to the dipper stick and painted to match. Here's a link to the Rankin site and all their products. Rankin Equipment Co. BTW, this particular thumb only weighs 56lbs, their biggest weighs a whopping 281 lbs.

 

[two_bit_score]

Best thing I did when I got my BH was get a thumb.