Well she left... and my first review
- Thread starter EJP1234
- Start date
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Gil Case
Gold Member
Michigan Iron will make you a manual one- quite reasonable.
SARG
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2009
- Messages
- 810
- Location
- Upstate New York
- Tractor
- NH T1030- NH T1530 - 49G Brockway
I put a stationery thumb on my little BH6000 which is on a NH T1030. Cost $400. & is well worth it ..... especially for moving brush piles around.
Apsterbobed
Silver Member
I have the manual thumb but I would love to convert it to hydraulic. There are other attachments I want before that happens, but any thumb is better than no thumb. Years ago I ran a full size excavator with a hydraulic thumb and it was great, then we down sized to a mini with a manual thumb and it wasn't as good as the hydraulic but it was still great. The biggest downside to the manual on a back hoe is with the mini if you can't quite grab you can jockey the whole machine witch isn't as easy with the backhoe.
Buggs67
Veteran Member
I could probably spring for $400 but the MIE one is over $600. BxPanded make one for the BX hat looks good and is very reasonably priced. I might build one.
Sarg: Where did you get one for $400?
Coyote machine
Super Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2009
- Messages
- 7,641
- Location
- Southern VT
- Tractor
- 22 SANY SY 50U, '10 Kioti DK 40se/hst KL-401 FEL, loaded tires, KB-2485 bhoe, Tuffline TB160 BB, Woods QA forks, MIE Hydraulic bhoe thumb & ripper tooth, Igland 4001 winch, & GR-20 Log Grapple. Woods BBX72" Brush Mower. Diamondplate aluminum canopy
To the OP, nice rig! Couple of thoughts: to get your mat's plugs to work as intended, try lubing the plugs and then pushing through the holes, and if still needed use a plier to pull them the rest of the way until they are fully engaged.
Hoe thumb. I've had 3 on my KB-2485. First was a manual, which I hardly ever used. I then bought up to a MIE clamp on dipper stick thumb, which had hydraulics, but was not integral to the bucket pin.
Now I have the final version, also from MIE, and it shares the bucket pin as it's pivot point. It is by far the best yet, and is welded to the underside of the dipper stick in addition to the shared pivot point mentioned above.
One word of caution, I found out the hard way from having no prior use/practice with thumbs, that one must move the thumb to the bucket rather than curling the bucket into the thumb. Otherwise, as I learned the hard and expensive way, the bucket curl can overcome the thumb's ability to resist the enormous pressure of the bucket hydraulics, resulting in a bent thumb cylinder.
This is less likely with the hydraulic thumb that attaches to the bucket pin, but still warrants mindfulness in operation of the thumb. I keep mine fully retracted when not actively using it to grab something. Also do not give in to the temptation to use the thumb for anything like digging, use only the bucket for those tasks.
Personally, I think the full hydraulic package is well worth the money in the long run, if one plans on using a thumb for many tasks, but I understand that it is a personal choice and a budgetary decision as well.
Enjoy your new machine.:thumbsup:
Hoe thumb. I've had 3 on my KB-2485. First was a manual, which I hardly ever used. I then bought up to a MIE clamp on dipper stick thumb, which had hydraulics, but was not integral to the bucket pin.
Now I have the final version, also from MIE, and it shares the bucket pin as it's pivot point. It is by far the best yet, and is welded to the underside of the dipper stick in addition to the shared pivot point mentioned above.
One word of caution, I found out the hard way from having no prior use/practice with thumbs, that one must move the thumb to the bucket rather than curling the bucket into the thumb. Otherwise, as I learned the hard and expensive way, the bucket curl can overcome the thumb's ability to resist the enormous pressure of the bucket hydraulics, resulting in a bent thumb cylinder.
This is less likely with the hydraulic thumb that attaches to the bucket pin, but still warrants mindfulness in operation of the thumb. I keep mine fully retracted when not actively using it to grab something. Also do not give in to the temptation to use the thumb for anything like digging, use only the bucket for those tasks.
Personally, I think the full hydraulic package is well worth the money in the long run, if one plans on using a thumb for many tasks, but I understand that it is a personal choice and a budgetary decision as well.
Enjoy your new machine.:thumbsup: