What did you do with your Chinese baby digger today?

[oldrustysteel]

Having had mechanical thumbs on other machines I found them more bother than use. However a hydraulic thumb is a usable thumb in my opinion. I am pleased that my Typhon came with one as an added accessory and that it was plumbed and valved already to make use of it. Simple hose connection and bolt on and that was it.

I agree about the mechanical thumb. In the way when I want to dig, but completely necessary when picking up logs etc. I did make my mechanical thumb quickly removeable for the occasions when I use the machine for its designed purpose. For now, all I can do is dream about pulling a lever and my thumb swinging up and out of the way.. I am sure it will help with picking up logs, as the mechanical thumb is not always in the ideal position when grabbing things. I hope to be able to use the existing brackets. That would be nice.. BTW how is your Typhon doing? How many hours now?

 

[oldrustysteel]

I have been tearing out a jumbled up stone wall and trying to re-stack best I can. Needed to level up a BFR and the Kymron was just like having a buddy there.
Very impressed with this XH14. Plenty of power. Surprises me what it will grab and lift. Only 5.5 hours on it so far, but pleased. Did pop one of the tracks off in the first 90 minutes so now know to keep a close eye on them until they are broken in. Have tensioned them 4 times now in the last 4 hours of use.

View attachment 839254

I did a little research on the Kymron. They seem to be a well designed and very capable machine.. How is yours doing? How many hours?

 

[MattB4]

That would be nice.. BTW how is your Typhon doing? How many hours now?

It reads 22 hours but it is really only 12. This last month with the weather and the holidays I have not been running it at all. Looking forward to Spring projects with it.

 

[2manyrocks]

Personally, I think the Hydraulic thumb is one of the best things you can have on the small machines. I am not looking forward to doing it however. I suspect the hydraulic connections will be the challenge. so many different adaptors angles, threads, o-rings, sizes etc.. Thanks for posting the info. BTW where are you located?

Middle Tennessee.

I have an area I'd like to clear out that has a bunch of thorn trees. Having rubber tracks and a grapple would be nice. Hoping to get some dozer work done that might avoid me having to deal with the thorns.

 

[oldrustysteel]

Middle Tennessee.

I have an area I'd like to clear out that has a bunch of thorn trees. Having rubber tracks and a grapple would be nice. Hoping to get some dozer work done that might avoid me having to deal with the thorns.

Sounds like you have a good plan. If I had the option to have the hydraulic thumb installed when I purchased my L12, I would have done it.. Its nice that you have a dealer close to you. there is a newer model of the L12 and it appears to be better than mine. My L12 has the cooler and fan for the hydraulics but not the hyd filter. the filter is necessary for longer life of the hydraulic components. I will be adding 1 when I can. If the L12 your dealer has is grey or black, its probably the newer model. either way this site will be here to help you if needed.

 

[oldrustysteel]

It reads 22 hours but it is really only 12. This last month with the weather and the holidays I have not been running it at all. Looking forward to Spring projects with it.

Have you done any more mods other than the bucket improvements? I hope your battery disconnect is off while your machine is hibernating.

 

[MattB4]

Have you done any more mods other than the bucket improvements? I hope your battery disconnect is off while your machine is hibernating.

I detailed other mods I did over in the Thread I made and also on DFKrug's Thread. While hibernating I have a battery maintainer on it to keep it ready to go. After making the mistake of leaving the battery switch on I am a bit obsessive about checking it. Heck even now the thought of it is likely going to make me go look at it today.

 

[oldrustysteel]

I detailed other mods I did over in the Thread I made and also on DFKrug's Thread. While hibernating I have a battery maintainer on it to keep it ready to go. After making the mistake of leaving the battery switch on I am a bit obsessive about checking it. Heck even now the thought of it is likely going to make me go look at it today.

ha-ha I thought I might cause you to check.. I reread your thread but the only thing I found was you welding the sidecutters. I guess I can reread dfkrugs encyclopedia again. I just finished it for the 2nd time 2 days ago. I found a few vids from this guy The Garage Connection. on Utube. I don't know how to put a vid on here, I tried but no workie. Very good info on hydraulic fittings and more. pretty new vid about 7 days ago.

 

[oldrustysteel]

I see a dealer option to add a hydraulic thumb to the L12 that is for sale locally for $650. Is that a good upgrade or really not necessary for moving brush and larger rocks?

I just found a few good vids from this guy on you Utube, The Garage Connection He has a H12 and goes over a few things that may help you with your decision. I cant download the vid to the site here. I tried. operator error

 

[dfkrug]

I just found a few good vids from this guy on you Utube, The Garage Connection He has a H12 and goes over a few things that may help you with your decision. I cant download the vid to the site here. I tried. operator error

I looked at his video. You can link any Utube vid here by just cutting/pasting the link into the body of your post.

Overall, I liked his post, but I gotta say that JIC is certainly common here in the US, but so is NPT (lousy), and ORFS (good). O-ring face-seal is especially common on JDs, and has the downside of using a replaceable O-ring, like the metric O-ring fittings (DIN). JICs are fine, but try to remember to grease the threads or they will rust. O-ring boss (ORB) is another high-quality common fitting type.

Second: DiscoundHydraulicHose has a downloadable chart to ID fitting types and threads. I keep parts of it glued to the inside of my workshop door.

And finally, to add to TGC's thread ID post, the "redneck way": I use metric bolts of known thread pitch to ID fitting thread pitch. If you use bolts, this can work to ID female threads as well as male.

Buying the fittings to adapt metric to JIC is not expensive, nor is speccing DIN fittings instead of NPT or JIC or ORFS on hoses you have custom-made. I prefer to buy pre-made hoses (usually JIC) when I can online.