backhoe bucket problem

I got it but it wasn't pretty and it is still a really tight fit. I connected a come-a-long hooked through the pin hole of the bent plate to a nearby tree, built a little pyramid of charcoal on both sides of the bent plate, lit it and started up my old hair dryer. Tried this several times but didn't get the amount of heat to do any good. I'd get a nice quarter size area of cherry red but that wasn't enough.

What did sorta work was using the oxy-acetylene torch with a cutting tip and moving it around enough to get a larger heated area on the plate, then turing off the torch, (fire danger), and whacking it several times with a sledge. It moved enough to get the curling bracket between the plates, with a little more whacking of the sledge. Then I fired up the hoe and let it push the bracket the last little bit to clear the pin.

Couple of questions about your ideas: when several of you suggested a rosebud, were you talking about an oxy-acetylene torch tip or a propane torch tip?

Several of you suggested running a weld bead along the back of the bend. Seems to me that would just stiffen the plate even more unless you were meaning to try the bend while the plate was still hot from the weld.

As for the ideas about porta powere and bottle jacks, there wasn't enough clearance between the plates (7-3/4") to accommodate any of my hydraulic tools.

Thanks again for all the ideas.

Mike

I was talking about oxy-acetylene. I'm not sure if they are available for propane or not.

"Mike Slowey" wrote: (clip) Several of you suggested running a weld bead along the back of the bend. Seems to me that would just stiffen the plate even more unless you were meaning to try the bend while the plate was still hot from the weld.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I guess you are not a welder. The second thing a welding newbie learns about is shrinkage/distortion. (After learning to run a bead.) As the weld metal freezes and cools, it shrinks, pulling the structure toward the welded side. Usually, this is a PITA, because it has to be controlled by sequencing, weld placement and clamping. In your case, the suggestion was to weld on the convex side of the bend, and allow the cooling to pull the metal flat. It seems to me if you Vee'd out the weld line, you could make it pull more, by increasing the amount of the cross section that is shrinking, while at the same time decreasing the thickness of the unmelted part.

You need more tools! There are some really nice low profile rams by Enerpac and Harbor Freight has a small one. I was going to get one to push out a dent near the bottom of a 5 1/4" by 8' hydraulic cylinder but the people who know what they are doing at the hydraulics shop just cut the bottom out, ground away the bump, and welded the bottom back in. Don Young

Mike, when using a cutting torch to heat, you don't want to use any "cutting oxygen as this just cools the area. when adjusting the torch, too much oxygen makes a cooler flame.

glad you got it fixed...how did you bend 1 lug in the 1st place?

i would probably have welded a temporary gusset on the outside of th straight lug & heated/jacked the bent lug

-- xkvator

That was why I suggested using a piece of threaded rod. A piece of say 1" threaded rod a couple of nuts and washers placed in the holes for the pins and you could of put some force on there to start the bending. That combined with the heat and the sledge would of moved it pretty easy.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

The bucket plate was bent when I bought the hoe. The hoe engine was also seized up, several of the hydraulic lines were leaking, one of the steering cylinders still is leaking, the wiring was toast, and it had a flat rear tire. Needless to say, this is a project.

When you have a week, I will tell you all the gory details of "The Backhoe I Had a Hard-on For", soon to be serialized and made into an America's Funniest and Most Foolhardy Home Projects.

Yes, a learning experience if ever there was one. But as one of the RCM's said some time ago before I bought this step-child, "A backhoe is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on. Except for maybe a bulldozer..."

We'll see.

Mike

Isn't that the "being dead never stopped a well-known author from writing" new book from James Thurber - _Mr. Slowey builds his dream Backhoe_ ...?

I hope you got a _very_ good deal on it, because I know for sure that fixing one, even one not so far gone as that, can cost a lot.

No. I am not a welder by trade. I only weld when necessary to fix things around the farm. But this plate was a 1/2" thick and the largest rod I have on hand is an 1/8" 6011 or 6013. Would that have done the trick?

Mike

Well, whether it was a good deal or not, the value of the deal is in the eyes or the befuddled brain of the buyer. This is a Ford 550 backhoe, 3 cylinder diesel engine, formerly owned by a plumbing company that had let it sit in the rain for several years. I probably paid too much ($2500) but it was an interesting project and I learned a lot. (Mostly what not to do again.)

The first challenge was getting the damn thing into my garage.

"A dead hoe don't want to be moved, Mr. Dillon." reminded Chester, listing a little more than usual to starboard.

The transport company dumped it off at the end of the country road about a hundred yards and downhill from my garage. After flailing around for two days trying to get the hoe bucket teeth out of the asphalt, and getting the flat tire repaired, I chained it to my trust Massey Ferguson MF65 tractor and began to tow it to the garage. All went well until I ran out of hard pavement. Then the Massey became a high-wheel dirt flinger. Dammit.

What to do?? Finally, I got out an old come-along, 60 feet of log chain, and, surprise, began to move it an inch at a time up the hill to where I could let it roll down to my garage. The first come-along lasted only about a fourth of the way down to the garage. The main pawl teeth got chewed up pretty bad. The second come-along lasted for a little longer but it bec=gan chewing up its pawl teeth too, so at this point, I invested in a 3-ton chain hoist to do the balance of the hoe movement. Another glitch, this hoe only has hydraulic steering. If the engine ain't running, you got no steering. So I had to move it a little and push the front wheels a little to steer the damn thing.

(Excuse me, am I boring you?)

The most challenging part of the engine rebuild was getting the engine out of the hoe. I took the loader bucket off, rolled the dead hoe into the garage as far as the ROPS cage would allow, hung a section of scaffold over the engine area, and used a chain hoist on an old steel beam to remove it. The actual engine rebuild wasn't complicated at all. I did need to buy a heavy duty engine stand to mount the newly machined engine block.

"Okay. That's enough for now, boys and girls. More later."

Bottom line. If you want to have a hoe, it's gonna cost ya. But one man can do it (if he's really got brain fart disease and a wife who will put up all his cheap s___.)

Mike, Bashed knuckles and all....