Skid Steer-Mounted Grader, Backhoe Both Home-Built

Skid Steer-Mounted Grader, Backhoe Both Home-Built TRACTORS Skid Steer Loaders 25-2-20 "My home-built grader and backhoe work great and cost about half of commercial models," says Frank Jepps, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, who mounts the rigs on his Deere skid steer loader. Jepps used 6-in. channel iron to build the grader frame. The front part of the grader rides on a pair of 15-in. castor wheels. The blade angles from side to side and also up and down. The grader's 7 1/2-ft. blade, as well as the two cylinders that angle the blade from side to side, is off a pickup-mounted snowplow. A pair of 30-in. cylinders are used to raise or lower the blade. The grader frame still has the original snowplow quick hitch that was used to hook it up to the pickup. Jepps made a second quick hitch that attaches with two pins to the skid loader, allowing him to quickly remove the blade and mount it back on the pickup. "Skid loaders do a lot of hopping and skipping, but with the frame and blade out front supported by a pair of wheels, the bouncing is greatly reduced," says Jepps. "I use the blade as a snowplow during the winter and to back fill trenches during the summer. I already had the blade. My total cost was just under $600. Hydraulic hoses, valves and cylinders accounted for about 80 percent of the cost. I munted a valve body that slips into a quick-change slide holder on front of the skid loader where it's easy to reach. When I unhook the grader, I pull two quick release handles, lift the valve out of the slide and throw it on the grader, then back away." The backhoe mounts on the skid loader via a 3-pt. quick hitch. The boom is made out of 1/4-in. thick sq. steel tubing while the 16-in. wide bucket is made out of 13-in. dia. "rat hole" tubing. The machine is equipped with five hydraulic cylinders. Two cylinders swing the bucket in or out and the others operate the boom. The seat is off an old tractor. "It works beautifully and has more breakout power than commercial models that sell for up to $10,000. I built it for $4,000 not including my labor. Most of the cost was for hydraulic and valve controls," says Jepps. "I use it to dig deep trenches for sewer fields, septic tanks, and ditches." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Frank Jepps, RR 2, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada T0M 1T0 (ph 403 845-4766).

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