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Mini Backhoe Controlled By "Made It Myself" Hydraulics
"I built it as a challenge and couldn't be happier with how it turned out," says Andrew Vincek, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., about the home-built, self-propelled mini backhoe he made out of an old Murray lawn tractor. He made the rig's eight hydraulic cylinders out of shock absorbers.
The one-of-a-kind machine is
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Mini Backhoe Controlled By "Made It Myself" Hydraulics TRACTORS Hydraulics 28-2-10 "I built it as a challenge and couldn't be happier with how it turned out," says Andrew Vincek, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., about the home-built, self-propelled mini backhoe he made out of an old Murray lawn tractor. He made the rig's eight hydraulic cylinders out of shock absorbers.
The one-of-a-kind machine is equipped with a 9-in. wide bucket that can dig up to 5 ft. deep and has a 4 1/2-ft. dumping height and a 7-ft. reach. The bucket hydraulically swings 120 degrees from side to side.
Vincek reversed the seat, steering wheel, and controls so the operator faces the tractor's rear wheels. The mower's control levers are used for going forward and back.
He stripped the tractor down to the frame, wheels and axles and used 2-in. channel iron to make a new frame which he bolted on top of the original frame. The backhoe's frame bolts on top of the add-on frame, allowing it to be easily disconnected. He removed the original engine and replaced it with a new vertical 6 hp Tecumseh engine that drives a low pressure, 3.2 gpm hydraulic pump equipped with a flexible coupling. A pulley above the flexible coupling on the crankshaft output drives the transaxle.
The shift lever to the tractor's foot clutch brake pedal was converted to hand operation. He cut off the foot pedal and welded a shift lever to the foot clutch. The seat rests on a homemade hydraulic reservoir. A heavy duty rear bumper grill was made out of thick steel, channel iron and sq. tubing.
"Even though the engine has only 6 hp it has plenty of power to operate the hydraulics. It has enough power that if the bucket encounters something hard it'll slide the tractor off to one side or the other."
Vincek made the machine's hydraulic cylinders by reworking shocks off old 3/4-ton Dodge pickups. All cylinders have a 5/8-in. dia. piston rod, 1 3/8-in. bore and a 10-in. stroke, with 1,400 lbs. of push and 1,100 lbs. of pull. "Cylinders that have low line pressure and high pressure could be dangerous," he notes. An adjustable relief valve is used to keep the pressure from getting too high and bursting the cylinders.
"I made the cylinders because I couldn't find the size I needed and because I wanted to save money. My homemade cylinders weigh only 7 lbs. apiece compared to commercial cylinders that weigh about 20 lbs. apiece."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Andrew Vincek, 64 Smith Bridge Rd., Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 12866 (ph 518 584-7758).
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