Backhoe sub-frame

Don't know who installed your pump but it's mounted sideways. Either vertical position will work for operation (pump on top or bottom).

I would recommend the current position for filling with a quality 80w-90 gear oil, until oil runs out of the hole. Invert the pump for draining. Do not completely fill the gear case.

Love to see the sub-frame once you design. Interested in doing the same thing.

Thanks

By the time you get up into a rig that will do 5/8″ MS, you're out of the casual hobby league. Lincoln has a nice package for just over a couple grand.

I would think you could make a buck of what you want out of wood, make sure everything fits together, then take it to a welding shop that can cut the parts out on a plasma table. After all, how often are you going to use a HD plasma cutter?

The problem with budget plasma cutters is that they rate them by what they will cut, which actually means “sever.”  A sever cut is going to be crude, ugly and  slow as can be, needing a lot of cleanup grinding.  What counts, in the real world, is how thick a material it will cut cleanly while traveling at 12 inches per second or so – that's about the slowest you can cut and hold a smooth line, freehand.  A 40 amp plasma cutter may be able to sever as much as 3/4″ stock, but it will only do a smooth sweeping cut on material up to about 3/8″, possibly 1/2″ on a really good day when the local utility is overreaching themselves.  To zip through 5/8″ MS you'll need a 50-amp or better machine unless you resort to track guides, machine cutting or the like.  Or are willing to spends a bunch of time getting intimately acquainted with an angle grinder. 

You can check out the plasma cutters on http://www.longevity-inc.com to see what they rate their machines at.  I've found them to be pretty darn honest on the detailed specs.  If you're willing to drop the big bucks, the top brand in plasma cutters is probably Hypertherm. 

Personally, I'd draw up the parts in a CAD program and have them cut by someone with a plasma table.  MY plasma cutter is a 50-amp machine and I know I can't hold steady enough to do a smooth job of long cuts on heavy plate.

Hey!  Nobody said not to get one, just to be realistic about what it will do.  I never discourage anyone from buying cool toys, errr tools.   

I sometimes have brief negotiations () with my wife over tools I want.  Heck, I even use most of them! 

I'd build it from wood and have the local shop make it from readily available stock such as channel iron, square tubing, etc.  After tacking, I'd make a test fit before final welding.

My own HW04X subframe wouldn't be difficult to copy (and improve).

Picture is “too big” to post on CTOA but was easy to post on TBN.

I resized the photo and uploaded it but it doesn't show up.  If somebody can walk me through the picture posting, I'll gladly post it again.

Len,

I have both an older Longevity 200-amp AC/DC TIG welder and one of the ForceCut 50D plasma cutters.  Both do all that they say they will.  The Longevity people stand behind their products and I've found them to be fine to deal with.  If you're going to use one of their 50-amp machines on a machine drive, I'd suggest you get the ForceCut 50i, rather than the cheaper 50D.  The 50D does not have pilot arc starting so you need to make contact with the electrode to initiate the arc, which doesn't work well with automated tracking or cutting.  If you're thinking of later building a CAD-driven table, you'll absolutely require the pilot arc machine. 

I think you'd be very happy with the ForceCut 50i. 

Len,

I hope you noticed in the TBN thread they sent me the wrong BH.  I self imported it, along with other items, and specified an HW03X but they sent the HW04X which is a seven foot BH.

The frame is rugged and easy/on off via special brackets I acquired from Affordable.  The brackets were leftovers in stock and I was luck to find them.

My only problem with this frame and swivel seat setup are:

1. The controls are too far away from the swivel seat setup.  The seat tracks do not allow the seat to travel far enough to reach the controls.  Even if I turned the controls around (like RonMar), I've still got the elevation problem as in (2) below.
2. The second problem is one of height.  Even if the swivel seat could travel far enough, it's too high.
3. The third problem is that there's not quite enough space to add a second rear facing seat.  I recently dug around 300 feet of trench and had to do something so I laid a 2X6 across the fenders and it turned out to be the right height as well as the right distance from the controls.  Since the BH is now off the tractor for the winter, I've got time to figure out a better solution.

The message here is that if you are building your own frame you really have to think out where and how the seat will be positioned relative to the controls.

The swivel device from Jinma raises the seat around 3-3/4″.  It has a locking pin and should not be used without the pin because the seat & driver load rests on the bearings.  The bearings have been known to fall out if the pin isn't used because it's the pin that supports the weight.

I'll gladly sell my new swivel.

Most of my BH work is trenching so I actually spend little time on the seat before moving the tractor again.  So…the seat is not all that important as long as I can easily use the controls.  If I were digging stumps and spending a lot of time without moving the tractor the seat comfort would be more important.

Most of my BH work is trenching so I actually spend little time on the
seat before moving the tractor again.  So…the seat is not all that
important as long as I can easily use the controls.  If I were digging
stumps and spending a lot of time without moving the tractor the seat
comfort would be more important.

The way I have done it for many years to the raise the outriggers push the tractor ahead with the backhoe, drop the outriggers and keep digging. A person will get a lot more digging done than climbing from one seat to another every couple of minutes. 

Good idea, but I read somewhere, and have been following it, to raise front wheels with loader.  I've been raising front with loader/toothbar embedded in the ground.

Good idea, but I read somewhere, and have been following it, to raise
front wheels with loader.  I've been raising front with loader/toothbar
embedded in the ground.

An operators manual for an industrial backhoe will instruct the operator to do that with the front bucket in very hard digging conditions so that you don't drag yourself backwards while you are digging.  But if the digging is that hard then a AG tractor with a small attachment backhoe is probably not the machine for the job.  

When you're digging in  straight line like straddling  a trench, the outriggers should be taking about 90% of the stress unless you're really reaching out as far as you can.  So the bucket isn't doing much for you.  When working at an angle you put it down to prevent sliding and to increase your footprint for leverage.

I'm no expert but my HW04X ties the subframe from the rear directly to the loader.  The result is that the tractor bellhousing sees little or no tensile/torsional stress (such as tendency to break tractor in half).

The subframe should manage all downward, lateral, torsional and fore/aft forces so if you plan on using the bucket as a stablizing anchor you should plan on a rigid connection from the rear subframe directly to the loader frame.  The entire subframe should be rigid and allow no looseness or flexing.

I like the axle housing anchor point..keep up the good work.

As you can see from the picture, it is very roughly cut.  It came
directly from the factory this way.  Does anyone know what they could
be possibly for?

One humorous thought comes to mind.
That is that the Chinese was scabbing something else together nearby
and needed a couple of gussets so they hacked them out of your frame.