Hello again. Been working away with my new/old backhoe doing fence line removal, got about 20hrs on the clock. The extendahoe did not work when I got it,the lines were capped off and you can see one line was blown. Sold my other loader tractor so to replace these hoses to take the extenda part off the dipper can I use my pickup bed to hold the extendahoe? Any tips on doing this job and staying alive will be much appreciated!
You really need a crane or at least another piece of equipment to do it safely. We do it using overhead cranes or the cranes on the service truck. We run a thicker lifting strap in a choker towards the bucket end of the dipper (maybe a foot or two away from the end).
D grade Do you take the bucket off? Would an engine hoist do? I have an old feedlot that is flat cement to do the work on so the small wheels on the engine hoist would move.
Find a big, strong, tree....you don't want to fool around with something like an engine hoist, and trusting it to support a boom. Hoists are dodgy enough using it in the intended use; lifting engines. Take everything off, bucket and whatever else is in the way or adds weight and difficulty. Looking at the Dig-More on my 5550, I would extend the boom over a strong tree branch, after pulling the bucket, get the dipper almost level. Then I would chain the dipper to the tree and drive the hoe away from the tree. Do all my hose installing, and then back the boom back over the dipper stick. Dig-More might be different from your extendahoe; my dipper is hollow and the extension slides inside it. Most extendahoes I've seen use a hollow extension to fit over a solid dipper.
I guess I should get a rebuild kit for the cylinder too. I would like to get the hoses before I do the job so a neighbour with a backhoe can help me do it. Any good sources for the hoses using the case part numbers?