I just bought a 2003 John Deere 310SG Loader/Backhoe. I bought it primarily for use on my land and my home build. My land is all rock and trees. I would benefit greatly from having a thumb on the hoe but alas, the unit I bought did not have one. It is plumbed for a hoepack/breaker. It has mechanical controls, not pilot. The hoepack hydraulics are controlled via a electronic foot pedal with a main on/off switch on the panel. My question is, given what I have, what is the best way to plumb a thumb and control it? Any suggestions for companies that offer a kit? I have been talking with a company that all they do is thumbs and they seem good but most of their business is on Excavators and I'm not confident I will get the best solution for a backhoe. Help?
i was wondering the same thing. looking for one for our 410g.
Contact Bobby Hudson at Hyd Circuit Technology. www.hctkits.com
I don't know the particular valve you have in the machine so I would suggest you talk to your local dealer before you do anything. It may be possible that all you have to do for the hydraulics is to reroute a hose to pick up the opposite function for the thumb operation. You have Weldco Beales in your neighborhood so I would suggest them for the thumb itself. I don't have the BC number but they are on the web. Good Luck!
Since I see you are in BC. Check out CWS. They are in Surrey, BC http://www.cwsindustries.com/ They have Hydraulic, Hydraulic Progressive, and Mechanical thumbs for backhoes. Now most people just use a mechanical thumb on a backhoe, because a hydraulic is so expensive by the time you get the controls, etc. And a hydraulic progressive is even more money. You will have to get another control kit to operate the thumb, as the control you have for the hoe pack is one way. You will also have to replace your control stick so it has the buttons to push the thumb each way. To give you some idea on costs. I put a control and hydraulic kit on our backhoe a couple of years ago to run a hoe pack and breaker. It was about $2000 installed, and this was a simple one like you have with the dash switch and foot pedal. We have PSM hydraulic progressive link thumbs on our excavators, today I believe it would cost about $15,000 to install one.
I will check out CWS. My dealer quoted me about $10,000 for one but that's too much for me. I'm hoping to get one done for about $4000 all in. What I really want to find out is the easiest and best way to configure the hydraulics with what I have.
check out www.northsaw.com for the thumb itself, the prices are great, we just ordered a drect pin mount for our 70SR, dont have it yet, but as you can see from the pics, its a heck of a unit!
I always wanted to try one of these mechanical thumbs .
Geith is a respected name.
They work great! I had one on my case backhoe.
We had one on a 310d and didn't like it. The bucket would only close halfway where it be the thumb. Like ATCOEQUIP said try them out. They seemed to be good folks.
Deereman, I assume your reference to me is to try Hyd Circuit Technology as mentioned in my previous post. HCT and Bobby Hudson are good people and the price of their products is comparable or better than quotes I've got from other suppliers. I have installed one of their aux hyd kits, everything worked perfect. We've had a number of persons call us for one of our attachments and state they would like to put an aux hyd circuit on the excavator or backhoe, we refer them to HCT.
you are correct atcoequip, sorry bout that..
My welder and I designed and built a great mechanical thumb for my 510B which then got transplanted to my 410G.Unless you have work for the thumb constantly,you really don't need a hydraulic one.Mine cost app.$500 to build and it's now about 8 years old and still works great.I do quite a bit of demo jobs with it and it's priceless to have when needed.
Do you have a photo of your build? Did it operate with the extendahoe?
A little bit of a fast'n'cheap way is to use one of the outrigger controls. a double acting lock valve at the cylinder so the thing won't fall down, a 4 way selector (manual or electric) provides the option to use thumb or outrigger. The thumb cylinder may need it's own cross port relief to protect it from overload from the bucket force. We use both outrigger circuits when hanging drills so we can have a feed and crowd for the mast.
Sorry--don't know how to do pics--yes to operating just fine with the E-hoe.
Try this guy here in Northern Ontario. His price is really good, around $400. for a mechanical thumb. http://cdp-backhoe.com/
You can always just watch various Auctions, they are sold all the time.
Maybe I'm not looking in the right spot but I can't see a mechanical thumb on his site. I click on thumbs and it seems all hydraulic.
I spoke with my mechanic about this or eBay. He strongly recommends not doing this. He feels if the thumb isn't designed for the specific machine it may end up being very difficult to install and/or not function well.
When you are on the CDP website, click the Thumbs tab. It states that most thumbs can be hydraulic with minimun mods.
Got it. Thanks.
Welcome to HEF, Mark ! Did you have a question ? I doubt if Deereman is going to be any help. He hasn't logged into the site in three years.
I have been wanting a thumb on my 310 d.. just wondering if anyone else here has done it. Thanks.
I'm sure some has don it on a 310D. It is a common addition to TLB's. Do you have an extend-a-hoe or a regular dipper on yours ? There are different style thumbs in regards to how they operate.
Regular dipper. And I know how to weld. Not sure if there's enough clearance. Really wish I can converse with someone who has one
I put one on my Case backhoe. Here is a link to a thread I posted in the hopes it may help anyone contemplating doing it also.
Thanks
There other ways to plumb a thumb. In that thread is what worked for me. It was easy and not very expensive
This guy put a thumb on a little hoe, complicated but lot of pictures and explanation of how he plumbed it. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/125912-custom-hydraulic-backhoe-thumb.html Joe H