Hi - when i purchased my 580k it came with a new weldOn thumb (Excalibur). Pics are attached. Question i have...is it okay to weld this onto the arm? My manual says not to weld to ductile steel and not sure if the arm is ductile steel or not....please advise
I am not sure about the earlier K's, but the later superK extendahoe is fabricated. I have welded a thumb to a SuperK. That one looks a little different. If you examine it carefully, and you see weld beads where it is put together, it's not ductile steel. If it is a one piece casting, like the main boom, it is ductile steel. If it is, you can weld the thumb to a piece of plate a little wider than the stick, and run bolts beside the stick to a plate behind it.
Are you sure it said ductile STEEL and not IRON? Maybe they called it that, after all the major difference between CI and steel is the carbon content. Ductile usually refers to a type of cast iron, which can deform somewhat before breaking or cracking. If the manual says not to weld to the stick, then there it is. Perhaps the stick is steel and the boom is CI? If the stick is CI and is not weldable, then I don't know how would you attach a thumb? i don't want to knock case, I really like a lot of things about them and considered buying one but since I am also a welder, the CI boom spooked me, there are threads on here of guys who broke them, welded them and then replaced them asap. I bought a deere again, 2nd backhoe i've owned, and one of the reasons was the all steel backhoe. I know CI can be brazed or welded, have done it on occasion, but making a repair on a backhoe boom or dipperstick and the stresses they encounter would never be as good as it was new.
Maybe this will help, I am thinking of adding a thumb at some point as well. Good luck! :usa http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/31869-Which-is-it-cast-iron-or-cast-steel http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1677
i have one on my 580sk xtend a hoe is not d-iorn trevor b
The operators manual seems to indicate the dipper is ductile iron and not to weld.....guess that means i have an excalibur thumb i'm going to need to sell.....unless anyone can clarify what the manual is trying to convey...
As far as I can recall the boom and the inside of the digmor is ductile iron. It should be steel on the outer sleeve you are welding on & getting the grease out, so you don't have a fire. Good luck
The dipper on a standard is ductile ans should not be welded or drilled. The inner section on an extendahoe is also ductile but the outer section is fabricated and can be welded so you will be fine. You might check the bucket end of the dipper and see if the end were the bucket pivots is welded to the tube or bolted. The first version had the pivot casting bolted on and would break the bolts under heavy use and worse if a thumb is added. If it has the bolted on casting it can be welded to the tube to eliminate bolt breakage when the thumb is added.
rdavison39 the dipper can be welded on the boom can not . i will try to post pic's if i can . trevorb
the best thing to do before you sell the thumb is to get a welder to look at it he will be the expert .all i know is we welded one on my 580sk no problim trevorb
attching thumb
rdavison39 here are 4 pics of my thumb sorry not the best quality but it is welded on .thanks for reply'son how to post pic's trevor b
Thanks everyone. From what i can conclude, because i have an extend-a-hoe the sleeve where i would weld the the thumb is not ductile iron so i should be okay to weld. If it were not an extend-a-hoe then i'd have a problem. Thx everyone who contributed to this thread. Helped a lot
Several years later. How’s is the welded on thumb holding up for folks with the extendahoe?
Welcome to HEF, Alaska_580K ! I didn't know you joined up until you posted today. Are you interested in adding a thumb to your (I'm assuming) 580K ?
Why would it not be holding up? Sounds like there is a point ur trying to make? Or something related to the ductile iron talk previous in the thread? The extendahoe on case 580's is mild steel. Zero issues welding on a thumb. End of debate. Now, if you don't have extendahoe on a case 580, dont weld on a thumb, because its ductile iron, at least on the K seriese and up. Now I think the E series and earlier are mild steel booms and dippers.
I bought the same thumb at an RB auction but haven't put it on yet. Trying to think of a way to make it removeable. My dipper is odd because it has a long tapered plate welded down the middle so isn't completely flat to weld the thumb on.
If I were to buy one for a 580 it would be this one. I'm don't know how they attached the cylinder base bracket. Ductile iron would be easy. Two steel plates wider than the dipper and four grade 8 bolts to clamp it on.
Thank you. I've browsed this site for the past couple months. Lots of good information. The ones Ive been looking at were on amazon. $200-$300 each. I recently picked up a 94 580K phase 1 recently. 4x4, 4n1, extendahoe. Haven't met it yet. Ha. Next month making the long haul with it back to Alaska. Was thinking go picking up a thumb as it would come in handy as I clear quite a few acres of land. https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Attach...&keywords=backhoe+thumb&qid=1623297635&sr=8-6
Any specific reason for wanting to make it removable? I did consider some of the bolt-on options but the price sky rocketed. There was another thread with a nice example of a bolt on but mfg is asking over $1K. I would be paying a welder as I lack both the welder and skills at this time.
For removal, Simply un-pin the thumb tine and remove it. Same for the hydraulic cylinder. Quick couplers on the cylinder hoses would be a good thing to have on them. The cylinder is well protected from damage when the thumb is retracted. The tine covers quit a bit of it. The tine needs retraction travel stops on it to prevent it from hitting the cylinder when it is retracted.
The only reason I would want it removeable is for weight or it is in the way when I'm doing some heavy digging. It wouldn't be a big deal to just remove the tine and the stiff leg though. My hoe has a 30" bucket that's a little heavy when packed full of clay.
Agree. After closely examining the ones on Amazon, I realized its just as easy to remove the pins.
Very nice looking 580K Alaska! You got all the options, and a lot will tell you the series 1 580K is great cuz some of the shuttle/transaxle parts I guess are much cheaper to replace than the series 3
Tinkerer, that TRK hydraulic thumb looks real nice. I was on their website checking out more photos of it too. They have a manual version that looks similar. Too bad they don't make this thumb anymore tho. Says they stopped making them. I wonder why.
There is a nice one here ↓ and could be converted to be hydraulically operated. http://www.excavatorthumb.com/pin-on-excavator-thumb.php
I wonder how strong the mount is using the 4 bolts? It gives me some ideas for mounting mine.
I would think it depends on how heavy and how long the plate is. You could go with 6 or even 8 bolts. I think 8 would be over kill.
just an update (many many moons later). Welder welded thumb to my boom and its been working great