Hi All,most of my time is in crane and grader but am looking for 120 size hoe for personal use and was wondering what are the different types of thumbs and their advantages and disadvantages? I know that the progressive link thumb seems to be the most $$ but that's about it. Thanks!
http://juneau.craigslist.org/hvo/4881529179.html
Is this a good deal?going to cost me $2000 to ship it to my town. I'm flying out next week to check it out.
I just ordered a thumb for my excavator. It's much smaller than that one, but the point is that I discovered that I wanted one that hung on the bucket pin so that they would move in tandem to each other. If I went with a boom mount then I would need to hold the bucket at the same relative angle that it was in when I closed the thumb; or I would release whatever I was holding. I don't know if I did a good job of describing that. Basically I bought a pin mounted hydraulic thumb because that's the setup that works the way you want a thumb to work.
it doesn't say how many hrs on machine and it does say rental so I wouldn't want to pay as much.
When I rent machines they get no where near the treatment as my own. Make sure the thumb relief is lowed so the bucket can overpower the thumb.
There are manual fixed thumbs and hydraulic - standard and progressive link which gives more rotation with the bucket. Thumbs seem to be regional as well. In my area hydraulic thumbs are rarely seen. I had a progressive link thumb on a 321CLCR and it worked great but added weight to the stick and of course the cost of purchase ($15K at the time). Have a manual Cat thumb on a 321DLCR. Went with the manual thumb to save weight and money. It works well for us and the design is easy to lower and fold up, 5 minutes either way.
I live in Juneau and maybe can answer any questions you have ahead of time.. I know Steve the owner of Tyler rental. He is a good person to work with, All his rental fleet is well taken care of. Ask him outright if there are any problems with anything he has for sale and you will get a straight answer.
Thanks for the reply! Yes all of the people at the rental place are real helpful. I'm trying to get out Friday. There is a couple of Cats in Anchorage and Wassila I am checking out also.