My first test of my 1952 Oliver 77 industrial TLB. Any advice from the experts is more than welcome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwhufDtELc
Well you need to lift the back tires off the ground and be up on the outriggers for stability. Then raise the throttle up about halfway or more for strength. Then practice using both hands together, as one is raising the other is lowering at the same time. It's very hard to run a 4 stick machine and will take a lot of digging to be OK at it. That thing runs pretty good for its age you just need lots of practice.
Don't touch the levers from anywhere but the seat, the backhoe can swing over and pinch you if you're on the ground. Otherwise it looks about right. Might have been a little easier to use a chain to lift the bush out with the loader frame "choked up", but that wouldn't have been easy either. Getting smooth(er) with a backhoe is mostly practice. Try to practice the way you want to use it eventually, that is with each hand holding two levers and operating functions simultaneously. The boom drop is the largest function and will act as a cushion when you want to stop the swing, but aren't very good at metering the valves. Try practicing on an open area throwing around rocks or something at a higher speed. Then you'll be able to relax and smooth out the movements.
Yeah I figured multi-stick opperation at the same time would come iwth time. The engine runs perfect, but the spool valves for the hoe are touchy and don't work that great. Also I have water in the system so I don't have perfect opperation until I bleed and flush the system a few times with new fluid. The dipper control is slow, sticks, and leaks the most. The rest seem to run fine, the hoe is heavy for the machine though. This is the first of about 15 that need removed, plus a dozen stumps. I figure I should be pretty used to it before long. The tractor currently has an automatic govener, no throttle. I'm working on fixing that so I can run at full rpm all the time instead of just above idle so I can get more power. Some of the stumps are pretty substantial.
That's good advice, I hadn't really thought about that. Also still getting used to what control does what, and which way does which. When I had hte bucket behind the bush I couldn't see it, so it was a bit tough when you don't know what goes what way.
When you get to the bigger stumps a lot of what you'll be doing is digging around them and then trying to roll them into the area you have dug out. You won't just scoop up and under them like that little bush. Practice and be safe!
If you are going to dig stumps take your time and avoid pulling on them to much. My cousin has a similar vintage ford backhoe and he breaks the bucket, arms, and stabilizers all the time digging out stumps. Lucky for him I'm a good welder and I work for steak dinners, or else he would have some big money in repairs. That old iron rusts inside the tube and gets really weak but still looks good outside. Good luck with the old girl, treat it good and you'll get all you want out of it.
I was wondering about how to dig bigger stumps. I thought if I got the bucket under it after breaking the side roots I could curl it to lift it up. I wasn't sure if it was ok to go side to side that hard. Also trying to gauge how far away to be from the stumps. I don't want to be reaching, but I don't want it to close either.
You will always get better power and control when closer to the machine. You want to keep the stump at about half your reach.
Moving dirt: http://youtu.be/KoWJuCD6d-Q check this out. It's my cousin loading my dump truck with his 4 stick bachoe. He still isn't very good with it, and I'm not much better. That's my friend on my bobcat (I was taking the video) it was his first time in one as you could see. We moved about 100 so loads from around my pond to the rear of my property about 1100 feet away. Had lots of fun with our old toys and they are still good for the next task. I'm glad your on here asking questions it will save you some time and money for sure. I hope I can help.
For a bush like that, i would use a chain or sling and wrap it around the base of the bush, then secure it to the bucket and lift it out. Looks like you were having fun,
still not an operator mite be a fair lever puller but remember the first time i sat on a hoe. i thought i could do anything then. first time i tried it i thought dang i didnt tell it to do that. that was 40 odd years ago and every once in a while i think i did not want to do that but i manage to get most off my personal work done to MY satisfaction.
Second dog went much better. Getting used to the sticks and becoming familiar with the limits. Got a good 10 stumps and 3-4 mature shrubs up. One bucket joint the grease fitting is broke off and painted over and rusted pretty well and I could hear it creaking when under load. Also having the motor only at idle was a bit of a limitation, throttle setup is broken. Few pictures: http://imgur.com/a/QaVjq . It looks like nothing but after I dug everything up I put it back until I had an empty trailer to put it in. It's all broken free and loose though. Still a good deal to work on. The shrubs are the worst. They've been there 40+ years growing and its a solid single root system 4' wide and 40' longof azalea bushes and rhododendron and butterfly bushes. I can't even get a shovel into the dirt. That was the big motivation to get a hoe, I want them out.
Good deal bro. Better get that grease fitting fixed and grease in there soon.
Yeah, just seeing how things work. Gonna flush and look for fittings I may have missed. Gotta find trans check too.
Trans should be a square plug on side of case I think.
I would consider a new wobble stick valve bank, if yours is sticking it won't get better. Surplus Center has them already made up for backhoe attachments. Once you run two sticks you won't go back. Just my opinion.
Aw man, some guys have all the fun. That old 77 is a beast. What a sweet ride. If I was any where near where you live, I would be all over that thing. Looks like fun, enjoy
At some point I'll probably consider doing something like that. Need to get it running right first. The sticks as it is seem to be separated. I can run swing/boom at the same time, dipper/bucket at the same time, or stabilizers at the same time. However I can't run boom/dipper at the same time, it just ignores whatever I hit second until I let go of what I hit first. And they leak like a siv, so I'm going to try and rebuild them and hope it's a failed gasket/oring and not wear on the steel.
Completely normal. That's one of the first backhoes, I doubt there is any priority whatsoever, the boom is just so big that it takes all the flow.
The tractor has only run at idle thus far, the throttle wasn't hooked up. I took off the battery box for a good view inside and there was the arm, and no wonder it didn't work, the arm was completely rusted solid. I sprayed it with some pb blaster and tried to work it free. Suddenly, it moved! Worked it back and forth a few times, only to find I was breaking the bolt it was supposed to pivot on. Got the rest disconnected and it's soaking in a cup of pb blaster now. Come morning I'll bang on it a bit to free it hopefully, if not I'll drill it out. Remounting it will be fun, I have to make a new bracket to hold it. Once I can put the engine above idle I should have a lot more power and able to dig much better. I bet that is when I start popping hoses. Also bought a new battery and 10 gallons of travelers hydraulic fluid to flush the system out. Less water + more power = happier hoe.
NEVER walk under anything suspended by hydraulics, especially on a machine that old. If anything on the machine fails you will be seriously injured or killed. I know of 3 men in my area who have been killed working under raised booms over the past 30 years. I'd have put the machine on the other side of the bush, you're less likely to do damage to the pavement from that side. It's very easy to shove material under the pavement from that side.
Yeah, that's a good idea. It seems stable, but if a hose pops, I imagine it will just fall. I was trying to keep out of the grass at that point, it had just rained pretty hard for 3 days strait and even walking in it I sunk a bit. After it dried some I took the hoe to the back and dug and it worked well, though my spool valves leak something fierce. I'd like to rebuild them, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get the gaskets and such.
you can probably rebuild the valve body with a o-ring kit for real cheap. Just stay organized and it won't be difficult at all.
Got the throttle fixed. Full power and completely laid waste to the azaleas. The roots were a bit of a bear at times. Managed to get through them though. This thing has more power to it than I thought once I sort of got into the rhythm.