I just purchased a 580 Super N Backhoe to replace my 580 Super M for use on the farm. I previously added a thumb to the 580SM - it came with a Dual Direction BIC rear auxiliary hydraulic kit already installed. so the hydraulic installation was pretty easy. I did have to add a relief valve on the hydraulic line that closes the thumb back to the hydraulic tank so when the bucket closes against the thumb it wont over pressure the cylinder and hoses or bend the rod. The BIC control valve didn't have reliefs installed in the work ports - found out that was an option. When I bought the 580SN it also had a BIC rear auxiliary hydraulic kit but I didn't find out till later that is is a Single Direction setup for running something like a hydraulic hammer or vibratory compactor. The pressure line to the backhoe feeds the tool and the return line goes directly back to the hydraulic tank. There is no easy way to run a double acting cylinder for a thumb with this setup. The backhoe does have a front auxiliary hydraulic setup for use with a clam bucket but the machine no longer has a clam bucket on it. It has an electrical switch on the loader control lever to open and close the clam cylinders. The 2 lines that feed the front of the machine come from a clam solenoid valve located under the loader control valve. I was wondering if I could take the 2 lines that feed the front of the machine from the clam valve and connect them to a 6 port hydraulic selector valve. From the selector valve I could connect the 2 existing front lines and add 2 new lines from the selector valve to the backhoe for the thumb. I would also have to rewire the electrical circuit to the clam solenoid valve with a selector switch to be able to control the valve from either the loader control lever or the backhoe control lever depending whether I am using front or rear hydraulics. See attached clam valve and wiring info from the service manual.
Followup, I just finished adding the thumb to my 580SN. For the hydraulics I removed to the left boom line from the outlet of the BIC solenoid valve and ran a hose from the BIC valve to the supply port of a new Hydro-Tek D03 12 volt directional control valve. It has all ports closed in the neutral position. I connected the left and right boom lines to port A and B of the new valve and ran the return line to the connection where I removed the right boom line near the hydraulic filter. I installed 2 push buttons for the thumb open and close and relays so the BIC valve is powered when either the open or close side of the new valve is powered. Used it for the first time today and it is working great
Hi Blueacre, I just purchased a 2021 Case 580SN. It does have a dual direction auxiliary set-up and wanted to install a thumb. Do you remember the brand and where you purchased?
Hi Billy B. I built my own thumb for the Super M and when I bought the Super N I removed it from the M and reinstalled it on the N. When I built the thumb I measured a couple and looked at a lot.of pictures on the internet to get ideas and then designed my own. My nephew works at a metal fab shop and I was able to get him to.plasma cut all the parts. I will check tomorrow to see if I still have drawings I did for the parts that I can post or send to you.
That's very kind of you as that would be ideal. I've read various comments that the less expensive thumbs are poorly made and don't hold up, and the ones that do are very pricey. Any advice or drawings would be greatly appreciated. Bill