I'm doing a lot of log work around the yard (just had 13 red oaks taken down) and I'm shopping for a manual thumb for my PC60-7. I'm delighted to see that they can be had for under $2000. This model is the one I'm considering for my machine. I assume this gets welded onto the stick. Does that make sense? Before I proceed, I figured I'd bounce it off the experts here. Is this a good thumb for my machine? excavator thumb mt1240 thumb in action. Installed on a Komatsu PC75-UU #mt1240 excavator backhoe thumb 31 www.excavatorthumb.com
Good day The attached may help out, however it is not a recommendation on my part. Kind regards Uffex
Those are hydraulic thumbs. I don't think I have auxiliary hydraulics on this machine, so I opted for the manual thumb. Any reason why I shouldn't go with the one I linked to? I'm planning for the spring. Need to save up for it.
Good day If you can manage with a fixed thumb to do your work, I would not suggest making it more complex or costly. Kind regards Uffex
I can manage with a manual thumb. It would cost prohibitively to upgrade the hydraulics to have an aux hydraulic to drive a hydraulic thumb. This keeps it under $2000. I once enquired about a hydraulic thumb and the cost was about $30,000. So manual is all I can afford.
Good day Mark Those figures seem a little on the high side, if you have a moment going to the excatech.org site> choose the "Library" key > "Adapted apps" you will find a lot of thumb information that may expand your thoughts on quick couplers .Its free and you can down load what you need. Kind regards Uffex
Opps quick couplers should read thumb old brain is dodging around.
Well the dollar isn't what is used to be. Prices are rising every week now! I visited that site, but it's mainly discussing hydraulic thumbs. Since I doubt my machine has aux hydraulics (I could be wrong about this), and because I don't have the $$$ for a hydraulic thumb and all the installation that involves, I've opted to go with the manual. If there's no obvious problems with the unit I linked to, I'll probably buy it in the spring.
Solsbee's makes a decent skid steer bucket for the price but I don't have any experience with their thumbs. Bought a tooth bucket for our T250 yard machine that is nicely built for the price but it hasn't seen any real work to determine the longevity. Worth a look. Excavator Manual Thumbs » Solesbees solesbees.com
A manual thumb should be under $1000 for a PC60. I bought a new manual thumb a few years ago for $400cad. from Ritchie Bros. I would guess they went up a little but maybe $600 at the most. The next size up maybe $750.
Can you point me to a vendor that will sell it at that price? After being told $30,000 for a hydraulic thumb, the $1800 price for a manual seemed almost too good to be true, but I'm not that familiar with the attachments market pricing trends, which is why I rely this community to guide me to getting the correct attachment at a reasonable price. That Ritchie Bros site has auctions and many are thousands of miles away. Cost of shipping? The $1800 price I saw includes "free" shipping, so the raw price of the thing itself may be half that.
I bet a steel fabricator could make one for less than $1800. Somebody is rolling out the red carpet for you. $30,000 for a hyd. thumb on a PC60? I've seen new hyd. thumbs at auctions and equipment dealers listed from about $2500 and up. Do some looking on the internet. It shouldn't be hard to find a mechanical thumb for $1000 or less.
Prices have gone up but depending on how HD you want Gentec has one for around $13××. There's a few others I think would be less than $1800 but you'd have call and get prices. Titan, Bedrock, Sec, etc. US Attachments has one round $1500 or a heavier for around your $1800. You'd have to compare specs.
These things are heavy, and shipping is going to be a big factor in the cost. The $1800 one includes the shipping. I'd want something durable and not likely to break when I pick up logs with it. I don't know of any metal fabricators around here and even so, they would need drafting plans for such a build and there's and unproven design unless built from tried and true diagrams. The $30K figure was probably taking into account the hydraulics that would need to be updated /added to make it work. Both the valve and the foot pedal control inside the cab.
It's always good to shop around and other dealers may offer free shipping as well. Buying from a local dealer, they may be able to mount a thumb as well. You want to follow the weld procedures and have someone qualified to weld it.
Are you a dealer?
Good day It is not a recommendation but it is appears to be what you are looking for and the only information that is in our records. Kind regards Uffex
No he was a spammer.
That catalog doesn't list any prices. It's hard to comparison shop without knowing the cost of the unit and the shipping. I was planning to do the welding myself. There aren't any dealers in my area that I know of. I have a budget limit of $2000 for this project.
How much welding experience do you have and what do you have for a welder?
Good day Im sure Dave can expand on the attached, whilst most of the illustrations are of a hydraulic thumb the same advice applies to fixed thumb. I do not have any costs as we do not operate as a sales outfit. Kind regards Uffex
I cannot think of any reason a manual thumb can't be converted to a hydraulic thumb. Unless the dipper isn't long enough to allow the hydraulic cylinder to be added to the manual thumb. I did it on my T/L/B. I connected a diverter valve to an existing section of the backhoe control valve to operate it. It isn't as handy as a dedicated valve for it, but it was cheap to install. I posted a thread in the T/L/B forum that showed the step by step procedure I used. Be careful when moving logs with a thumb. If the weight isn't centered on them the thumb can be bent. I found that out the hard way.
I started with a flux core welder 3 years ago and feel pretty comfortable welding. I've got my heart set on a top of the line multi-process welder (220 amp) and plan to do a lot of practice with stick welding before I attempt it. I can lay down a pretty uniform bead with the flux core (that took some practice) and I'm pretty sure I can master stick welding.
That would be my thinking as well, but the machine has to have aux hydraulics in order to run that extra cylinder. I see no evidence that my PC60-7 has them, so it's pointless for me to consider a hydraulic thumb. Good point on the balancing of logs. To me, that's common sense, but not everyone has common sense.
It will be more difficult to weld on the stick and not be in a nice position like if you were welding at a bench and could position the piece for the easiest welding.
Yes, that's a given with this, but I still can have it at a good height to work on.
So to clarify - it still is possible to get a hydraulic thumb if you don't have aux hydraulics. It is possible to add a valve to the valve stack, and also possible to add a control valve that connects to the LS2 port which gets its oil from the P2 port. They are not necessarily inexpensive solutions but certainly doable. I'm currently adding the capability to a PC60-8. You might contact hkx.com if you're looking for more information. They are quite knowledgeable.