Has anyone put a skid steer quick attach on their excavator so they can use their skid steer attachments (mostly pallet forks) on their excavator? ...and have you done it with a pin-on quick attach plate or with a quick coupler with the coupler adapter plate welded to the skid steer quick attach? Please respond with as much detail & photos as you can. I'm seriously thinking about doing it on my excavator (NH EH-80 cs, same as a Kobelco SK80 cs), & I use a Klac quick coupler on the excavator for bucket changes. Klac comes from Werk-Brau, & they don't have a "reverse-dig" solution for the Klac, but I have my own ideas on how I would adapt it.
Look up xboomcoupler it's an awesome piece of equipment, allowed skid steer attachment on my mini hoe and also gives a different lifting point almost doubling capicity
Should be pretty straight forward. Will just look like a set of excavator forks without the tines - bucket pickup at right angles to a skid steer quick attach. I’m just having the opposite made at present, mini loader to mini digger. Dropping off parts next week, should get it back a couple of weeks later. Re Klac hitch, I would rather spend money on a new hitch that works both ways than trying to make something to overcome the problem. Depends on how much you need it and how much difference in cost I guess, but I use my brackets backwards a lot. Graham
I'm aware of the XBoom system, & I think it is a great idea. But they (Amulet) don't seem to make one big enough for my excavator. Nevertheless, I have emailed them & asked about a size for my machine & a price...we'll see. But on my size machine (about 17,000 lbs), I'm guessing the price would be $4,000 or more. And I would need a ladder to reach the pin that joins the XBoom adapter to the arm. Not to mention coupling/uncoupling 4 hydraulic lines (I have a thumb on the arm). The whole process could get ugly fast & NOT be too convenient. You will notice that the videos on the XBoom site all picture a very small excavator (maybe a 3 ton or so) with no thumb. So the change over process looks easy. But as the machine gets bigger, it probably becomes not so easy!
Unfortunately, I'm pretty "invested" in the Klac system, since I have a 24" trench bucket, a 48" ditch bucket, & a ripper, all setup for the Klac. When I originally decided on going the Klac route, Werk-Brau was planning on making a "reverse-dig" solution for the Klac, but those plans never came to fruition. Besides, the Klac works very well & provides a very close-coupled system that does NOT degrade the tip radius & resulting breakout force. At the time, I had considered a pin-grabber style quick coupler, where "reverse-dig" is easily accomplished. But the increase in tip radius & consequent reduction in breakout force was too much. What kind of quick coupler do you have...& what size machine is it on?
I find it easier to lay my boom flat on the ground instead of leaving it stand as the pics show. Curl your bucket all the way in stick all the way out and boom all the way down. Mines on an 12000lb mini it is a bobcat 55 with extendà hoe so I also have 2 sets of lines to unhook, cost for my unit was around 4500 for all 3 pieces of the x boom and an extra set of couplers for the hoses. I know after having it all my machines 12000lb and under will always have one. Mostly for the lifting ability but man it's awesome I think
I have a couple of 1.5t machines and a 7t (that is metric tonnes). They all have tilt rotator systems with s type couplers underneath. The s type is a Scandinavian system which has standard pick ups for different size machines, so easy to purchase after market attachments off the shelf and share stuff between excavators of different make. I've attached a PDF about it. The couplers are very low build height and can pick up either way round. The system is almost universal in Scandinavia and is becoming more popular with owners across Northern Europe, but not with excavator manufacturers or bucket producers who make their own dedicated hitches.
WRC...Your method of putting your boom all the way down & your arm all the way out makes sense...it would work even on my machine & eliminate needing a ladder...but how hard is it to "finesse" that configuration just right so the pin that holds the XBoom to the arm is loose enough to remove or insert??
Graham1...Thanks for the info on the S coupler standard...I've been aware for some time that the Scandinavian countries are WAY ahead of us in innovative & standardized excavator couplers. Not to mention tilt-rotors. But they are not advertised/marketed here & are virtually impossible to get. I think part of the problem is that they are blocked by our Excavator & bucket manufacturers who are trying to wring the last dollar out of their own inferior & non-standardized designs & insist on selling us what they want, rather than what a lot of us want. That plus the mindset of trying to do the most with your machine, rather than buying multiple machines for jobs, hasn't caught on here with many users. I have NO idea why not...& from an equipment innovation & attachment perspective, I live in the WRONG country!! For that matter, given our current dismal political leadership, I also live in the WRONG country!!! But that's another story.. What brand S coupler & tilt rotor do you use or favor??
Changing the stick on and off takes some practice, now that I have found "the sweet spot" I can easily knock the pin in or out with a small bar and a 2lb hammer with about 3 or 4 good taps not even really a hit. It also helps to keep the pin good and greesed up. It's actually easier than switching an old pin on bucket in my eyes. I would compare it to switching buckets on my 580l case backhoe. It's got the case coupler much of the same concept just for the bucket only. The hardest part some days can be the hoses hopefully this helps
This changing the stick business seems like a lot of work vs just building a klac to bobtach adapter. What if you needed the forks and a bucket on a site? You have to drag the spare stick along too?
Coastal there is no spare stick. Only a bobtach adapter that fits where the boom goes verses where the bucket goes. One reason I like mine so well is I can not pick up a manhole with the bucket on my small excavator and some times I don't have room on site for my large one. By having this coupler it allows me to drop off the bucket and stick hook my 4 way up and swing a manhole into place easily. The second thing I like is I leave a skidsteer broom sit on my trailer all the time when done on a job before I leave I drop off the stick and hook up the broom and sweep away. Really just my opinion but like I said not much worse than switching a backhoe bucket.
Hmmmm ok I looked it up...i think the up and down only would make me crazy as operator! Glad it works for you...but i'd much rather have a stick that moves in and out and just put the bobcat stuff at the end of it. And the added complications of hydraulic lines on the stick to deal with.
[QUOTE="StumpyWally, post: 719644, member: 26012" What brand S coupler & tilt rotor do you use or favor??[/QUOTE] I have two Engcon and one Rototilt tiltrotators and couplers and a couple of manual hitches from these people http://www.scanbolt.com/hurtigskift/702/ on extra dippers as all my stuff have fixed pins. A lot depends on finding a good dealer, although updates happen at different times from different manufacturers so sometimes one will be a better product than an older one from a different manufacturer. Engcon seems to be the market leader. Graham
It makes economic sense to me to get most use out of your machinery, but it is slow to catch on here as well. I guess it is an ego thing - having a whole fleet of different machines and loads of employees makes some people feel good. To me it means more hassles and more cost.
WRC...I finally called Amulet in Idaho for info on the XBoom. Spoke with Scott Piazza, Salesman, very nice... He said that they may come out with a larger XBoom system than their current max (for a 60 class, 13,000 lbs machine) within the next 6 months or so. I added my name to the their list of people who might be interested in a system for an 80 or bigger machine (16,000 to 20,000 lbs). He also said that one can buy direct from Amulet, or thru one of their dealers, whichever channel they start with. Further, he said that their current largest system for a 60 class machine was about $3,600. So, we'll see what Spring brings...In the meantime, I'm continuing with estimating what it might cost me to add a Quick Attach using my Klac quick coupler with some adapter plate additions/modifications. Graham1...You have also re-ignited my curiosity at least in tilt rotors & std. quick couplers that can work with tilt rotors & support reverse-dig configurations. So, I may be back to you with more questions as I get into it...
No problem, i’m no expert, but I’ll help if I can. Graham
I have the Geith coupler for my EH-80, highly recommend it!
I finally decided to move ahead with putting a SS quick attach on my excavator, & do it to use my existing Klac quick coupler. I am in the midst of the process now, & I will chronicle the entire process here for everyone's information &, hopefully, enjoyment. Step 1 , die grind out the lift holes on my Klac quick coupler to enlarge them slightly to about 1.95" dia. This allows the holes to accept a 1.9375" dia. pin, that will be made from surplus polished steel rod (hydraulic rod??) that I picked up cheap. Here is a photo of the coupler just after I finished enlarging the holes: Step 2 , buy a Klac blank, or attach plate, that will be welded to my attachment hangers & that will mate to my quick coupler. This req'd about 3 weeks to get from Werk-Brau. Here it is just after I picked it up from my dealer, Andersen Equipment: Step 3 , buy a SS quick attach blank from Thor Attachments (John Gustafson) in Wisconsin. That req'q about a month for John to fabricate & have UPS-delivered to me. As I expected from previous experience with a similar quick attach that I had bought from John for my tractor FEL, the new one from John is a "thing of beauty"!! Here it is just after it arrived: In the above photo, the top rail looks a little bent/curved, but it is NOT...it's just a photographic effect. Some other things to note about this item: It's actually called a Multi-Hitch, because it includes 3 - 2" receiver tubes in the lower rail. This feature is unique to John's product I believe, & is a stoke of genius that has a myriad of uses. It's one of the main reasons I endorse John's quick attach over others, never mind the overall build quality! I have the same tubes on my tractor's quick attach, & I can't tell you how handy they are. It's built a little heavier than the model for a tractor, to withstand the added stresses that an excavator will impose. John actually offers these same blanks with hangers built to match your excavator. But he's never built one for use with a Klac quick coupler, & his complete units cost a lot more $$, he says to cover his liability when you use one on an excavator. I think you are better off building your own hangers, not only to save $$, but so you can custom design/build the hangers to fit your own machine & the way you intend to use your attachment. You will see this in the next step. Step 4 , design custom hangers between the Multi-Hitch & my Klac coupler. This was the most time consuming part, involving me building a 3D model of my setup in SketchUp, building a representation of the Multi-Hitch & my pallet forks out of scrap wood, & building several test hangers out of scrap wood to test & verify my design. It was basically an iterative process, alternating between software & building, in order to find my "sweet spot" configuration. (Continued in next post.)
It soon became apparent that the controlling configuration was with the boom down, arm fully retracted, bucket fully un-curled, with the pallet forks about level & on the ground. Here is a photo showing my plywood prototype as I determined that position. The goal was to be sure there is clearance between the top of the pallet fork brick guard & the bucket curl cylinder. Using this configuration, it looks like the following when the boom is raised so the forks are at a normal carry height off the ground: ....& at maximum boom height & arm extension per below: The goal at maximum boom height & arm extension is to have the forks about level or slightly pitched up. As you can see in the photo the bucket curl is all the way out, so the forks can not be pitched up any further. This position is one I will often use, as I have a work platform that I fasten on the forks. If you zoom into any of the 3 photos above, you will note the number "4" written on the side of the plywood hanger in magic marker. That means that this is the 4th plywood hanger mockup that I built. My 3D SketchUp model helped me to refine my plywood prototypes as well as confirm my final configuration. Here is my model verifying the controlling configuration: I could probably have fiddled some more & gotten the Multi-Hitch a little closer to the Klac quick coupler (show in yellow), and gotten the dimensions from the Mult-Hitch to the original bucket pins to be nice round numbers (instead of 12 31/64, 32 35/64, & so on), but those dimensions didn't matter for my purposes & I was getting tired of iterations. (Continued in next post.)
Here's a model view confirming the dimensions of the hanger side plates: Here is a front view of my final prototype configuration, & a close up of my "forward-dig restraint system": Step 5 , compute the weight of the custom hanger system to see if it is reasonable. Since the side plates of my quick coupler are 5/8"-thick steel, I opted for 5/8" steel plate throughout my hangers. The 2 external braces I felt should be 2"x2"x1/4" steel tube. So, using area's from my 3D model I computed the weight of my Multi-Hitch with hangers as follows: Multi-Hitch blank...........105 lbs Custom hangers............246 lbs Klac blank..................... 53 lbs Total = 404 lbs I wish the hanger was a little lighter, but I'm leery of backing off to only 1/2"-thick plate. That would only reduce the weight by about 40 lbs, some of which might be offset by more gussets. Of course then I will add the weight of my pallet forks @ 230 lbs frame + 270 lbs forks = 500 lbs, for a total of 904 lbs. All of that will replace the weight of my std. trenching bucket of 545 lbs, so it will be over by 359 lbs but will be way more versatile. Step 6 , fabricate the custom hangers, weld them up & weld them to both the Multi-Hitch & the Klac blank. Fabricate the lift hole ears, but do NOT yet weld them to the hangers. Fabricate the lift hole U-brackets, & cut the lift hole pin to 18" long. I'm a lot of things, but alas, I'm not a welder or a machinist, so I took my plans, plywood prototype, & steel pin to my trusted fabricator/machine shop just yesterday. They expect it will take about 2 weeks to complete, given the July 4th interruption. So, stay tuned for more as it develops...
That's cool!
Coming from you, who built his own outstanding excavator, I take that as a real compliment!!
Step 7, after the initial fabrication in steel (everything just tack welded together), get the assembly home from the fab shop & mount the assembly on the Klac quick coupler on the excavator. Then fit the lift hole pin ears with the pin & lift hole U-brackets, & clamp the ears in place. Here are photos of this step: Step 8, Take the assembly back to the fab shop & have them "weld the snot out of it"!! I plan on doing that tomorrow AM.
Right on!
Step 9 , Pickup completely welded contrivance from the fab shop, & mount it to verify that the restraint pin fits. Just got done doing that. Pheew...it fits perfectly!!! Here's proof... Now, on to painting...
Looking good, Wally!
Step 10 , prime & finish paint the entire contrivance. I used Por-15 for primer, then top coated with NH construction gray. Here's the final result...
Step 10 , paint the complete assembly. I primed it with Por-15, top coated it with NH construction gray. Here's the finished contrivance.... Every time I really look at it, I see a spot I missed!! I certainly did NOT minimize corners & surfaces. The 1st photo above demonstrates one of the uses of the 2" receiver tubes in the multi-hitch....a yellow eye in the middle tube & a blue chain grab hook in each outboard tube. These inserts also do double duty in my tractor's multi-hitch. When the paint gets done baking a little in the sun (we're just coming off of a week of rain here), I will mount my pallet forks on the multi-hitch, & probably post another photo. Finally, the cost of all this fun was about $2,760, not including any shipping or tax, broken down about as follows: Multi-Hitch.............................$895 Klac Size F Blank.....................$641 Fab & Weld Hanger...............$1200 Lift Hole Pin (scrap steel)............$9 5/8" Bolts & Nuts......................$13
Looking good. The receiver tubes are a good idea, making it multi purpose. Graham
Thank you...now, here are some more photos of uses.... The bucket is a 5' wide general purpose one from my tractor. The pallet forks I can now share with my tractor, skid steer, & excavator. If need be, I have a heavier duty 6' wide bucket from my skid steer that I can share.
Why not adapt a quick attach with bucket pins to match your machine. Or fab from scratch. Surely for less than 4k. Then any skidsteer attachment will work thumb stays on brooms yard rakes grinders mowers skyscrapers the limit
EvanM...First, it didn't cost $4k...."only" $2,760 per my post #29. Second, I didn't have an old SS quick attach to use, so I had to buy one, & I chose the best one I could find from a great source that I had experience with. Thirdly, why would I want a SS quick attach that would mount to my excavator with bucket pins??....when my excavator already has a quick coupler attached!! Never mind the fact that the mounting hanger & bosses for a pin mount would cost as much , if not more, than for the hanger welded to the quick coupler blank (a flat steel plate). Granted, I could have saved the $641 cost of the coupler blank, but at a significant loss of convenience of changing attachments on my excavator. That's false economy!! So, in the end I have all the advantages you cite, "Then any skidsteer attachment will work thumb stays on brooms yard rakes grinders mowers skyscrapers the limit"...AND my SS quick attach comes off & on my excavator quick coupler in a breeze!! That was the whole point...I don't know of any other SS quick attach that mounts to an excavator using the excavator's quick coupler....EXCEPT one from Engcon that mates with their rototilt system, which costs on the order of $50k or more!!
Great post, I'll be looking to do something similar to this for my KX-057!
That is well done!
Looks great! Very well thought out and fabricated too! Most importantly though for people that want this type of set up is to have a 9 ton mini which he does. We have pallet forks that can easily switch between our 8,500 pound mini and our 12,500 pound mini. It's important to note that lifting and reaching out over the blade and especially the side can get real limited in weight. For us it's great in the 1000-2000lb lifting weight range and not real good at all trying to move a 3000Lb pallet of wall block. At times we wish we had a bigger machine. Images show the forks being used on our Takeuchi TB153FR.
Just finished mine today No pics of it in action yet. It was pouring rain all day today
Looking good! Where did you get your levers and hardware?
I think the left and right side blanks (with levers, etc) came from eBay. But I can't remember because it was so long ago that I ordered them! Been planning this project for a while.... Now we'll see how it holds up to the 85" bucket. Still need to paint it
I'm a bit worried on the strength of yours as you're not using any huge side plates and materials from the excavator pins. A large skidsteer attachment can hold well over a ton especially when you include the attachment itself. Your steel material looks a bit thin to me too.
Does everything in Vermont rust ? Even in the summer under a roof, not exposed to road salt ?
Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. It's 4" by 1/2" thick angle. Only one way to find out if it holds. Which other pieces did you think are too thin?
Yes. Especially when it's been raining almost every day for the past month. I can't wait until I build my enclosed shop. Then at least I'll have a chance at humidity control.
I would suggest to overbuild. Two large thick side plates extending from each side of the pins to the top and bottom attachment cross beams. Then heavy side gussets for lateral support. When I built mine, I did not think my quality of welding was good enough nor do I have a big enough welder, so I had a Pro fab shop weld it up that specializes in heavy equipment. What model excavator do you have?
Good ideas, I have some 1/2" and 3/4" plate I can use to beef it up. I have a Bobcat E60
This is how we made the pallet forks set up. Note the two side plate to the two cross members, and the plate gussets. At the time it did not occur to me to weld it to a quick attach plate. I do know I was trying to watch the weight to maximize lift capacity. Will your attachments go excavator style facing you or skidsteer style away from you?
Looks good. Attachments can go either way depending on the application.
Here’s mine i made(seems like i just posted this in a similar thread here) its only forward facing. Odd using forward facing attachments at first.
I would agree that operating the pallet forks is a bit strange and takes a few minutes to get the movement down.