Hello, I thought I saw a while back on here that someone put a thumb on the 4500 backhoe. I was curious if anyone had done this, and if so which one fits the machine well. It would just be a manual one of course. I've got quite a few stump to remove, would be nice to grab them when there out. I would not think it would need to be super heavy duty. Thanks
i put an amulet on my 655. it is head and shoulders above a fixed thumb. no hydraulics works with bucket. i think they have an add on this website.
I made my own copy of the Amulet Hoe clamp. I didn't have the $4,000 they wanted 17 years ago. Compared to a hydraulic thumb, it's just as good. Just curl the bucket and you grab it. I can lift 4,000 pounds with my 5550.]
Got any photos of the build?
Nope, made a plywood copy of what I thought would work. Then I made a copy of the kidney links and a plate with 16 holes of where I could attach the links. Then I cycled it and found what works. You got to get inventive if you don't want to pay the big bucks....
I have a homemade setup on a 3500, should be pretty similar. Very useful and not hard to build either - Not sure why the commercial ones are so expensive, quite easy to do with some plate, cutting torch and a welder. Helps to have a mag drill for pins, and you have to be able to get things lined up with reasonable accuracy. Will try to get pictures tomorrow.
they must have come down a bunch paid a little over half of that for mine. looks like it would not be too hard to make if one had the equipment and handy with tools.
Here's some pictures of my setup. Rams are 2x30" IIRC, no reason really for that size just what I had. Mounting flanges for rams and thumb pivot are 1/2" plate with drilled holes for the pin. Ram mounts have bushings to make them the width of the ram clevis, would probably just use 1" plate instead. Thumb itself is cut from 1/2x4" plate IIRC with some made up teeth on there. Should be heavier, I managed to bend it a bit in use. Probably 3/4x5" or so, maybe larger depending on the size of hoe. My 3500 is a 12' and has both a smaller bucket and less power than most common hoes these days. I original just had 2 channel spacers between the 2 thumb strips, but it bend to the side in use and I had to add some more plate to stiffen this - would be better to add this from the get go or to add a flange to each so they're sort of angle iron shaped. The ram attachments to the thumb are 1" bolts with heads cut off and welded onto the thumb. Have had issues with these welds breaking, probably should have added some gussets or something here. Also not the best quality welds either.
Not sure why they're rotated, sorry. This is also a 723 backhoe which has a odd stick setup. Yours is likely a 753 that's a more conventional stick and slightly different to mount to. I have the remote setup on a foot petal so it's easy to use with the bucket. Having the hydraulic thumb control is very nice to pick things up as you can pull material in with the bucket curl and then also press it on with the thumb. Nice when trying to clamp large objects too.
Thats looks like a nice setup. I was wondering how you tapped into the hydraulics to tun it?
I added a separate valve off the power beyond port on the backhoe vale and have it hooked to a foot pedal. I have a 555a valve on the hoe since the original one died and it was setup for a power beyond rather than the original 723 valve which had a simple flow through to the loader valve. Not sure what the 753 would have, if it's got power beyond than it's easy. Picked up a simple single spool valve off surplus center for $60 or so and then just needed some hoses and bits. Probably $300 or so in hydraulics with the valve and hoses and all, but not too bad and useful for other work as well - I have a cobbled up auger I use it with as well. I just ran long (12 or 14') hoses down the boom for the ports, hard line with hoses as the bends would be better but a decent amount more money & work.