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January 4, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Post edited 11:12 am – January 4, 2012 by Len10
  This winter I plan to design and build a sub-frame for my backhoe. It’s currently attached by a 3 point hitch. I’d like to mount the backhoe as close to the tractor as possible, so I plan on rotating the hydraulic pump 90 degrees clockwise so the hoses don’t interfere with the new frame. Does the position of the pump or gearbox matter in terms of function? In the attached picture, the upper hose is the low pressure return.
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January 4, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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I have about 80 hours on the tractor. I never checked the oil in the gear box. The manual that came with backhoe didn’t say anything about checking or changing the oil. Is that something I should do, and if so what kind of oil should I use? Do I turn the pump so the plug is facing up and fill it to the top? The only plug I can find is the one you can see in the picture on the left side of the gear box.
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January 4, 2012
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Bob Rooks
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| Lifetime Member Platinum Elite | posts 868 | |
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Don't know who installed your pump but it's mounted sideways. Either vertical position will work for operation (pump on top or bottom).
I would recommend the current position for filling with a quality 80w-90 gear oil, until oil runs out of the hole. Invert the pump for draining. Do not completely fill the gear case.
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January 4, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Thanks Bob for your input. The pump, gear case & black bracket came assembled from factory. I attached the bracket to the tractor. The holes would only line up with the pump orientation as shown in the picture. I made the erroneous assumption that the factory would assemble parts properly. Evidently that's not the case as I found other parts assembled improperly. When I first got the tractor the oil pressure was very low. The gasket between the engine and the oil filter assembly was backwards. Go figure.
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January 6, 2012
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Chris-in-Ma
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| Lifetime Member | posts 2 | |
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Love to see the sub-frame once you design. Interested in doing the same thing.
Thanks
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January 10, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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I'll post the design once it's done. I'm working with a local welder as I'm not experienced enough to weld 5/8 inch plate. I'm thinking about cutting all the steel myself so I know it all fits before any welding is done. Does anyone have a recommendation for a plasma torch that can cut 5/8 inch mild steel? I'm reluctant to buy something like that from Harbor Freight, even though the reviews are good and some reviewers claim they can cut 3/4 inch steel.
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January 10, 2012
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Bob Rooks
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| Lifetime Member Platinum Elite | posts 868 | |
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By the time you get up into a rig that will do 5/8" MS, you're out of the casual hobby league. Lincoln has a nice package for just over a couple grand.
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January 10, 2012
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Tinbender
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| Lifetime Member Elite | posts 385 | |
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I would think you could make a buck of what you want out of wood, make sure everything fits together, then take it to a welding shop that can cut the parts out on a plasma table. After all, how often are you going to use a HD plasma cutter?
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January 10, 2012
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RichWaugh
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| Lifetime Member Elite | posts 280 | |
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The problem with budget plasma cutters is that they rate them by what they will cut, which actually means "sever." A sever cut is going to be crude, ugly and slow as can be, needing a lot of cleanup grinding. What counts, in the real world, is how thick a material it will cut cleanly while traveling at 12 inches per second or so – that's about the slowest you can cut and hold a smooth line, freehand. A 40 amp plasma cutter may be able to sever as much as 3/4" stock, but it will only do a smooth sweeping cut on material up to about 3/8", possibly 1/2" on a really good day when the local utility is overreaching themselves. To zip through 5/8" MS you'll need a 50-amp or better machine unless you resort to track guides, machine cutting or the like. Or are willing to spends a bunch of time getting intimately acquainted with an angle grinder.
You can check out the plasma cutters on http://www.longevity-inc.com to see what they rate their machines at. I've found them to be pretty darn honest on the detailed specs. If you're willing to drop the big bucks, the top brand in plasma cutters is probably Hypertherm.
Personally, I'd draw up the parts in a CAD program and have them cut by someone with a plasma table. MY plasma cutter is a 50-amp machine and I know I can't hold steady enough to do a smooth job of long cuts on heavy plate. 
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January 11, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Thanks for the input. It looks like I won't be getting a plasma cutter. I'm sure my wife will be very happy!
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January 11, 2012
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RichWaugh
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| Lifetime Member Elite | posts 280 | |
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January 11, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Post edited 9:06 pm – January 11, 2012 by Len10
Maybe my decision was too hasty. I have been thinking about building a CNC router which could double as a CNC plasma cutter. In the mean time I could build a track guide that moves the torch with a variable speed motor so I don't have to worry about holding steady on long cuts. I've accumulated quite the collection of motors (including stepper motors), gears, sprockets, bearing etc. that need to be put to use.
The Lincoln Tomahawk 625 Air Plasma Cutting System recommended by Bob costs about $1,600, more than I was hoping to spend. A Hypertherm Powermax 45 Plasma Cutter costs $1,575.00. Rich, I checked out http://www.longevity-inc.comand they seem reasonable. The Longevity ForceCut 50i is $799.99 and the Longevity ForceCut 50D is $599.99. If they make a decent product maybe I'll go for it. Do you know anything about them?
My fortune cookie at dinner tonight said "If you love it do it." My wife can't argue with a fortune cookie.  If it doesn't work out, I'll build a template from wood and have the local welding shop build it as Eric suggested. Again thank you all for your input.
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January 11, 2012
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Smalljobs
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| Lifetime Member | posts 36 | |
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Post edited 9:53 pm – January 11, 2012 by Smalljobs
I'd build it from wood and have the local shop make it from readily available stock such as channel iron, square tubing, etc. After tacking, I'd make a test fit before final welding.
My own HW04X subframe wouldn't be difficult to copy (and improve).
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January 11, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Can you post a picture of it?
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January 11, 2012
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Smalljobs
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| Lifetime Member | posts 36 | |
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Picture is "too big" to post on CTOA but was easy to post on TBN.
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January 12, 2012
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Smalljobs
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| Lifetime Member | posts 36 | |
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Post edited 12:10 am – January 12, 2012 by Smalljobs
I resized the photo and uploaded it but it doesn't show up. If somebody can walk me through the picture posting, I'll gladly post it again.
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January 12, 2012
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RichWaugh
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| Lifetime Member Elite | posts 280 | |
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Len,
I have both an older Longevity 200-amp AC/DC TIG welder and one of the ForceCut 50D plasma cutters. Both do all that they say they will. The Longevity people stand behind their products and I've found them to be fine to deal with. If you're going to use one of their 50-amp machines on a machine drive, I'd suggest you get the ForceCut 50i, rather than the cheaper 50D. The 50D does not have pilot arc starting so you need to make contact with the electrode to initiate the arc, which doesn't work well with automated tracking or cutting. If you're thinking of later building a CAD-driven table, you'll absolutely require the pilot arc machine.
I think you'd be very happy with the ForceCut 50i.
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January 12, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Thanks Rich,
When it comes to expensive tools, it's always helpful to have an opinion from some one you respect. 
Until I bought a tap and die from http://www.victornet.com/index.html , I had no idea what a quaility tap and die was like to use. I didn't want to make the same mistake by buying a plasma cutter from Habor Freight.
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January 12, 2012
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Len10
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| Lifetime Member | posts 47 | |
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Hi Steve,
Thanks. I saw the pictures of the HW04X you posted on TBN. It has given be some additional insight into designing my subframe.
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January 13, 2012
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Smalljobs
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| Lifetime Member | posts 36 | |
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Len,
I hope you noticed in the TBN thread they sent me the wrong BH. I self imported it, along with other items, and specified an HW03X but they sent the HW04X which is a seven foot BH.
The frame is rugged and easy/on off via special brackets I acquired from Affordable. The brackets were leftovers in stock and I was luck to find them.
My only problem with this frame and swivel seat setup are:
- The controls are too far away from the swivel seat setup. The seat tracks do not allow the seat to travel far enough to reach the controls. Even if I turned the controls around (like RonMar), I've still got the elevation problem as in (2) below.
- The second problem is one of height. Even if the swivel seat could travel far enough, it's too high.
- The third problem is that there's not quite enough space to add a second rear facing seat. I recently dug around 300 feet of trench and had to do something so I laid a 2X6 across the fenders and it turned out to be the right height as well as the right distance from the controls. Since the BH is now off the tractor for the winter, I've got time to figure out a better solution.
The message here is that if you are building your own frame you really have to think out where and how the seat will be positioned relative to the controls.
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