Backhoe Dolly Failure. Is your dolly wood or metal?

[Lencho]

I’ve not used my backhoe in a year or more and the wooden backhoe dolly has collapsed on one caster.
I guess the wood isn’t strong enough, one caster collapsed. Time to rebuild.
Curious about member experience with wood or metal dollies?
I was able to get the backhoe onto my tractor with a floor jack, but if two had failed I’d have been scr##ed!
Obscure B7100 attachment so this is a one off build. How should I proceed ?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

can you bolt a 2by6(?) above the caster,at right angles to the lower 2 ?
if not maybe good plate of steel to distribute the weight ?
one of those have to be there to see it to decide what's best.......

 

[jkrubi12]

Interesting....Has the opposite side suffered the same fate? The support plate idea is a VG suggestion, perhaps the best way to go. Another thing; in using two side-by-side boards it seems that you forced the attachment plate of the caster to perform 'double duty', both caster attachment point & board connector. If the caster is not damaged, perhaps the existing boards just need additional support with one of the ideas suggested above by GJ.

Do you think the failure had anything to do with your personal disconnect technique? If so let us know so we'll understand what to look for during our own disconnect attempts.

Any estimate of the approximate weight of that BH? I've estimated the approximate weight of my BH70 @750 lbs, as an example.

 

[lynnmor]

I would put a steel plate, channel or angle under the boards to distribute the weight all the way across.

 

[mikester]

I use a dolly made of steel tube and 8" locking steel swivel casters.

 

[fried1765]

I use a dolly made of steel tube and 8" locking steel swivel casters.

Yup......
Steel is the way to go, though my BH has never been off, and likely never will be.

 

[marrmanu]

This is what I put together for my B2620.

 

[Lencho]

Interesting....Has the opposite side suffered the same fate? The support plate idea is a VG suggestion, perhaps the best way to go. Another thing; in using two side-by-side boards it seems that you forced the attachment plate of the caster to perform 'double duty', both caster attachment point & board connector. If the caster is not damaged, perhaps the existing boards just need additional support with one of the ideas suggested above by GJ.

Do you think the failure had anything to do with your personal disconnect technique? If so let us know so we'll understand what to look for during our own disconnect attempts.

Any estimate of the approximate weight of that BH? I've estimated the approximate weight of my BH70 @750 lbs, as an example.

I think you have it right, I relied on the caster plate to hold the two boards together. Likely I need a backer on the top as well. I like the idea of metal and may spend a weekend welding soon.
Good question about the other casters - they are all fine. My lean-to tractor shelter has a slanted floor for water run off. That twisted caster was on the downhill side and may get more pressure as well.
Now that I have the backhoe on the tractor again I will rebuild the dolly.
Marrmanu- I like your design. Please tell me more about your casters

 

[marrmanu]

Please tell me more about your casters
[/QUOTE]

5" rubber, here are some other pic's, I made the bucket plate bigger because it had a tendency to slip off the back

 

[bird dogger]

I’ve not used my backhoe in a year or more and the wooden backhoe dolly has collapsed on one caster.
I guess the wood isn’t strong enough, one caster collapsed. Time to rebuild.
Curious about member experience with wood or metal dollies?
I was able to get the backhoe onto my tractor with a floor jack, but if two had failed I’d have been scr##ed!
Obscure B7100 attachment so this is a one off build. How should I proceed ?

I posted my BH77 Backhoe Dolly for you. It's made from some steel square tubing so it's pretty rugged.
It might be a little "overkill" but there's no need to worry about the dolly failing under the backhoe's weight.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I’ve not used my backhoe in a year or more and the wooden backhoe dolly has collapsed on one caster.
I guess the wood isn’t strong enough, one caster collapsed. Time to rebuild.
Curious about member experience with wood or metal dollies?
I was able to get the backhoe onto my tractor with a floor jack, but if two had failed I’d have been scr##ed!
Obscure B7100 attachment so this is a one off build. How should I proceed ?

To me, it appears that splitting up the bolts between 2 pieces of wood is the culprit. I think you need to use wider boards so that the castor holes are all on the same board.

I sammiched two 2x6's using construction adhesive and used those 6 inch casters from Horror Freight.

A word of caution about using those 6" casters though. Mine rolls so easy that I have to 'chock' it to prevent it from rolling away on accident. When I was at HF the other day I could not find the 6 inchers with a locking bar on them.

 

[BensBX]

A suggestion for any wood supporting the weight of a backhoe would be far stronger used on edge rather than flat. It appears the caster bolts are near the edge of 2x in both directions and wood grain will split pretty quickly lying flat. I built my wooden dolly out of two pieces of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together and used it on edge.

 

[mdhughes]

My dolly is made out of wood.

This is a picture of it when I first built it. Not sure what the white in the picture.

 

[bearskinner]

I picked up two $9.99 furniture dollys (4 wheels on a square) at HF, two pieces of 2x4, and screwed an old piece of used OSB, in the semi triangle shape of the back hoe. Works just fine for 8 years

 

[DustyRusty]

My dolly is made out of wood.

This is a picture of it when I first built it. Not sure what the white in the picture.

View attachment 105894

That white spot is a ghost that lives in your garage. You never see him/her when you are in there, but they do show up in photographs.

PS. Most likely it is your finger on the lens of the camera.

 

[dirtydeed]

wood and plastic for me...been using them since 2006.