DIY BH77 Install Journey

[dirtydeed]

awesome...now, put it to work.

 

[radas]

As a new backhoe owner myself I know you must be feeling great now that it's on and working! Congratulations on an epic journey; not many owners would undertake a BH self-install from the crate, never mind the additional roadblocks that popped up in your case. Nice write-up & pics, looks great!

I just built a storage dolly for my BH70 today, have had the BH about a week now. My dealer came to my house, picked up the tractor (1 year old), and returned it 3 days later with a brand new BH installed. Kubota even honored the no money down 60 month zero-percent financing and KTAC. I've played around with it a little, but days of rain & other projects have limited my time thusfar. One thing for sure, however, is that the learning curve for the BH is a monster!

Many thanks! The satisfaction of DIY and learning more about the tractor/hydraulics was worth the hassle. The dealer told me I was crazy for installing the BH77 solo in the garage but I figured where there was a will, and a good collection of tools, there was a way

Wow! You got an awesome deal being able to roll that into your financing and KTAC - I ended up putting a few K down and did the 24month @ 0% to take advantage of the free money although a longer period of time would have been much nicer lol.

The dolly is the next order of business. You just reminded me to go out there and take measurements, I need to get one built ASAP because I'll be Damned if I have to mount the BH without one, what a pain in the ass that was (although I think the Pallet made things worse by a factor of 100). It's raining out here now, but I think my first project will be trenching for a new sump discharge and getting the hang of using the controls. The initial mounting exercise was a good learning experience as I had a pucker moment almost tipping the unit off of the pallet

If you don't have the street pads on your outriggers, make sure you get them, they were a godsend with mounting in the garage.

 

[S-G-R]

It's been a up and down journey to get to that point so congratulations on a job well done.

 

[radas]

It's been a up and down journey to get to that point so congratulations on a job well done.

Thank you! A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, 850lbs to be precise

 

[radas]

I took measurements for my dolly tonight.

From the bottom of the outrigger mount to the garage floor measures 11.25"-11.375"

That means I can use 6" ball bearing iron/poly casters (same as 4" casters on the pallet carts I built for the BB and Forks/Bucket) along with PT 4x6 on the outrigger side and 2x6 on the back.

The casters I'm looking at measure 7.5" H
The 4x6 nominal measures 3.5" H x 5.5" W

That puts me at 11" even and gives me 1/4-3/8" room between backhoe and dolly allowing me a ton of leverage to easily unhinge the pins from the subframe. Is that spacing OK or should I aim for more space between the bottom of the outriggers and dolly?

 

[radas]

awesome...now, put it to work.

Of course! First order of business is trenching and burying a new sump discharge. I'm going to trash the donkey d*ck that was poorly buried by the previous homeowner and switch to 4" SD or Schedule 40 and put a drywell at the end so the brine water and volume of water doesn't tear up the yard.

 

[radas]

@North Idaho Wolfman , mind moving this to "Projects" subforum since I'm not troubleshooting anything anymore? TIA

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

@North Idaho Wolfman , mind moving this to "Projects" subforum since I'm not troubleshooting anything anymore? TIA

It has been done!

 

[radas]

It has been done!

Thank you sir!

 

[someguy9000]

Not that you want to dump a bunch more $$, but I recommend the BXpanded quick connector and trenching bucket. I personally rarely use my 12 inch bucket, in favor of the trenching bucket.

 

[jkrubi12]

Not my best work, but here's a pic of the almost-finished dolly:

 

[ayak]

Here’s the dolly I built:

 

[radas]

Not that you want to dump a bunch more $$, but I recommend the BXpanded quick connector and trenching bucket. I personally rarely use my 12 inch bucket, in favor of the trenching bucket.

C'mon man... I just shelled out more dough last night to build this backhoe dolly

That's a good point, my current bucket is the 16" which I got primarily for digging footers and planting trees but that trenching bucket will come in handy for burning gutters and sump discharge. I'll definitely think about it once the wallet recovers and the wife forgets about the recent purchases

Not my best work, but here's a pic of the almost-finished dolly:

View attachment 101933

As long as it gets the job done! Looks real clean. I don't know why but aesthetically, I'm a fan of the "A" configuration on yours and @ayak dollies. What size are the casters? How much does the BH70 weigh?

Here’s the dolly I built:
View attachment 101938

Thanks for sharing, that looks great and functional. I'm surprised at how low the L series is to the ground (I'm guessing because of the lift capacity and stability?). Looks like 3" casters on yours to get to 7"? How easy it it to wheel around?

My finished height needs to be 11" so I ended up ordering 4 locking swivel 6" ball bearing iron/poly casters (1200lb capacity per dolly) and a 8' 4x6 to get to the desired height. I'm going to connect the front and back 4x6 similar to what you and @jkrubi12 did in that "A" configuration with 2x4. All ground contact PT similar to my pallet carts.

 

[ayak]

C'mon man... I just shelled out more dough last night to build this backhoe dolly

That's a good point, my current bucket is the 16" which I got primarily for digging footers and planting trees but that trenching bucket will come in handy for burning gutters and sump discharge. I'll definitely think about it once the wallet recovers and the wife forgets about the recent purchases


As long as it gets the job done! Looks real clean. I don't know why but aesthetically, I'm a fan of the "A" configuration on yours and @ayak dollies. What size are the casters? How much does the BH70 weigh?



Thanks for sharing, that looks great and functional. I'm surprised at how low the L series is to the ground (I'm guessing because of the lift capacity and stability?). Looks like 3" casters on yours to get to 7"? How easy it it to wheel around?

My finished height needs to be 11" so I ended up ordering 4 locking swivel 6" ball bearing iron/poly casters (1200lb capacity per dolly) and a 8' 4x6 to get to the desired height. I'm going to connect the front and back 4x6 similar to what you and @jkrubi12 did in that "A" configuration with 2x4. All ground contact PT similar to my pallet carts.

I went with 3” casters, myself.
This was my second, slightly longer version. I wanted it long enough to be able to release the pressure on the two BH hoses before disconnecting them from the back end. The backhoe will ‘curl’ in on itself as you work the sticks to take the pressure off, once it’s out of the hooks on the subframe of the tractor. Really easy to move around and get lined up on my garage floor.

 

[fried1765]

Many thanks! The satisfaction of DIY and learning more about the tractor/hydraulics was worth the hassle. The dealer told me I was crazy for installing the BH77 solo in the garage but I figured where there was a will, and a good collection of tools, there was a way

Wow! You got an awesome deal being able to roll that into your financing and KTAC - I ended up putting a few K down and did the 24month @ 0% to take advantage of the free money although a longer period of time would have been much nicer lol.

The dolly is the next order of business. You just reminded me to go out there and take measurements, I need to get one built ASAP because I'll be Damned if I have to mount the BH without one, what a pain in the ass that was (although I think the Pallet made things worse by a factor of 100). It's raining out here now, but I think my first project will be trenching for a new sump discharge and getting the hang of using the controls. The initial mounting exercise was a good learning experience as I had a pucker moment almost tipping the unit off of the pallet

If you don't have the street pads on your outriggers, make sure you get them, they were a godsend with mounting in the garage.

Street pads are made/sold by Flipppad International, in Hannover, Ma.
Quality is excellent, and price is 1/2 of Kubota OEM.

 

[radas]

Street pads are made/sold by Flipppad International, in Hannover, Ma.
Quality is excellent, and price is 1/2 of Kubota OEM.

Those are the ones I picked up per @dirtydeed thread - they are excellent. I did pick up 8 M12 zinc washers to install mine since theirs did not include washers.

 

[jkrubi12]

[QUOTE="radas, post: 633720, member: 51960"
As long as it gets the job done! Looks real clean. I don't know why but aesthetically, I'm a fan of the "A" configuration on yours and @ayak dollies. What size are the casters? How much does the BH70 weigh?[/QUOTE]

Not sure about the BH70 weight, I estimated 800 lbs (couldn't find the weight spec in the manual )

My casters (HF) are 4" poly; total capacity 1220 lbs (2 X 275lb + 2 X 335lb).

I've currently got about 7/8" - 1" space between dolly & outrigger supports; I may fasten one more thin board in there to reduce that to about 1/4" for ideal de-pinning leverage. I'm going to practice removal - installation soon to get the dolly finished to the optimal configuration.

I watched a number of YouTube videos to help me design my dolly, there's some great design & builds available there to guide the amateur dolly constructor. One of my design decisions involved the use of spinning or fixed casters; I ended up using spinners on the bucket end, fixed on the tractor end.

 

[fried1765]

Those are the ones I picked up per @dirtydeed thread - they are excellent. I did pick up 8 M12 zinc washers to install mine since theirs did not include washers.

I did not see any real need for washers, as the nuts bear directly on the 1/2" thick steel pads

 

[radas]

I did not see any real need for washers, as the nuts bear directly on the 1/2" thick steel pads

Keep the beautiful paint from marring

 

[radas]

Built a dolly for the BH77.

Materials list:

1 4x6 8' - ground contact PT
2 2x4 10' - ground contact PT
4 6" ball bearing iron/poly casters from service caster corp (1200lb capacity each)
16 3/8"x5" galvanized bolts
32 3/8" galvanized washers
16 3/8" galvanized lock washers
16 3/8" galvanized nuts

Dimensions are as follows:

36" wide 4x6 @ stabilizer arms
18" wide 4x6 @ bucket
58" overall length
Mitered and connected 2x4 T to the front and rear 4x6s with stainless #10 deck screws.