I have an older Kubota B/L 4520A backhoe, I believe it was made by Woods for Kubota. It has two control levers that each control two valves, left is boom 4 way, and right is dipper and bucket curl. Lately the levers are getting very sloppy, especially the dipper/curl side. What happens is instead of pivoting, they want to twist. If they twist, then when you move the lever you don't get the cylinder action you were hoping for. The levers themselves are mounted in a rod end type ball joint which I suspect is the main problem. I can see how that would help the slop, but the twisting of the control levers is the real trouble I can't see how to address yet. I've tried adjusting the linkage but that hasn't helped. Anyone dealt with this before and have a suggestion?
Sloppy backhoe control lever fix?
- Thread starter MagKarl
- Start date
Randyj
Member
Equipment
B9200D / BF350 Kubota Loader / L-4530B Kubota Backhoe w - subframe / LP GS1548
Yep, I'm still trying to find a local source though. I hate paying as much for shipping as I do for small parts. I found a set of inexpensive tie rod ends for lawn tractors that I'm going to see if I can make work in the short term.
I had to modify the tie rod ends to get the right overall length, but a few minutes with a big file and I had them matching. I had a day of backhoe work planned for today so I swapped the worst of the two this morning, and it worked out great. The package of two tie rod ends was about $8 at Lowes, versus $32 each at my local dealer and $10 or so from McMaster-Carr for the heim joint type rod ends.