The other half of my new toy

[Ed Vanden Brand]

[mini kahuna]

that has to be the nicest looking backhoe attachment I have seen in a long time,most of the ones I have seen around here are beat to a sloppy,welded on,oily mess.
and you have the opposing cylinders instead of the rotary setup,very nice indeed.

[Ed Vanden Brand]

Thanks man, now I just have to learn how to run it.

[KenP]

deleted

[JD40c]

And think "squeeze" on the controls instead of jerking the levers. Just like firing a gun.

[roadbuilder]

Nice attachment. Joysticks were a great addition to backhoes. When you do KenP’s training technique, set a couple of empty pop cans out kind of in a slalom course towards you. Guess you could use full ones as added incentive not to hit them. Try to keep your bucket bottom flat(parallel to the ground), and locate a place on the top side of the bucket or linkage that is horizontal to the ground or a place on it that you can recognise as level. This is so you know your bucket position in the trench when you can’t actually see the teeth or bucket bottom. Practice swinging to the side of your pop cans at different distances, stopping before you hit them. Reach distance and type of load (weight) affect your stopping control when swinging.

My dad gave me some advice when I started loading logs years ago, that fits most every operating job. “Be smooth first, speed will come.” He was a logtruck driver for 22 years and said some operators really could slam a truck trying to be fast while the good ones actually loaded him faster without the slamming him around. Herky- jerky is wasted motion and will tire you out faster.

Don’t know how much seat adjustment you will have , but try to sit close enough to the controls so you don’t have to reach way out to them. Some joysticks have a little bend in then and can be adjusted to get you a more comfortable position. Your upper back and shoulders might ache anyway for the first few days if you spend a lot of time in the seat. You might try sitting with your elbows on your knees if your joysticks don’t require a large movement range. This will help you be smooth as you are taking the large muscle groups and upper body movements out of the equation. I try to position myself (depends on the adjustments available), so most of my motions are done with wrists and hands as these are your “fine tuning” muscles.

You don’t have to pick your machine up high with your stabilizers(outriggers). Just enough to take the extra movement out and to level the machine.

[roadbuilder]

Another reason to not raise the machine to high is center of gravity. Also notice in the picture that as the stabilizers go down, the pads get closer to the centerline of the loader(imagine one there). This narrows the working platform, increasing the potential for tipping when working over the side. Your most stable lifting is between the outriggers and close to the machine. As you extend out, your lift capacities decrease. Your crawler loader is great counter-balance when you work to the rear, but you lose some of the counter effect when you swing to the side. As you extend out or swing out if already extended, “feel” the position of the machine. You may need to add a little pressure to the load side stabilizer. If the machine starts to tip, you need to be prepared to react. Crowding back towards you with the stick-boom will bring load towards center-of –gravity. Lowering the load or bucket to the ground may be necessary. The worst thing to do is to take your hands off the controls. If you have a helper guiding the load, have them use ropes, sticks or shovels to keep them from getting squashed if load falls or you need to make adjustments. Plan ahead. You've added a very usefull tool to your arsenal.