Amazing work. Why are there so few people out there like you. You did an incredible, beautiful build of a mini backhoe. Don't stop creating and being an inspiration for all of us. You make me want to go out right now and start cutting steel. Thank you for a great job.
Freaking Excellent job!!!!!!! Your a Master at this. The foot peddle showed be sold commercially they would fly off the shelf. I have a JD 400 and a 445 and use the 445 more just because of the foot peddle for loader work. Killer tune aslo!!! Well done.
Fantastic! Doing a fel on a JD 420 , I like the winch. This is inspiration to get off my a@# and get going on it. Heading over to weekendfreedom machines to look at your details. I found a 410 loader that had a mishap, I scavenged the cylinders and rubber for my project.
WOW! I was asleep , woke up and your video was on. watched, subscribed. I'm refurbing an old Murray mower and tilt trailer as a practice run for a small tractor. I'd say this is a good idea for garagers like myself. I'll be better organized and I pick up the odd tool as I go along. Props for the green paint and flames. Given a choice, daddy painted everything with a similar green, sometimes with flames. Must have been his fav. Deciding the paint has been great fun, I have thought of everything from Cat. yellow with decals to 60's era hippie van. Hope you have vids on hydros. that is where I need the most info. Great, keep it up.
James Lecren Hey James, thanks man. I have a few more vids of this project but none that are detailed on the hydraulics unfortunately. I did a detailed account of this entire build on www.weekendfreedommachines.com , if you go to that website and search for "322 backhoe finally done" you'll find the post. As you go along feel free to contact me anytime. I would be happy to help you in any way I can. the surplus centers website is a great place to get the hydraulic fittings, cylinders, pumps, etc. As for the color, it's sour apple metallic by kirker. I do a little airbrushing and custom paint work on the side, more of a hobby. I Really like painting custom motorcycles and guitars. Good luck with the tractor and little trailer. I'll be looking for some vids as you go along.
I have to say that is one sexy tractor it really excites me to see this I need one of these. But can't spend 25k on a garden tractor. I bought my first one a wail back then traded it for a running one i have a wheel horse c145 tills my garden pretty good u have no complaints but I think I will need a bigger one to do something like this but the cool thing is I can do it fairly cheap. thanks for the video sir
I'm building a snow scoop loader.. Lift height is important.. Is there some type of formula out there to tell me where to mount hydraulic cylinders, and a way to figure out max lift weight? I can't seem to find anything anywhere.
My buddy called me two days ago and told me there was one of these sitting on the curb in front of a house a couple miles from me. I went to see it and it was sitting there with the mower deck a front bucket and some misc parts and pulleys. Got her home and noticed the fuel line hanging and no filter present. I put some feel int a bottle and threw a battery in her and she started right up. Two outside blades were sieved and started spinning with some oil. I love what you and your buddy did to yours. What does he charge?
Hi Russ. It sounds to me like you lucked out on that tractor man, nice machine. What John Deere model # is it? A 322? What kind of bucket was on the front, a front end loader bucket? If so, was it made by John Deere? Does the front bucket have a model #? I would like to see some pictures of it.. As for what I did to mine. You can buy a set of plans to build the front end loader and the backhoe online from various places actually. The plans I bought came from " PF Engineering " if you Google them I'm sure you can locate his websites where he sells his plans. Or you can search for " Micro Backhoe Plans " and you'll locate various options to get started building yours. As far as hiring my buddy goes, he is a supervisor at Amtrak and doesn't do builds like this, although he was a huge help as I built mine. Where are you located? Send me an email address or a telephone number and I would be glad to help you get started building one of these machines.
I used the design from P.F. Engineering for the backhoe and the fel. His plans are a good general set of instructions. This was about 8 or 10 years ago, though. There may be better plans available now. If you're not aware of or familiar with The Surplus Center, definitely check their website for all the hydraulic needs. If you look on their website, they have a few great tools, too. Such as a hydraulic calculator. Really good tool for this job..
Hi John, Thanks. The bore on all the cylinders is 2", except for the 1 boom swing cyl, the one on the bottom that pushes or pulls the boom, crowd arm, and bucket, left and right. That cylinder is a 2.5" bore. I will have to check the stroke, some are 10", and some are 16". Check out the surplus center, that's where I bought most of the hydraulics. I got the hose from " The Florida Hose Guys" on Ebay, also got all the crimp fittings on Ebay as well. Hope this helps. Good luck with your build!
Compact tractors are too big and expensive for a lot of homeowners, so something like this is the dream machine for many. Wondering why they don't sell these to begin with..is the tractor too light or low powered to be good at digging? Please post some action videos!
I agree. The tractor has more than enough power, it only takes 6-8 HP. to run the hydraulics on small compact tractors. Now the weight does come into play now and again, but it still does great. It would take a man 8+ hours to do by hand what this little machine can accomplish in minutes. My biggest issue is traction. 4 wheel drive would be a nice addition, but I haven't even considered trying to add it....... .... Yet.. I'll have to upload some action vids sometime..
hey Benjamin , thanks man ! As for the tires , honestly , I'm always in the grass or dirt when I'm on this machine so I haven't noticed a rough ride . They definitely grip alot better than any turf tire your gonna find , although they will leave marks in your lawn . Anthony
That is really amazing...how did you connect the hoses to the cylinders and what is the power for the hydraulic cylinders and also how do you connect the hoses to levers to control it as you want cheers
Broadcast Gaming You have to have the hoses made with the proper ends crimped on them. Standard hydraulic hoses are safe up to about 3500 psi. The power of the cylinders are about 7500 pound push each, at 2500 psi. If you search RU-vid for "parker hydraulic crimp machine", I'm sure you'll find instructional, and action videos of how they're made. I have a parkrimp 1 hydraulic hose crimp machine. They're expensive but invaluable for this type of project. Happy yo help if you need any other information. Ive worked this machine alot in the last few years and it continues to amaze me at how powerful, helpful, and valuable it is. What it can do in 5 minutes would take me 6 hours with a shovel or post hole digger etc.
Broadcast Gaming Your welcome. Btw, www.surpluscenter.com has everything you'll need as far as hydraulic cylinders, fittings, pumps, pulleys, filters, gauges, etc. The hoses will be the toughest part. Sounds like your in the UK? If your in the USA and live near Maryland, I would be glad to help you make the hoses in my shop. Good luck with the build!
that was about 10 years ago, then the entire project was about $4,200. I would guess just the backhoe build now would cost about $2500 - $3000. If you have access to a hydraulic hose crimper, and a place to get the steel for a fair price, possibly $2000. Its still running great, digs great. Very useful machine! Good luck with your build!!
Thanks , I actually have plenty of pics and I would be happy to help Anyway I can . I did do a detailed account of the entire build on weekendfreedommachines.com just search "322 backhoe finally done " and you should find it on the website . Let me know if you would like the pics and where to send them . Thanks
Hi Jack, yes I did add the foot control to the right side and moved the brakes over to the left side, and I kept the brakes independent with the same flip lock system to lock the 2 pedals together. I have had this machine done for a lot of years now and it's still working great and extremely handy. I used it last weekend to dig up the edge of the foundation on a house I am flipping and to lift a few sections of sidewalk so I could level them back up. It's got a few battle scars on it and I have broken 2 welds, but nothing other than that. Btw, the right side foot control actually isn't that tough if you have a decent welder and some good steel cutting hole saws.
@@jasons4444 I determined after a hard day working on my property I need a tractor. Don’t want to get in debt with a newer one now and think one of these or a 430 could do a pretty good job for me and the specs are close to a new smaller subcompact Tractor. I just liked the foot control of the 455 more but seeing your mod opens up a few more tractor options to me. Where did you find this mod?
@beunbad sorry for the very delayed response. The foot control mod was my own design. I had the tractor torn so far apart during the build that I just inspected the factory setup, and quite honestly I just Flipped it to the opposite side. There's a little more to it, but if you have a decent welder, it's really not to hard. Heads up --> A plasma cutter is a huge help if you have access to one. Hope this helps you, or anyone else that sees it. Thnx Jay
j-mac-oro I connected them to a hydraulic pump, I mounted it under the winch on the front of the tractor. I had to fabricate a pulley and belt to the PTO on the front of the engine. You can see it about half way through the video. Glad to answer any other questions you may have.
Jason, excellent job. Those welds were on point. I'm guessing a mig welder? You mind sharing the sizes of your front and rear tires? I'm considering putting them on my 318. Check out my 3-pt hitch videos of you get a chance. Not nearly as cool, but boy can these 300 series do some heavy lifting.
Yeah, they loved it. They still play with it all the time. Digging footers, foundations, trenches! You name it.. I can't get them away from it... Its unbelievable the fun they have on that thing!! Last weekend I had planned to dig the opening of my driveway wider. I had it all planned out. I was gonna start digging Saturday morning, dig all day, then all day Sunday too. I heard them playing on it for about 10 minutes, looked outside.. And damn if they didn't already have it done.. What a disappointment man! I was so looking forward to the blisters and everything.. Lol.. Special thanks goes to My Dick for the earlier comment.. Heh
Work with Alex Hey Alex, that depends on alot of factors. go to www.surpluscenter.com and they have a hydraulic calculator. It is a very helpful tool to size your hydraulic equipment. You will need to know the bore, stroke, and diameter of your hydraulic cylinders, as well as the RPM you will be turning your pump at. If you have that information it will tell you what size pump you should get, as well as the power and speed the cylinders will operate at. Hope this helps.
So I checked it out and I still can't seem to find the right answer so I'm gonna guess what size pump did u use and that's what I'm gonna start with. I'm running about the same size rods it's for a very similar build. But just the loader. I'm looking at a pump for 1.2 gpm at 4000rpm and 3000 psi. Is that enough?
Work with Alex I used a pump with a 0.27 displacement. Its a 3500 psi pump, rated for 3500 RPM. I'm not sure of the gpm, its been a long time ago that I built the machine. I really hope that helps. Sorry for the slow reply.
Such a great job! It is amazing to see you turned a $100 tractor to this! May I know if you have any CAD file with all the dimensions? I am interested in buying a copy if you are willing to sell the plan.
19roar85 I would be happy to answer any questions. Quick rundown on the pedal conversion is/ remove all the lever controls, look under tractor and you'll see the linkage that leads back to the transmission. Thats the linkage rod you need to fabricate the pedal to move, it is already a self centering spring return rod. I believe there are already holes and bushings in the frame where you can install the pedal rod through. There's a start, if you get that far, the rest will be obvious. Again, I'm happy to answer any questions. Good luck, I hope it works out well. For you. Btw, a welder is a must and a plasma cutter is a huge help.
It was a lawnmower, so no 4 wheel drive, but when I put turfs on it and get in mud the turfs don't get any traction and the fronts tended to slide easy. Truth is, I've used it on tons of jobs and its exceeded my expectations over and over.
The entire build cost me about $4,000. But, $800 of that I spent on a good used hydraulic hose crimper. That was well spent $, as I could make all the hoses myself, in my shop. The steel, control valves, pumps ect, are all not cheap, but trying to measure each hose, and have them custom made was going to be the biggest single expense. I was getting prices anywhere from $2K - 3K. Plus I still have the machine and can make hoses as needed. I've even built a few for other people/friends and made a few $'s.. Its a win / win. If you can find a decent used one for a reasonable price. Hope this info helps. Great little machine and I'm still using it often.
pretty cool and all but you probably could have made $500-800 profit on the 322 and then bought a real compact tractor with a loader and back hoe that you could turn around and sell for what you paid for it.. unless money was a total non issue, you got a $2500-$3000 tractor after investing nearly $5000 into it. badass machine if money is a non issue and badass music regardless
Thanks for the comment man. If you can find any compact tractor with a front end loader and backhoe for $3000-$5000 .. hell for $7000-$8000, buy it!! If you want 4 wheel drive, which this machine does not have, your looking at $11,000_$15,000 used and beat up... With that being said, it was also a really fun project.. I'm still using it alot 6 years later.. truthfully, its earned the money I spent about 20x over.
Too bad about all that music on there that probably nobody wants to hear and there is no audio no dialogue about the project that people do want to hear.
Hi Kerry, there have been a bunch of people who have commented on the fact that they enjoyed the video as it is, yes, music and all. I didn't post it as an instructional video, rather a video of transformation.. if there's something you'd like to know ask away. Ill do my best to answer... i gotta say this though man ... your negativity is kind of annoying... like really annoying... so stop it. .. no I'm just kidding, your great..... but really .. stop it ..lol
rustimack not a lawnmower a very small powerful front end loader backhoe that will fit through most people's gates around their yards. Very very handy machine, I'm going to post a few videos soon of some of the jobs I've done with this $5000 machine. It has been a real workhorse.
I really wish I had the time, and the place and I would just build the front end loaders and backhoes to add to garden tractors. Honestly, if you get a small mig welder and a steel chop saw, you could build one yourself. Thanks
