FLU419 SEE HMMH HME Owners group

[The FLU farm]

If it's not removable though, and you weld it on, can you still use the bucket as normal?

Yes, it's removable. Only a bracket is welded to the dipper, then the thumb's parts are pinned on.
After reading peakbagger's post I checked the Titan website to see if there were any thumbs available. Only looked at one before I posted.
Went back and saw that there are several sizes. Apparently the length of the thumb, in relation to the bucket size, is critical. Things will break if using the wrong size, it said.
But to answer your question again, even if it was all welded together, I bet that the SEE's backhoe is strong enough to break it off when the job is done.
Especially if I did the welding.

 

[The FLU farm]

You know you need to fire him, right?

He's on probation now. Not allowed to get near a FLU for at least the next 48 hours.
Which is okay, as he has to finish building a 3-point generator mount and construct some sort of spreader bar for the crane.

 

[peakbagger]

The weld on thumb is a nice idea but since the dipper arm and mast is ductile iron, no welding (there is warning cast into them). There are bolt on units but I dont know how well they would stow as they stick out quite bit. I expect there is grapple type arrangement to replace the bucket but far less precise than a standard thumb.

 

[Another Ahab]

He's on probation now. Not allowed to get near a FLU for at least the next 48 hours.
Which is okay, as he has to finish building a 3-point generator mount and construct some sort of spreader bar for the crane.

 

[The FLU farm]

The weld on thumb is a nice idea but since the dipper arm and mast is ductile iron, no welding (there is warning cast into them). There are bolt on units but I dont know how well they would stow as they stick out quite bit. I expect there is grapple type arrangement to replace the bucket but far less precise than a standard thumb.

Ah, ductile iron. Sorry, I overlooked that simple fact (and I have never welded anything to diff housings or steering knuckles for that very reason...except when I had to).
Wonder if it's thick enough to allow drilling and tapping. If so, six or eight bolts should hold that bracket on fairly well, I'd think.

 

[profo]

Ah, ductile iron. Sorry, I overlooked that simple fact (and I have never welded anything to diff housings or steering knuckles for that very reason...except when I had to).
Wonder if it's thick enough to allow drilling and tapping. If so, six or eight bolts should hold that bracket on fairly well, I'd think.

The base of the backhoe is ductile but the where the bucket is it is not because the whole arm is welded down the center and the pad eyes for the pivot bushings for bucket are welded on also , I have welding a thumb on mine and it works great, bought it of of ebay and haven't had any trouble with so far I used it to dig up 6 acres of trees and using thumb to load them in trailers.

 

[General Hood]

Dismal progress report, and a stern warning.

Had to use the HMMH today, so while it was out anyway, the decision was made to put "HMMH II" into the garage in its place.
Drained the JP8 (?) out of the tank yesterday and refilled with fresh diesel, so all that remained was to switch the left rear for the spare. Had to put a tire plug in that left rear when it first arrived as there was a nasty hole in it, so better do it while there was easy access.
Only two issues came to mind; how to remove the bolt holding the spare, and how to get the former left rear up into the spare's place.

Amazingly, the bolt could be undone by hand - those threads was one of the few places where the paint wasn't super thick.
Potential issue number two was naturally handled by (you guessed it) using the HMMH's crane. Proper justification to have a second crane.
So far, great.
View attachment 647686

Secured the spare and hopped into "HMMH II", turned the switches on...and wondered if the buzzer had broken. Major surprise; after sitting for two days, the air pressure was still up. Hey, this was going great!

Cranked the engine and it fired right up. Only to start running crappy. That's when I remembered that I had turned the fuel valve off when draining the tank, and some idiot forgot to turn it back on.
Never ever, and I mean NEVER, forget to turn that valve on! It took me at least four times as long to get it running right again as it did to get it running the first time, when it arrived as a non-runner.
Still not sure that everything is completely happy in the fuel department, but at least it's now a garage queen. Until I can lube the cylinder seals, and check things out in general, before starting to change the fluids. Which might be next year at the rate I get things done.

We are impressed with your progress, even with those unexpected glitches

 

[Another Ahab]

The base of the backhoe is ductile but the where the bucket is it is not because the whole arm is welded down the center and the pad eyes for the pivot bushings for bucket are welded on also , I have welding a thumb on mine and it works great, bought it of of ebay and haven't had any trouble with so far I used it to dig up 6 acres of trees and using thumb to load them in trailers.

Talking about it alone won't make it real. There are some pesky individuals who will demand proof.

 

[peakbagger]

Cool, that makes things easier. I guess I need to do some more research on another toy

 

[Skidpad]

General Hood, I'll be disassembling more of my air system this weekend and will be sure to take many photos of the process. The small tank pressure valve that I'd removed ended up having so much corrosion that it ate through the side of the valve wall when I soaked it in cleaner. Luckily the local heavy equipment folks are a Wabco dealer and I had a replacement here this morning, not a bad price either compared to some I'd seen online. They also mentioned that they have a non-Wabco duplicate version of the 1200P dryer that I may try out in another bit once I get these initial issues sorted. I have to do something to the basic design anyway as I'm going to add a dedicated air reel (I think BigBison mentioned that). I plan to have the reel with a ball valve inline so it's not eating pressure from the other components when not in use.

 

[Skidpad]

Hey guys, I found this on the Ductile Iron Society web page.

"Welding involves the fusion of both a filler metal (welding consumable) and the base metal adjacent to the weld zone. The high carbon content of Ductile Iron can lead to the formation of carbides in the fusion zone (FZ) and martensite in both the FZ and heat affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to the FZ unless correct procedures are followed. However, with the use of appropriate materials and procedures, Ductile Iron castings can be successfully joined to other Ductile Iron castings and to steel by fusion welding.

Here's the link if you really want the full text of the discussion. http://www.ductile.org/didata/Section8/8intro.htm

So while it might be more involved, a thumb can be welded if the right conditions are met. I was looking into this very thing before I lost my mind and bought the telehandler. Now I'm just going to mount the skid-steer quick attach to it instead and use the grapple when I'm clearing out trees and such.

 

[88FLU419]

As profo said the part of the backhoe you would be welding the thumb bracket to is definitely not ductile iron and can easily be welded using normal methods.

 

[911joeblow]

Hey guys, I found this on the Ductile Iron Society web page.

"Welding involves the fusion of both a filler metal (welding consumable) and the base metal adjacent to the weld zone. The high carbon content of Ductile Iron can lead to the formation of carbides in the fusion zone (FZ) and martensite in both the FZ and heat affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to the FZ unless correct procedures are followed. However, with the use of appropriate materials and procedures, Ductile Iron castings can be successfully joined to other Ductile Iron castings and to steel by fusion welding.

Here's the link if you really want the full text of the discussion. http://www.ductile.org/didata/Section8/8intro.htm

So while it might be more involved, a thumb can be welded if the right conditions are met. I was looking into this very thing before I lost my mind and bought the telehandler. Now I'm just going to mount the skid-steer quick attach to it instead and use the grapple when I'm clearing out trees and such.

Not that it matters much for this discussion but I used to weld cast iron turbo manifolds all the time. The real key is using the right rod and pre-heating the part to 300+ deg and slowly cool after welding to avoid cracks.

 

[The FLU farm]

The real key is using the right rod and pre-heating the part to 300+ deg and slowly cool after welding to avoid cracks.

So the welding should be done during the summer, in Arizona or Texas, then slowly moved North?

 

[General Hood]

General Hood, I'll be disassembling more of my air system this weekend and will be sure to take many photos of the process. The small tank pressure valve that I'd removed ended up having so much corrosion that it ate through the side of the valve wall when I soaked it in cleaner. Luckily the local heavy equipment folks are a Wabco dealer and I had a replacement here this morning, not a bad price either compared to some I'd seen online. They also mentioned that they have a non-Wabco duplicate version of the 1200P dryer that I may try out in another bit once I get these initial issues sorted. I have to do something to the basic design anyway as I'm going to add a dedicated air reel (I think BigBison mentioned that). I plan to have the reel with a ball valve inline so it's not eating pressure from the other components when not in use.

Roger that, the SEE I have here at the house, blows heavy rust dust when I bleed the tanks, and the brakes are weak. I fear I will be facing a tedious overhaul / cleaning of the air system. Ugh

 

[911joeblow]

So the welding should be done during the summer, in Arizona or Texas, then slowly moved North?

Yes, but in my case I had a 220V Hot plate and two torches pointed at the part for 30 mins until it was glowing red hot before I started welding anything.

 

[911joeblow]

Roger that, the SEE I have here at the house, blows heavy rust dust when I bleed the tanks, and the brakes are weak. I fear I will be facing a tedious overhaul / cleaning of the air system. Ugh

It took me 4 hrs which included the pump too.

 

[Another Ahab]

So the welding should be done during the summer, in Arizona or Texas, then slowly moved North?

Exactly: and remember to pack your passport for anything beyond the 49th Parallel.

 

[911joeblow]

So guys now that I have a mostly running FLU (waiting on the General to ship me a starter excluded), I am looking for additional mods to make her more useful. I just ordered front bucket forks to make her a fork lift. I would love to get some tools for the tool boxes to run off hydro. Does anybody have any or a source that might have them? Where are all the GovPlanet tools removed from these?

I found the original bracket for the auger on the backhoe and have a rental facility close by that rents the Lowe 1650, the original auger, which is still in production. I will likely have to buy some extended hoses too, but at least I can put in some fence posts or drop in some trees whenever I need to with a quick rental.

 

[The FLU farm]

So guys now that I have a mostly running FLU (waiting on the General to ship me a starter excluded), I am looking for additional mods to make her more useful. I just ordered front bucket forks to make her a fork lift. I would love to get some tools for the tool boxes to run off hydro. Does anybody have any or a source that might have them? Where are all the GovPlanet tools removed from these?

Hey, I've been waiting for my starter for much longer than you have, buddy. I think it's partially because General Hood is buried in work, and whatever little time he has left is spent painting and waxing his SEE.

Thankfully, my SEE came with all the tools and bits, but they show up on eBay every now and then. That's how I got my impact, supposed to come with the HMMH. They're Stanley, and you can buy them new from there - if you won the lottery recently.

On a different subject, yesterday I finally got my SEE from Australia. It truly is a parts-SEE. Not having opened the bag yet, I can't even tell if it's right or left hand drive.