PT-1845 Mini Hoe Attachment

One of the most useful attachments I have for my Power-Trac PT-1845 tractor is their MiniHoe to which I added a thumb.

Model T3320 MiniHoe s/n16327 as purchased from Power-Trac on 11/4/02 for $1,000.00

Here's a link to a picture of the hoe uncurled

Extreme Mini Hoe

My thumb attachment

Here it rests atop this big rock dug out with the minihoe and thumb in about ten minutes. And here's a closeup view of the thumb.

Here are links to some pictures of the Mini Hoe with thumb in action:

Raising the iceberg

Ripping out a thornapple

Ripping out a honeysuckle

Holding a honeysuckle aloft

Lifting 5 cu ft 700-800 lb rock out of ground

Carrying dead tree to burn pile

Fishing tree carcase out of creek

Lifting tree onto burn pile

Thumb reveals an underbuilt boom

Note the bend in the boom and the kink where it is welded to the quick attach plate (a closeup of the kink). The thumb has taken the MiniHoe into a whole new realm of capabilities far beyond the design intent of the hoe revealing a thinwall (1/8 inch) boom. It will be well worth whatever it takes to reinforce the hoe to take the forces the PT-1845 can throw at it - the capability is incredible.

Repairing the boom

I took the minihoe to a local welding shop and they cut out the bent boom from the quick attach plate up to just shy of the drillings for the bucket pivots and forward thumb attachment and replaced it with 1/4 inch wall tubing.

When I made the thumb I made it so that the bucket would curl fully around the tip of the thumb with the thought in mind that this would allow the bucket to function without removing the thumb. This has worked just fine as long as I'm careful not to pach a bucketful of dirt too tightly into the bucket with the thumb that it won't fall out when I uncurl the bucket.

For the record, the distance from the heel of the thumb to the closest point on the boom is about 11-1/4 inches. At this length the heel just scrapes the inside of the bucket as it curls.

10/15/03 A program to reinforce the hoe is forming. Tentatively the idea is to:

Cut the boom (3x3x1/8(?) square tubing) off at the kink slip a new length of 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 1/4 seamless tubing over it, weld in place, reinforce as needed.
- Having added new bucket mount bushings and thumb holes in business end.
Straighten and reinforce bucket sides with lengths cut from olf Bush Hog blades.
Reinforce mounting brackets on rear of bucket.
Parts list:
- 1 of 3-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 1/4 - 33" seamless tubing.
- 2 of old Bush Hog blades, cut to approx 13".
- 2 of 1/2 x 2 x 10"+/- Bucket mounting bracket reinforcements.
- 2 of 1/2 x 3 x 16" reinforcing tie rods down from top of QA plate.
- Misc reinforcing bits.
- 2 of 3/4id x 3-1/2 Bucket mount bushings
- 2 of Grease fittings.
- 2 of 3/4 x 7 bucket mounting bolts.

10/21/03 A trip to Jane's junkyard for steel tubing yielded instead the perfect Hydrocrane post. Now to decide whether to use it as the minihoe boom or start a whole new maximinhoe project. I'm leaning toward the latter, with a 12 inch bucket.

Coming back from Jane's I was thinking about the need for stabilizers with the minihoe. When one applies enough down force to lift the front of the tractor off the ground the front section immediately flops to one side. The thinking then went toward some kind of oscillation lockout, maybe a big plate that would bolt to one section and ride under the other such that the tractor could articulate but not oscillate. When I took a look at the tractor the solution seemed obvious and much simpler - a pair of blocks either side of the upper arm. Maybe leaving just a bit of play for a bit of oscillation.