Thanks to a variety of attachments, like augers, hydraulic hammers, grapples and pallet forks, there’s more than one way to make money with your excavator or loader backhoe besides digging a trench or scooping out a hole in the ground.
But, as good as these attachments are in adding to your job prospects, you can enjoy even more profit possibilities by outfitting your machine with tools that increase the versatility of many types of attachments or that offer a more cost-effective twist on several conventional attachment designs.
For example, mechanical quick couplers can save time and effort by eliminating the need to pound out pins that hold attachments to the arm of your machine when changing from one attachment to another. Instead, you simply operate a hand lever to activate a spring-loaded mechanism that secures or releases the attachment.
Hydraulic couplers go one step further, eliminating the need to even get out of the cab of your excavator or backhoe to engage or disengage the attachment mounting mechanism. Instead, hydraulic power takes care of that task.
Fully automatic
In either case, however, if you’re operating a hydraulically powered attachment, you still have to exit the cab to connect the auxiliary hydraulic lines of your machine to the attachment. But, now, even that is a thing of the past, if you have an excavator equipped with Liebherr’s optional Likufix hydraulic quick-change adaptor.
Available for Liebherr and other makes of excavators in the 39,000- to 112,000-pound range using mech-anical and hydraulic attachments with Liebherr quick-coupler adapters, it allows you to grab or release a bucket or other attachment and connect or disconnect any hydrau-lic lines from the operator’s seat.
“Everything is controlled with a simple press of the button, while you sit in the cab,” says Bret Jacobson, a product manager for Liebherr Construction Equipment Co. “The entire process of detaching and connecting to a new hydraulic tool only takes seconds. All hydraulic connections are made automatically and use a hydro-mechanical seal to prevent leaks.”
The Likufix quick-change adaptor consists of a two-part hydraulic valve block. The top female half mates with the bottom male half to connect the hydraulic lines when the locking pin of the quick-change adapter engages the attachment. This locking pin is also visible from the cab. A warning light and audible alarm in the cab activate when using the quick coupler.
The Likufix includes a standard feature, called Tool Control, that allows you to program up to 10 hydraulic flow rates and pressures to match specific types of hydraulic attachments. You select the desired setting by pressing a button on the display panel’s touch screen. An optional feature uses a radio-frequency transmitter to automatically select the appropriate hydraulic flow and pressure for a given attachment.
Cost-effective alternatives
Many backhoe owners and operators have used hydraulically operated thumbs to save time and effort in handling rocks, logs and other odd-shaped materials. However, the Smart Thumb, made for backhoes with extendable inner sticks by Rockland Manufacturing, provides fast hydraulic clamping action without the costs of adding a hydraulic cylinder and lines or other control valves.
The strut of the thumb bolts onto a pad welded to the outer stick, while the bottom half of the thumb mounts on the bucket pins of the inner stick. You control the thumb with the cab lever that operates the inner or extendable stick. “As you curl the bucket, you also extend the stick to rotate the thumb to clamp onto an object,” says Bo Pratt, the company’s sales manager.
The Smart Thumb, which limits extension of the inner stick to about half its full length, folds back tight against the stick when not in use. “If you want to use the full extension capability of the stick, you can remove the thumb in about five minutes by unscrewing two bolts,” Pratt adds.
Another Rockland time-saver is the new-to-North America Klac mechanical quick-coupler system for 2,200- to 22,000-pound excavators and backhoes. It allows you to connect and disconnect attachments in one motion of your hand.
“It’s the only mechanical coupling system that allows you to leave the cab once instead of twice,” Pratt says. “You get out of the cab to manually release the locking mechanism. Then, you get back into the cab to move the arm and hook onto another attachment. The coupler automatically latches. You do not have to leave the cab a second time, as is the case with other mechanical couplers.”
The simple system contains only five parts and, because of the wedge design, the latching mechanism remains tight, eliminating any jiggling of the attachment as the mechanism wears over time.
Also, the Klac coupler maintains OEM breakout force, unlike the pin-grabber style of mechanical couplers used with compact and smaller excavators. “Because of the way pin-grabber couplers work — by grabbing the original bucket pins — they extend the bucket tip radius of the bucket about 6 to 12 inches,” Pratt explains. “That disrupts the original machine geometry and reduces digging ability.”
Tilting and gripping
Mounted at the end of a backhoe or excavator arm, Helac Corp.’s PowerTilt allows you to adjust the angle of a bucket or other attachment. It provides as much as 180 degrees of side-to-side angling motion, eliminating the need to reposition the machine itself.
The unit is designed as a more productive alternative to standard buckets or cylinder-style buckets that tilt up to 90 degrees, says Mike Peil, attachment sales manager. Uses of PowerTilt range from cleaning ditches, digging beveled trenches and spreading riprap to positioning brush cutters, mowers and hydraulic hammers.
PowerTilt is available in eight models to fit backhoes and excavators up to 75,000 pounds with or without quick couplers. Unlike attachments built with an exposed hydraulic cylinder and rod that are vulnerable to environmental damage, PowerTilt is powered by a helical, hydraulic rotary actuator located inside the mounting bracket housing. This reduces maintenance costs.
The same rotary actuator technology is also used in Helac’s PowerGrip multipurpose jaw bucket. This pin-on bucket attachment provides 120 degrees of jaw movement. It offers a more versatile alternative to a grapple or hydraulic thumb and provides a more durable, obstruction-free alternative to a cylinder-operated clamshell bucket. It can also be used as a trenching or grading bucket.
The PowerGrip’s rotary actuator also exerts a consistent holding force and equal torque on both ends to keep the jaws from twisting if the operator clamps an object unevenly between the bucket and jaw. Because the jaw function is part of the bucket, less operator skill is required to open and close it independently of the bucket curl function. This makes it easier to pick and place objects.
Three models of PowerGrip fit backhoes and excavators up to 45,000 pounds. They can also be used with the PowerTilt for a wide range of positioning possibilities.
PowerTilt and PowerGrip attachments require auxiliary hydraulics with two-way flow. Both can be added to backhoes and excavators with or without extendable dippersticks or couplers. Both Helac products are equipped with onboard hydraulic relief protection that simplifies hydraulic circuit requirements. Controlled with a single lever, they offer easier operation than a conventional thumb, which uses one control for the bucket and another for the thumb.
Greg Northcutt is a freelance writer based in Port Orchard, Wash. He can be reached by e-mailing this publication at editor@onsiteinstaller.com.
