Backhoe Made 8N A Better Tractor

Backhoe Made 8N A Better Tractor TRACTORS Made-It-Myself Adding a backhoe to his Ford 8N makes lots of jobs easy and Bob Halaska says the backhoe also makes steering easier     “I love using the loader on the 8N but with the extra weight it was hard to steer ” says Halaska “I looked at adding power steering but it was hard to part with more than $2 000 for an upgrade like that ”     When Halaska’s son-in-law needed some backhoe work done he decided to invest the money in a backhoe instead of power steering He found a Model 1199 made by Long Manufacturing Designed for Cat II 3-pt hitches it has a digging depth of 10 1/2 ft and a reach of 9 ft 4 in Equipped with a 36-in bucket or one of 5 trenching buckets it has a digging force of 5 000 lbs     Although it was designed for Long tractors starting with a 32 hp 350 the 8N handles it fine Halaska’s 8N has a hydraulic pump mounted to the front of the engine with a reservoir and a joystick mounted to the left side loader support post     “It took some trial and error to figure out how to mount it but once I did the counter balance it offered to the loader was a tremendous side benefit ” says Halaska “It took enough weight off the front end that I can easily steer the 8N ”     Rather than mount the backhoe to the 8N’s 3-pt arms Halaska used a fixed mount He slipped 5-in C-channels over the 4-in loader frame C-channels and bolted the backhoe to the bigger channel irons Although the C-channels are bolted to each other they carry no load Instead loads are spread out the length of the C-channels     Halaska has made other modifications to the 8N including designing and fabricating a set of forklifts for the loader He welded steel plates to the sides of the bucket and mounted flanges to hold a heavy-duty steel pipe in place     “I fabricated forks out of C-channel ” explains Halaska     He welded them at right angles to short lengths of boxed beam They in turn are welded to pipes slightly larger than the cross pipe and slide on it     “I like to have both the forks and the bucket with me when I’m out in the woods or away from the buildings ” says Halaska “When I don’t need the forks I just tip them back to a stand mounted to the top of the bucket and tie them down ”     Halaska mounted an electric winch to the cross bar on the loader “I use it to inch loads along ” he says “I can hook it on a 55-gal barrel and tip it to slowly empty the contents into another barrel I also use it for dragging and lifting heavy saw logs for splitting Basically there are unlimited uses for it for precision lifting ”     Halaska also mounted a forklift roll cage to the 8N LED lights as well as an overhead light are mounted fore and aft to the crossbars The 8N also has lighted tach oil pressure gauge and Hobbs hour meter     The 8N came equipped with 2 gearbox ranges for a total of 12 forward and 3 reverse gears It also had the hydraulic pump and reservoir attached when he bought it 26 years ago     “We both have a little rust on us – we share a December 1947 birthday – but it’s a real workhorse” says Halaska     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Bob Halaska N1712 Catherine Way Waupaca Wis 54981 ph 715 258-9573; robhalaska@gmail com

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