Loader And Backhoe Built For Deere 318 Garden Tractor

Loader And Backhoe Built For Deere 318 Garden Tractor TRACTORS Made-It-Myself Jake Tolstedt says he located and saved various parts for his home-built loader and mini backhoe for years before he finally started building his self-designed rig “I found a used Johnson loader that had been on a Montgomery Ward’s lawn tractor and fit it onto my Deere 318 tractor ” Tolstedt says “About that time I saw lawn tractor backhoe plans from PF Engineering in

FARM SHOW so I ordered them and went to work ”



Tolstedt then decided to make his backhoe and loader setup into a smaller version of a Deere industrial backhoe He’s familiar with those designs through his work as a diesel technician for Murphy Tractor a Deere industrial dealer in North Platte Neb Using that background knowledge he configured a custom sub frame made of 2-in square tubing for his tractor It’s bolted to the bottom of the axle and the frame to equalize the weight of the tools The loader and backhoe add about 1 100 lbs to the weight of his tractor but the reinforced frame provides ample support He says the added weight of the backhoe makes the loader a lot more useful



Tolstedt built a reinforced loader frame with 2-in square tubing The loader can lift up to 600 lbs about 56 in high He has a 48-in bucket and a 36-in pallet fork that are easy to change with the quick coupler mounting that he built



The backhoe boom is made from 3 1/2- in square by 1/4-in thick wall tubing The arm is made from 3-in tubing with a 3/16-in wall He bought 2 backhoe buckets with large digging teeth from Deere to fit the quick coupler he made for the boom arm One is 10 in and the other 16 in wide He also made a manually adjustable thumb that helps to pick up brush and other rough material The backhoe raises and lowers with a 2 1/2-in cylinder The bucket and outriggers operate with 2-in cylinders The boom arm reaches 8 ft digs 5 1/2 ft deep and can lift about

200 lbs 8 1/2 ft high The pivot pin for the backhoe is from a large loader bucket link


Tolstedt built a custom hydraulic system to run both tools It includes an auxiliary pump driven off the front of the engine by the same belt that used to drive the belly lawn mower on the 318 The pump feeds the backhoe valve first and then the loader valve then returns to the reservoir under the back of the tractor He used the salvaged 318 valve on the loader so the boom had fl oat for back dragging



Tolstedt says “One of the most difficult parts of the whole project was the seat swivel I had a hard time finding a mechanism that looked right and worked in the tight space The seat swivel I ended up using is from a utility tractor that had a mounted backhoe ”



Tolstedt says the project took him much longer to complete than he originally planned “Initially I was aiming for 12 to 16 months but it ended up taking closer to 3 years For the sake of maintaining my marriage I won’t guess at the cost but it’s still way less than buying a new rig like this A lot of the parts I made and some came from friends or junk piles Most of them I got for little or nothing ”

The shiny industrial yellow and construction charcoal paint job gives the completed equipment a “factory made” appearance

Tolstedt says the loader and backhoe are real handy around his yard He’s used the machine to move brush transplant trees and dig drainage ditches He plans to put in about 300 ft of water line and electrical cable and

says it shouldn’t have any trouble with that project His 9-yr -old son Bill is very adept at working the backhoe controls “He saw me work on this for a long time and even helped me build on it toward the end so it’s great to have him take an interest in using it ”


Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jake Tolstedt 13806 E Stewart Rd North Platte Neb 69101 ph 308 530-6730; jtolstedt@murphytractor com

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