Chinese mini-skid fronthoe - looking for field measurements

dick_freebird · Jul 6, 2026

Got my 3" box stock for the arm but up close, it looks overly stout
and will "take" a significant portion of plate torque to raise the arm.
The "extender" I'm using to get the arm-end link-bushings seems
like 3/16 or 1/8.

Just looking for sanity-check from the field, anyone who's bent
one from too thin stock, of finds that the arm is all the thing can
lift, would be good "goalposts" for material compromises to sit
between.

Anybody ever seen rated, attachment plate (bucket) torque?
That's the real deal for digger lift-and-dump, not the at-stock-
bucket rating / actual.

BG Scapes · Jul 7, 2026

dick_freebird said:
Got my 3" box stock for the arm but up close, it looks overly stout
and will "take" a significant portion of plate torque to raise the arm.
The "extender" I'm using to get the arm-end link-bushings seems
like 3/16 or 1/8.

Just looking for sanity-check from the field, anyone who's bent
one from too thin stock, of finds that the arm is all the thing can
lift, would be good "goalposts" for material compromises to sit
between.

Anybody ever seen rated, attachment plate (bucket) torque?
That's the real deal for digger lift-and-dump, not the at-stock-
bucket rating / actual.

Made mine from 5" square , some channel, a bunch of leftover scrap .

dick_freebird · Jul 7, 2026

Well that's a beast. Thanks for the in-work photos.
How deep can you get with yours as built? Looks
like maybe a 3' arm plus bucket-length?

Guess I won't be over-the-top with 4' of 3" box
then.

I see you made or found some kind of pin-joint
(bushed or not?) for your bucket hinge. Did you
fab your own, or did you find some kind of
"ready to go, bushing in tube, weld it up"? I
went and bought that extender piece retail
as it had the pair (mini-exc style) having no
better idea about finding the little bits.

rodby554 · Jul 8, 2026

dick_freebird said:
Got my 3" box stock for the arm but up close, it looks overly stout
and will "take" a significant portion of plate torque to raise the arm.
The "extender" I'm using to get the arm-end link-bushings seems
like 3/16 or 1/8.

Just looking for sanity-check from the field, anyone who's bent
one from too thin stock, of finds that the arm is all the thing can
lift, would be good "goalposts" for material compromises to sit
between.

Anybody ever seen rated, attachment plate (bucket) torque?
That's the real deal for digger lift-and-dump, not the at-stock-
bucket rating / actual.

Balancing the material thickness against the torque requirements is always a tricky trade-off. It’s smart to look for real-world feedback before locking in the specs.

BG Scapes · Jul 8, 2026

Made everything, bucket pis is 1" bolt so I used a leftover scrap of 1.5" Dom. 250 wall .

dick_freebird · Jul 8, 2026

BG Scapes said:
Made everything, bucket pis is 1" bolt so I used a leftover scrap of 1.5" Dom. 250 wall .

Nice. Knowing when and where to scrounge
(and a deep scrap barrel) makes a lot of difference.

BG Scapes · Jul 10, 2026

dick_freebird said:
Nice. Knowing when and where to scrounge
(and a deep scrap barrel) makes a lot of difference.

Another good spot to beef up on these little skid steers is the cross beam on the lift arms .
Most have a 1/2 of a 4x4 that supports the tilt cylinder.

dick_freebird · Jul 10, 2026

BG Scapes said:
Another good spot to beef up on these little skid steers is the cross beam on the lift arms .
Most have a 1/2 of a 4x4 that supports the tilt cylinder.

Thanks for that tip. I was thinking of stiffening the attachment's
base plate itself but belt and suspenders...

dick_freebird · Wednesday at 10:13 PM

BG Scapes said:
Made everything, bucket pis is 1" bolt so I used a leftover scrap of 1.5" Dom. 250 wall .

The DOM tip has been giving me a lot of ideas about how
to mount things with a whole lot less plate (and end-weight).
If I can weld it on without warping it to hell.

Been re-sketching my trailer hitch to quick attach "learn to
do 7018 right" project, and got a 2ft stick of tube to make
a multi-angle tool mount that plugs into my trailer-hitch
attach plate. Rake is pitchfork too; like that. I like this a
lot better than my original plan which was a couple of
5x5x1/2" plates for me to hole-saw. Rather chop-saw
tube any weekend.

Chinese mini-skid fronthoe - looking for field measurements

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