backhoe leaf chain adjustment

glennster

Well-known Member
i posted this on tractor talk a couple days ago, but wanted to see if anybody here had any thoughts?

ok so i have an old minnie-molie big mo 500 with an ottawa backhoe on it. just had all the cylinders rebuilt on the hoe. to swing the hoe side to side it uses 2 hydraulic cylinders that hook to 2 leaf chains and thru idler pulleys swing the hoe side to side. snapped one of the chains digging sunday. have new chains coming in a few days. question is, how would you adjust the chains? i am pretty sure the cylinders prolly should be set at the very end of each stroke and then the chain installed,, then swing the hoe to the other end and set that chain. how much if any slack woould you leave in the chains? the chains hook to 7/8 inch fine thread all thread rod and have about 15 inches of adjustment. should the cylinder be fully extended then a little slack, or not quite fully extended (maybe 1/4 inch) so it stays under tension? (the leaf chain is like the mast chain on a fork lift) any thoughts?
 
Not sure this will help as I have never had to work on one but, Years ago when I worked for the local Ford dealer we had a used take off back hoe come in, it had been setting for years and when we sold it I seen its chain like you describe was Loose Very loose,, when I mounted it on its new mate and hit the hyd it tightened up and worked like it was supposed to do, I would say they just need to be centered more than tight as the hyd cylinders should control how tight it is to be in use or at least this one worked that way,, but just a guess
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