Seminar Report 05

Backhoe Loader

INTRODUCTION
If you were to ask a large group of people what they could tell you about backhoe
loaders, a lot of them wouldn't know what you were talking about. But if you showed
them a picture of one, almost everybody would understand what you meant. We've all
seen backhoe loaders, commonly called backhoes. They are used for a number of
different jobs and are often the only piece of heavy equipment at a construction site. We
pass them on the side of the road all the time. But even somebody who has passed by
dozens of backhoes may not know that much about them. What exactly do they do? Why
are they used for so many different sorts of construction projects? How can they dig such
big holes in such a short amount of time? How strong are they?
In this edition, we'll look at what backhoes can do, examine the machinery that
makes this work possible and show you how workers actually control a backhoe. The
next time you pass a backhoe loader working alongside the freeway, you'll know exactly
what it's doing!

Figure 1
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Backhoe Loader

RELEVANT FEATURES
Backhoes have been around more than 40 years, and they've gotten even more
popular in the last decade. Caterpillar has sold more than 100,000 backhoes since 1985.
The main reason we see backhoes at work all the time is that digging and moving dirt is a
big part of a lot of different projects. For example, you need to dig ditches to lay pipes
and underground cable, set up foundations for buildings and create drainage systems.
There are a number of tools that do this sort of work, often more efficiently than a
backhoe, but many construction crews use a backhoe instead because of a number of
factors.
For one thing, backhoes are remarkably compact when compared to large,
specialized equipment such as excavators. They can move around all sorts of construction
sites and you can take them on the road. Mini-loaders and backhoe units are actually
smaller than a typical backhoe loader, but if a contractor needs to dig and load, it's usually
better to have both units in one. It saves a lot of time because the operator doesn't have to
switch between two different pieces of equipment.
The backhoe is also popular simply because of its amazing capacities. The
Caterpillar backhoe loader has a huge amount of power. Its backhoe can dig with 15,200
pounds (67.6 kN) of force and can reach more than 25.9 feet (7.9 meters) away. The
loader can lift loads up to 8,760 pounds (3,970 kg) and can hold 1.75 cubic yards (1.3
cubic meters) of dirt in its standard bucket. The backhoe and loader components don't
have quite as much power as larger equipment, but they do very well, even with fairly
difficult jobs.
A construction crew that does all sorts of different work will usually buy a
backhoe rather than more efficient specialized equipment because the backhoe performs
well in a wide variety of situations. For small to medium digging jobs, a backhoe is
certainly sufficient. And as we'll see later on, some backhoe models do a lot more than
just digging and loading.

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Backhoe Loader

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
Backhoe loaders have a very unique appearance. They have components sticking
out every way.
A backhoe loader is an interesting invention because it is actually three pieces of
construction equipment combined into one unit. A backhoe loader is:

A tractor

A loader

A backhoe
Each piece of equipment is suited to a particular sort of work. On a typical

construction site, the backhoe operator usually uses all three components to get the job
done.

The Tractor
The core structure of a backhoe loader is the tractor. Just like the tractors that
farmers use in their fields, the backhoe tractor is designed to move easily over all kinds of
rough terrain. It has a powerful, turbocharged diesel engine, large, rugged tires and a cab
with basic steering controls (a steering wheel, brakes, etc.). Backhoe cabs are either
completely enclosed or have an open canopy structure to give the operator protection.

The Loader
The loader is attached in the front and the backhoe is attached in the back. These
two components serve very different functions.
The loader can do several different things. In many applications, you use it like a
big, powerful dustpan or coffee scoop. You usually don't dig with it; you mostly use it to
pick up and carry large amounts of loose material. It's also used to smooth things over
like a butter knife, or to push dirt like a plow. The operator controls the loader while
driving the tractor.

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Backhoe Loader

The Backhoe
The backhoe is the main tool of the backhoe loader. It's used to dig up hard,
compact material, usually earth, or to lift heavy loads, such as a sewer box. It can lift this
material and drop it in a pile to the side of the hole.
Basically, the backhoe is a big, extremely powerful version of your arm or finger.
It has three segments:

The boom

The stick

The bucket
This arrangement is very similar to your arm. Your arm has three segments -- your

upper arm, forearm and hand.

The backhoe segments are connected by three joints, comparable to your wrist,
elbow and shoulder. The backhoe moves in pretty much the same way as your arm. In a
Caterpillar backhoe, the boom is bent upward to make it easier to dig with obstacles in
the way. This design also provides extra space for the bucket when the operator curls it in
with a full load.
The backhoe can dig all sorts of holes, but is especially suited for digging ditches.
To use the backhoe, the operator has to park the tractor and turn the seat around.
So what do the tractor, loader and backhoe have to do with each other? The tractor
component is for moving the other two components from place to place, and the operator
also maneuvers it when using the loader. The loader and backhoe components are a
natural combination for all sorts of jobs. When you dig up a lot of dirt to make a ditch or
any other sort of hole, you generally need a loader to either move the dirt out of the area
or to fill the dirt back in once you've got the pipes, power lines, etc. in position. The most
common application for a backhoe loader is this basic job -- digging a trench with the
backhoe and then back-filling it with the loader.

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Backhoe Loader

The Stabilizer Legs

The other appendages you'll typically notice on a backhoe loader are the two
stabilizer legs just behind the rear wheels. These legs are crucial to backhoe operation
because they take the brunt of the weight when a backhoe is digging. Without the
stabilizer legs, the weight of a heavy load or the downward force of digging into the
ground would strain the wheels and tires, and the whole tractor would bounce constantly.
The stabilizers keep the tractor steady, minimizing the jostling effect of digging with the
backhoe. They also secure the tractor so that it won't slip into the ditch or hole.
The stabilizer legs have two types of "shoes," so that they can be planted securely
on both dirt and pavement. The grouser shoe side digs into the dirt for a better grip, but
would tear up the pavement if you were to use it on a road. For a good grip on asphalt, the
operator simply flips the rubber-padded shoe into position.

HYDRAULIC POWER
If you've ever watched a backhoe at work, you know that it is an extraordinarily
powerful tool. An experienced operator can dig a 5-foot-deep, 10-foot-long ditch in less
than 15 minutes. Just think how long it would take you to do that with only a shovel!
Amazingly, all of this work is done with hydraulics -- pumping liquid to move pistons.
The concept of hydraulic machinery may seem pretty bizarre -- how can pumping
liquid give you such power? -- but it's actually very simple. First, let's look at the basic
idea of a hydraulic system, and then we'll see how a backhoe uses these systems to dig
and load such huge amounts of dirt.
Hydraulic systems simply transmit forces from point to point through fluid. Most
systems use an incompressible fluid, a fluid that is as dense as it can get. This sort of fluid
transmits nearly all of the original force instead of absorbing some of it. The most
commonly used incompressible fluid in hydraulic machinery is oil.
In the very simple hydraulic machine, the operator pushes on the oil with one
piston so that the oil pushes on another piston, raising it up.

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Backhoe Loader

Because the second piston has a larger diameter than the first piston, the second
piston moves a shorter distance but pushes up with greater force.
The basic concept at work is a trade between distance and force. The work you do
in pressing down on the piston on the left has two components -- the amount of force you
apply and how far you push the piston. This pushes down a certain amount of fluid. Since
the fluid is incompressible, it can't absorb the force you apply, so it pushes up on the
piston on the right. The fluid has the same pressure (pounds per square inch) at every
point in the system. Since the pressure at the piston on the right is working on a larger
area, that piston pushes upward with a greater force.
It's pretty easy to figure out the exact multiplication factor. Assume that the piston
on the left has a 2-inch diameter (1-inch radius), while the piston on the right has a 6-inch
diameter (3-inch radius). The area of each piston is Pi * r . The area of the left piston is
2

therefore 3.14 (3.14 * 1 ), while the area of the piston on the right is 28.26 (3.14 x 3 ). The
2

piston on the right is nine times larger than the piston on the left. This means that any
force applied to the left-hand piston will be nine times greater on the right-hand piston.
So, in the illustration above, the 100-pound downward force applied to the left piston
creates a 900-pound upward force on the right piston. But, in keeping with the forcedistance trade-off, you've moved the left-hand piston 9 inches and raised the right-hand
piston only 1 inch.
In the backhoe loader shown above, the hydraulic system pumps oil at up to 3,300
pounds per square inch, and the cylinder pistons in the backhoe arm have a diameter of
up to 5.25 inches. This gives each cylinder piston a force of 70,000 pounds!

HYDRAULIC VALVES
With our very simple hydraulic machine, we pushed down on some oil with one
piston and that oil pushed up a larger piston, thereby multiplying the force of our effort.
This sort of hydraulic mechanism is great for systems where you need to apply a force
very briefly, every once in a while -- a brake system, for example. But in a piece of
equipment such as a backhoe, you're always moving pistons, so you need constant oil
pressure.

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Backhoe Loader

In a backhoe, this pressure comes from an oil pump that is powered by a diesel
engine. The pump does the same sort of thing as the narrow piston we saw in the earlier
example. It applies a lesser force to the oil at a high rate of speed, generating enough
pressure to move another piston more slowly but with greater force. The pump keeps a
steady supply of high-pressure oil flowing to a valve block system, which directs the
pressure's force (later on, we'll see exactly how this works).
So, the powerful pistons in a backhoe are actually moved by the same forces that
we saw working in the simple hydraulic design. There are some significant differences in
how the two systems operate, however. The simple piston we looked at could only apply
multiplied force in one direction. If you pushed down on the narrower piston, the wider
piston moved up with greater force. But for a backhoe to dig, its arms have to be able to
move in different directions. To move this way, the pistons must be able to push and pull
with full force, which requires a more complex system.
If you were to cut open one of the piston cylinders from a backhoe, you can see
that the piston rod that extends outside the cylinder is actually moved by a piston head
inside the cylinder. There is fluid on both sides of this piston head, fed by two different
hoses. If the force is greater on the right side, the piston will move to the left, and if it is
greater on the left side, the piston will move to the right. So all you have to do to change
the direction of force is stop pumping oil to one side and start pumping it to the other.
This sort of piston cylinder is commonly called a hydraulic ram.

Figure 2
A backhoe loader uses something called a spool valve to direct oil to either side of
a ram.
The pump takes oil from a tank and pumps it through a hose to the spool valve.
When the operator moves the controls to change the direction of the backhoe, the spool
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Backhoe Loader

valve changes its configuration so that the high-pressure oil goes to the other side of the
ram. As the high-pressure oil pushes on one side, the low-pressure oil is forced through a
different hose, back to the oil tank.
The operator manipulates this valve block with joysticks in the backhoe cab. In
some backhoes, control sticks are directly attached to different spool valves, acting as a
lever to move the spool directly.
In other backhoes, the joysticks operate hydraulic pistons that control the
movement of the spool valves. When you move the joystick in a certain direction, it
presses down on a particular piston. This piston pushes oil through a hose to move the
spool valve controlling a particular hydraulic ram. By moving different spools, you
extend or retract different hydraulic pistons. In the next couple of sections, we'll look at
the arrangement of these pistons, and see how their applied forces translate into fluid
movement in the backhoe and loader.

HYDRAULICS IN THE BACKHOE

Now we've seen how the backhoe's valve system can move hydraulic pistons in
two directions with great force. But how do equipment designers use this technology to
create such powerful digging machines?
Let's go back to the idea of a backhoe being a huge, powerful version of a human
arm. We compared the steel segments -- the boom, the stick and the bucket -- to three
pieces of your arm, similarly connected by three joints. It's obvious that your arm
wouldn't be quite as useful without muscles -- your muscles provide the force that
actually pulls the various segments of your arm toward and away from each other. The
cylinders in a backhoe serve the same function. All of the segments are hinged together
and each cylinder can either pull a connected segment closer or push it away.
Each cylinder piston is controlled by its own spool valve. When you dig with a
backhoe, you're actually controlling at least four individual spools (which move four
different pistons). In the animation below, you can see how an operator activates some of
these different pistons together to dig with the backhoe.

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Backhoe Loader

The backhoe also has two hydraulic pistons near the base of the boom arm. The
boom arm is connected to the tractor with a swing casting so that these pistons can swing
the backhoe arm from side to side. They are synchronized so that when you push with
one, the other pulls. In many European backhoes, the boom is attached to a side-shift
mechanism, a bracket that can move the entire backhoe arm horizontally on the tractor.
This lets the operator dig in spaces where it would be very difficult to maneuver the entire
tractor into a good working position.
One of the most significant variables in backhoe performance is dig depth. This is
simply a rating of how deep the backhoe arm can dig. Typically, dig depth is somewhere
between 12 and 16 feet (3 to 5 m). Many backhoes have an extendible stick that lets them
increase this dig depth a few feet when needed. Most backhoe jobs don't require operators
to dig ditches and holes more than 10-feet deep, but the dig depth is still a useful measure
because it also indicates how far out the backhoe can reach.
Another important rating is horsepower. If you've read How Horsepower Works,
then you know that horsepower is a measure of how much work something can do in a
certain amount of time. A backhoe horsepower rating tells you how much power the
engine provides for all of the systems in the backhoe, which gives you an idea of what the
backhoe, is capable of.
Backhoe models with greater dig depth usually have more horsepower. Increasing
both of these factors expands the backhoe's abilities. Backhoes designed for residential
construction applications -- such as digging foundations, grading, and digging ditches for
sewer and utility lines -- generally have a 14- to 16-foot dig depth and 70 to 85
horsepower. Backhoes designed for heavier industrial and commercial applications -such as road and bridge maintenance or large-scale construction -- have a dig depth
greater than 17 feet (5 m) and at least 100 horsepower.
Backhoes also have breakout force ratings. Breakout force describes the
maximum force that the arm can apply on a load. It's measured by how hard the end of
the bucket can push, but all of the hydraulic rams on the arm contribute to the total force.
Backhoes also have stick lift and boom lift ratings, which tell you the maximum weight
the stick and the boom can lift individually when the hydraulic rams are pushing with full
force. This is another measure of a backhoe's general capacity, and is especially useful for
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Backhoe Loader

contractors who plan to use the backhoe as a sort of crane for lifting heavy loads. The
backhoe in the pictures above has a 14,712-lb (65.4-kN) breakout force, a 6,250-lb
(2,830-kg) stick lift capacity and a 3,940-lb (1,787-kg) boom lift capacity.

HYDRAULICS IN THE LOADER

We've mostly focused on the backhoe here, but the loader is also driven by
hydraulics. Its hydraulic rams are configured in a slightly different way -- they work as
pairs. The rams lift the bucket in exactly the same way you would lift a heavy box -- you
grab both sides and lift with both arms. The valve system pumps the same amount of oil
to each ram in the pair so that they move in unison. This stabilizes the loader bucket.
Caterpillar has two types of loaders on its backhoes -- a single tilt (yellow) and a
parallel lift (black). Both types use a piston pair to lift the loader arms. This piston pair is
attached to the tractor and the arms holding the bucket. The pistons extend to raise the
arms and retract to lower them. Parallel-lift loaders use a second pair of rams attached to
the loader arms and the bucket itself. These rams extend to dump the bucket and retract to
tilt it back up. Single-tilt loaders do this with only one central ram.
Parallel-lift loaders have an eight-bar-linkage design that improves loading
performance. In this system, different sets of bars in the loader are connected in such a
way that the bucket doesn't tip as it rises. Basically, the two main sets of parallel bars that
hold the bucket move together so that they keep the bucket level with the ground. Without
parallel lift, the loader would be something like a seesaw with a crate nailed to one end. If
you filled the crate with oranges when the see-saw was level, a lot of them would fall out
when you tilted the seesaw up. A parallel-lift system allows for more efficient loading
because it keeps more of the material in the bucket as it lifts.
Another cool function in some backhoe loaders is a technology called ride control.
Carrying a full load with a backhoe loader makes for a fairly bumpy ride because the
wheel base is so small compared to the total inertia of the equipment and the load -- the
weight on one end rocks the whole structure back and forth. To make the ride a bit
smoother, backhoes with ride control use the loader lift hydraulics as a shock-absorber
system. Basically, as the bucket bounces, it pushes down on the oil in the hydraulic
cylinders. The oil flows to another piston cylinder, the accumulator, which has
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compressed nitrogen gas on the other side. Unlike oil, this nitrogen gas can be
compressed, so it acts like a spring -- when the incompressible oil from the loader rams
pushes down on one side of the piston, the gas compresses a little before pushing back up
on the piston.
With just this mechanism, the oil would simply be pushed back and forth, so the
bucket would keep bouncing. To create a smooth ride, the ride control system has to
absorb some of that energy as the oil flows. The damping mechanism that accomplishes
this is a small orifice in the hose carrying the oil from the lift ram to the ride control
accumulator. With each bounce of the loader bucket, oil is squeezed through this small
opening. The energy expended to force the oil through the opening is converted into heat.
This energy loss essentially absorbs the bouncing energy, making for a smoother ride.
Like backhoe arms, loaders are rated by their breakout force. This rating tells you
the maximum force the loader's hydraulic rams can apply to the front bucket, which gives
you an idea of how well a loader will be able to push and lift a load.

OPERATING THE BACKHOE LOADER

When you stop and think about all the different moving parts in a backhoe loader,
it seems unbelievable that you need only one person at the controls. As we saw in the last
two sections, the backhoe arm swivels on four different hinges (some bucket designs have
five) and the loader moves on two to three hinges. Additionally, the operator controls the
stabilizer arms and moves the tractor around while loading. How does one person do all
of this?
The main controls for a Caterpillar backhoe are two computer-style joysticks.
Here are the functions of the joysticks:

The joystick on the left moves the boom and swings the entire backhoe from side
to side.

The joystick on the right moves the stick and the bucket.

Pulling the joystick toward you moves the boom or the stick closer to you, and
pushing the joystick away moves the boom or stick farther out.

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Pushing the left-hand joystick to the left swings the entire backhoe to the left, and
pushing the joystick to the right swings the arm to the right.

Pushing the right-hand joystick to the left scoops the bucket in, and pushing it to
the right dumps the bucket out.
Digging effectively with a backhoe requires practice, like learning to drive a car.

The hardest part of learning to drive is usually paying attention to all of the different
things going on. It takes a lot of practice to keep all of the various controls in your mind
at once. Learning how to operate a backhoe is the same way. Picking up something with
your arm is incredibly easy because you move every muscle automatically. But imagine
how hard it would be if you had to stop and think about every muscle you were moving in
that one motion.
An experienced driver doesn't even think about most of the things he or she is
doing while driving. Backhoe operators reach this same level. With enough practice, the
controls become second nature. But in addition to learning the controls, the operator must
also learn to position the arm so that it will dig efficiently. That means knowing the best
angle for the bucket as it sinks into the dirt, knowing when to move the boom and when
to move the stick and getting a sense of what arm positions provide the best leverage.
Operating the loader is relatively simple because it only dumps, raises and lowers.
The main loader control is a joystick on the right-hand side of the operator. If you pull the
joystick back toward you, the first set of hydraulic rams pushes out to lift the arms up.
When you push it away from you, the arms lower. To dump out the bucket, you move the
joystick to the right. To scoop the bucket in, you move the joystick to the left.
So the loader is pretty easy to learn compared to the backhoe. To get much use out
of it, however, you have to be able to operate it while moving the tractor around the site.
The tractor basically handles like a car, with a steering wheel, accelerator, brake pedal
and gear shift. The loader and the tractor are powered by the same engine, which has a
variable speed control. For an extra boost in loader force, the operator can put the tractor
in neutral so that most of the engine's power goes directly to the hydraulic system.
Experienced backhoe operators use the backhoe loader in much the same way you
would use a shovel or wheelbarrow at home -- they know exactly how to move the
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controls to dig and load quickly and effectively. And they're always thinking ahead to
their next few moves, planning their strategy. This is also something like driving a car:
When you see traffic jam ahead of you on the road, you're already deciding how you're
going to navigate it. Just as with driving, learning how to operate the backhoe is only the
first step -- the real skill is in knowing how to use the backhoe to accomplish different
tasks.

THE HYDRAULIC PUMP

All of the hydraulic systems on a backhoe get their hydraulic pressure from a
hydraulic pump. There are two types of pumps in common use:

Gear pumps

Variable-displacement pumps
In a gear pump, a pair of inter-meshing gears pressurizes the hydraulic oil. The

disadvantage of gear pumps is that pressure rises and falls with engine speed, and the
only way to get high pressure is to run the engine at full power.
A variable-displacement pump is more sophisticated. It has a series of piston
cylinders fixed in a ring inside a barrel. The engine spins the barrel around so that the
cylinders revolve. The cylinder pistons extend out the back of the barrel, where they are
attached to an angled swash plate. As the barrel spins around, the angle of the swash plate
pushes the pistons in and then pulls them out. You can see in the diagram that as the
swash plate pulls the piston out, the cylinder sucks in oil from the tank. As the plate
pushes the piston in, the cylinder pumps oil out into the hydraulic system. Just before a
cylinder rotates from the intake side to the discharge side, it's holding the maximum
amount of oil. As it rotates from the hydraulic-system side to the intake side, it's holding
the minimum amount of oil. This pressurizes the oil so that it is pumped out with great
force.
This pump is especially cool because you can very easily adjust how much oil it
pumps. All you have to do is change the angle of the swash plate. When the swash plate is
pressed closer to the barrel, there isn't as great a difference between the size of a
cylinder's fluid compartment on the left side and the size of the compartment on the right
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side. Consequently, the pump doesn't pump as much oil. When the swash plate is pressed
all the way up against the barrel -- so that it isn't at an angle at all -- the system doesn't
pump any oil.
The angle of the swash plate is determined by the needs of the hydraulic system.
Special circuits monitor the pressure on the various hydraulic rams and adjust the flow
rate to the necessary level. This load-sensing hydraulic system has a couple of significant
advantages over a system using a fixed-displacement pump.
First of all, the variable-displacement pump is more efficient because it only
pumps the amount of oil that the hydraulic system needs. When none of the hydraulic
rams are operating, the pump simply stops pumping oil. This reduces the fuel
consumption of the backhoe a good deal.
Secondly, this sort of system makes the best use of available engine power. Most
backhoes have several different engine-speed options. When the engine is at maximum
speed, the backhoe has the most power to work with. When the engine is at a reduced
speed, the backhoe has less available power.
If the pump tries to draw more power than the engine can produce (at a particular
speed), the engine will stall. So, to provide maximum pressure to the hydraulics at all
times, the system has to make intelligent use of the available power.
In a backhoe, power is just flow rate multiplied by hydraulic pressure. The
pressure is determined by the operation being performed -- lifting heavy objects or
busting through hard ground requires higher pressure than does moving an empty bucket.
Relief valves determine the maximum pressure in the hydraulic system.
On backhoes with fixed-displacement pumps, the flow rate is constant at any
particular engine speed. Since the flow rate multiplied by the maximum pressure can't
exceed the available engine power, the system always pumps the amount of oil needed for
maximum pressure. Some oil is used by the hydraulics and the rest goes to the tank. This
means that if you are not demanding full pressure, you're wasting available engine power
and wearing out the system for no reason.

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Backhoes with variable-displacement pumps don't have this problem. The system
monitors the pressure of all the hydraulic rams and controls the angle of the swash plate
to meet the demands of the ram that has the highest pressure level. If you are not
demanding full pressure, the pump will increase its displacement (which increases flow
rate), making the tools move faster. When the system demands full pressure, the pump
will decrease its displacement so that it can provide the pressure without exceeding the
engine's available power.

ATTACHING DIFFERENT TOOLS

Some backhoe-loaders let you connect a wide variety of tools to either the
backhoe stick or the loader in place of the standard buckets. Caterpillar backhoe-loaders
have an integrated tool carrier (IT) that hooks up very easily to a number of compatible
components. Different tools include specialized buckets, street sweepers and pallet forks.
The backhoe arm also connects very easily to different tools. As you can see in the
video below, the operator must secure the tool to the backhoe stick with a connecting pin.
All sorts of tools are available, including:

Hydraulic hammers for breaking up asphalt

Augers for digging circular holes

Asphalt grinders for milling the surface of the road

Grapples for gripping and pulling rooted material (such as tree stumps)
The ability to attach different tools expands the backhoe's versatility a great deal.

The different tool attachments let the backhoe loader do a number of different things on
the job site.

INSIDE A BACKHOE LOADER

As you've seen, backhoe loaders are filled with hydraulic valves and cylinders. In
addition, backhoe loaders have all sorts of things you would find in any tractor, car or
truck. In this section, we'll look at some of the components that make a backhoe work.

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All backhoe loaders have a set of standard components. In any backhoe, you'll
find:

An engine - In a typical backhoe loader, the tractor, loader and backhoe are all
powered by a diesel engine. The Caterpillar 80-horsepower 3054 engine below
has a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, direct-injection design. It also features a dry-type,
radial-seal two-stage air filter and a thermal starting aid that allows the engine to
start up even at -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 C). The basic model is naturally
aspirated, but some Caterpillar backhoes have a turbocharged design.

A transmission - To apply the engine power to the tractor and the backhoe and
loader hydraulic systems, you need a transmission. A backhoe transmission does
the same basic job as the transmission in your car. Backhoe loaders come with
either automatic or manual transmissions. The Caterpillar power-shuttle
transmission below provides four speeds, as well as forward and backward. It has
forward and reverse hydraulically shifted shuttle clutches, which let the operator
change direction and travel speed on the go. It also has a torque converter that
enables maximum power efficiency.

Axles - The wheels in a backhoe loader are turned by axles. The Caterpillar
standard rear axle shown below has a special enclosed design that protects it from
the elements. This lets the backhoe operate reliably, even in extremely harsh
environments.

Brakes - Just like your car, backhoe loaders need brakes in order to stop moving.
Caterpillar backhoes use hydraulically-actuated, self-adjusting disc brakes to stop
the tractor. They have a separate parking brake that the operator applies with a
hand lever.

Dept of Mechanical Engg

16

MESCE Kuttippuram

Seminar Report 05

Backhoe Loader

CONCLUSION
The above explained features compelled the machine to compare with a highly
talented worker. Sound pollution is the main disadvantage of this machine. Further
researches on these machines are going on to decrease the sound pollution.
These machines have long been favorites of governmental agencies because of
their durability, reliability and performance. From its varied specialties, now-a-days usage
of this machine is more enhanced. Also for the enhancement of the product, some of the
major companies are giving services after sales.
After analyzing some of its construction and working, we can conclude that rather
than its size, when compared to other machines, it has a rugged construction that anyone
can operate it with a little practice and no machines would replace in its position.

Dept of Mechanical Engg

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MESCE Kuttippuram

Seminar Report 05

Backhoe Loader

REFERENCES
Web site: www.howstuffworks.com
Text book: A Course in Thermal Engineering by Domkundwar, Kothandaraman and
Khajuria

Dept of Mechanical Engg

18

MESCE Kuttippuram