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Construction excavators are made to design to lift heavy objects. The hydraulic thumbs in the excavators assist it to hold the freight. The thumbs are mostly detachable which moves both in the forward and backward direction to let the bucket slide around a heavy object. Steel of high quality is used to design it. It has hype bracing which adds to its strength. The working of the hydraulic thumb excavator is managed through a series of controls and levers strategically positioned to operate the machine by permitting the bucket to work like a mechanical hand. It drags the bucket towards it by squeezing the load against the excavator’s bucket. The bucket easily picks up the load and shifts it to some other place.
Applications of hydraulic thumb excavators
The Hydraulic thumb excavators are mainly manufactured to handle and load various objects with ease. They are used in the construction site to lift rocks, debris and the like which is not otherwise possible for the bucket to transport alone. You can also take out the thumb while doing normal work of excavations as it back off against the stick.
To install the hydraulic thumb in the excavator is not tiresome at all. In fact, it includes some simple steps which should be carried out carefully.
Steps to install hydraulic thumbs in excavators
- Park your excavator on a level and smooth ground surface. You have to drop out some space to adjust the forklift in order to place the hydraulic thumb.
- Now, place the hydraulic thumb close to the edge of the excavator’s arm on the ground. Slightly lower the machine’s arms to line up the arm’s holes with the holes in the hydraulic thumb.
- Mount the Thumb pad to the stick of the excavator and then connect it with the hydraulics.
- The gap between the bracket of the hydraulic thumb and the bucket should be at least one inch. The bucket should not touch the base of the thumb plate in curl up position.
- Lock the thumb properly to prevent it from jiggling and down drifting.
- The teeth of the excavator and the bucket should be aligned in left to right direction. To do this, you have to pull aside the bucket and lengthen the thumb. Check all the positions of the hydraulic thumb to make sure that the thumb hooks align with the teeth of the bucket.
- After that, go for welding the arms of the equipment. Welding should always be done in parallel with the axis of the excavator’s arm.
- The sealing and the lubricants should be replaceable one. Try to use pins and bushings which are already treated with heat so that heat cannot damage it easily.
You should perform some tests to nail down that the bucket and other connectors squeeze the hydraulic thumb. Any kind of failure to carry out the test will have adverse effects on cylinders, pins, sticks, brackets and thumbs. Don’t just waste your time in thinking, go forward, think straight and install the Hydraulic thumb to enlarge the sphere of the excavator’s application.
