Backhoe 8069: Modifications and build (stopmotion video)

[grindinggears]

Hi there,

I recently bought the 8069 Backhoe and had enough time to think of some little modifications.

The 8069 is a marvellous set, especially the rear part contains an unbelievable amount of gears and still feels robust. The Design is very nice and makes the Lego version imho look even better than its realworld counterparts (especially the big front wheels and the wide cabin).

The number of functions is insane and thus it has a great playability. Still there are some short-comings which I tried to solve by some modifications.

1. The turning radius is too big

I simply replaced the 3/4 pin by the 1/2 pin which maximises the steering lock without letting the front wheels touch anything.

2. Flimsy bucket tilt mechanism

I didn't find a good geometry for the many cranks that are used. I tried replacing the lower crank with one that is only 2 studs long and replaced the grey liftarm with this one. It was a lot stronger but didn't have a sufficient reach.

To reduce the backlash in the bucket mount I replaced the 3 long liftarm:

Maybe someone of you can find a good solution! I think what we need is a major redesign which doesn't use cranks.

3. Big backlash of the rear hoe

No, I don't have an easy solution for this. Inserting a 24t gear here would need a major redesign of the rear part.

But at least there is a simple way to make the reach of the backhoe bigger: Remove the outriggers!

You don't really need them because stability isn't a serious issue here. And it makes the playability a lot bigger.

4. Seat

I moved the seat down by one stud to fit a technic figure in the cabin. Thus I needed an 11 studs long axle to connect the steering knob and the gears. As you know there is only a 12 long axle and thus the steering knob got elevated by one stud.

That's it for my thoughts of making the Backhoe better.

I also recorded the building process with my camera and made a stop-motion video of it. It's not high quality and the music might sound weird at the first glance(the full song is

) but please keep in mind that this is my first video.

Edited January 15, 2011 by grindinggears

[legolijntje]

I have this set also, and I thought the same about the steering radius, but I never tried something to solve it.

My set is still assembled, so I wil try it out

[Milan]

Nice video and nice set.

It would look better with smaller tires at the front.

[JunkstyleGio]

That was a simple solution on the first problem...

Off Topic

Nice music.

[hga09]

Good work.

Thanks for posting.

[doug72]

I found this to be a good model with lots of manual functions - however the look is spoilt by the pertruding axles (by 1.5L) on the rear wheels which uses a cross axle 5.5 with stop 1M (p/n 4508553)

I made a small mod by removing these axles and using 4L axles with stop instead (p/n 4560177).

To support this I used two 3L pins with centre hole (p/N 4560175) used in tandam.

A connector pin between axle stop and main beam prevents the axle being pushed in when the wheel is added.

it was fairly easy to carry out without a major dismantling.

This greatly improves the look of this model.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Doug72

[Parax]

4. Seat

I moved the seat down by one stud to fit a technic figure in the cabin. Thus I needed an 11 studs long axle to connect the steering knob and the gears. As you know there is only a 12 long axle and thus the steering knob got elevated by one stud.

Why just one axle? the original fits a joiner above and below the seat you could have put one in the backrest of the seat and above the seat...

I like your steering mod, as I too did this :)

nice work on the vid.

P.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Parax

[grindinggears]

Thanks for all the praise! Makes me want to do another building video in the next time...

@ Doug72

Good solution for that problem. I don't know why it didn't occur to me when the model was built

Why just one axle? the original fits a joiner above and below the seat you could have put one in the backrest of the seat and above the seat...

Moving down the seat made it lean back a bit more and thus lowering the grey connector by more than one stud. Hence the space here was slightly less than two studs.

Above the seat I couldn't place a connector because it would interfere with the technic figure's head.