Sometimes checking around you can get reasonable prices,----just takes time.
I lack machines here to make stuff, so it's always been the torch, welders, grinders, and a chimna cutoff saw that I have used for years.
Still have not got my south bend set up yet ------ going to need help putting the jackshaft up to drive it and find a reversing motor to put on it.
A drawing of the general parts is helpful and will give a good idea of all the little stuff needed. ---- I didnt have anything when I made my excavator, just junkpiles, torch and welder on that one, so it looks really crude but does dig good ------been down 17.5 feet with it so I was pleased the way it turned out.
Also was going to rig a hydraulic motor up to drive the rear axle and finish hooking up the outriggers but never got around to it. I have been dragging it around behind tractors and trucks and set the brakes on them to hold the hoe down while digging and found it takes a good sized unit to hold it from sliding off into the hole! lol!!
