Bunk: I was aware that bronze/Oilite could fail when it is subject to impact loads. I simply am not knowledgeable enough to use it. I do know enough about steel to use rod & tube for the pivots with grease. Bunting calls for 1" rod and 1" ID tubing. Seems like a reasonable compromise on pin dia vs 3" x 1/4 wall tubing. I vaguely recall a YouTube showing the repair of a Case B/H lower pivot and it had two bronze bearings with a large pin, couple inches at least. But I doubt it saw a lot of impact load like bucket or lower arm would. BUt I'm a s***** mechanical engineer.

I live on a sloping lot and I need to install water control to move the water around and away from the house. When I moved here (NW Houston TX) it was good. Then we had a long drought and trees grew and increased shade. Result no grass, soil moving. Also need some concrete work and stump removal. All at the surface or 3' down.

Sonny: I have a small Iron worker which I CAN use and a Atlas 12" Comml lathe which I am a complete tryo at running. My other stuff is similar to yours. I do have an old Cebora plasma cutter, a HF sand blast cabinet and 20T press (Chinese Tons). Frost line is maybe 6" so I doubt if I would need to dig more than 4-5 ft

I thought about a way to add a hyd motor to move the unit under it's own power. Maybe later.

I have enough scrap to cover a lot of the bits and pieces, but I have to say I didn't think of Ebay for metal.

Thanks for your comments

JLG

James Geraci