Controls

[badranman]

As a relatively newcomer to the world of excavating I am used to the two stick pattern on most modern excavators and backhoes. Could someone please identify the five sticks in the photo. I'm guessing the foot controls do the boom swing and 1 and 5 are stabilizers? It's a picture of a '78 Case 580. That must be a bear to run. A third hand would come in handy. Is it as hard as it looks? Thanks.

[Cat420]

I can't help you with those, but I did get to try a Dynahoe once with 4 lever controls (not including outriggers) and it wasn't as bad as you might think. I much prefer 2 lever as well. After all, we only have 2 hands, why put more controls than that?

[CT18fireman]

Looks like each control is clearly labeled to me.

Older units ran with rods and cables, not like the electrci controls of today. I have run one before and once you got the hang of it, you could work to levers with one hand. They only go up and down.

[Steve Frazier]

I'm going to bet digger242j is well versed in this pattern.

I know what you surmised about 1 & 5 plus the pedals is correct, my guess is 3 is the dipper, 4 the bucket and 2 would be the boom. Like anything else, once you use it for a while it probably comes naturally.

I've run 4 stick machines, I definately like 2 sticks better. The new technology of pilot controls is sweet, a lot less fatigue after a day's work. Many manufacturers are still using mechanical controls though.

[digger242j]

Looks like each control is clearly labeled to me.

Yes, they're clearly labeled, but not for those levers!

Look carefully. 2 and 4 show arrows pointing to either side as well as forward and back, but clearly, those levers are only going to move forward and back.

The label is for a machine with a JD type joystick control pattern--"ISO" pattern. 1 and 4 are stabilizers. 2 and three are for; left hand, boom and swing( <- ->), right hand, dipper stick and bucket( <- ->) . 5 is for the extenable dipper. Case calls that the "extendahoe".

That's for the *label*, not the sticks that are there!

my guess is 3 is the dipper, 4 the bucket and 2 would be the boom.

Good guess, and like they say, the Baseball Hall of Fame is full of guys who only got a hit one out of three times. :)

The setup that is there, is apparently the traditional Case controls, with a regular dipper, not an extendahoe. Pedals are for swing. When you push down on one, the other one will rise. Levers 1 and 5 should be for the stabilizers. (I say "apparently" and "should", because the machine's obviously been modified somehow, and it's impossible to know exactly how, just from the picture, but putting the traditional Case controls in there seems to make sense.) 2, 3, and 4 are for bucket, dipper, and boom, in that order.

That must be a bear to run. A third hand would come in handy. Is it as hard as it looks?

No, it's not hard at all once you learn it. I actually prefer it to the joysticks when doing trenching, for this reason--when you go to push the machine forward with the hoe, you can turn and grab the steering wheel, to point the front end where you want it to go, while still being able to coordinate the movement of the boom and dipper with one hand. Try that with the boom and dipper functions on separate joysticks. *That's* when you need a third hand.

The levers are close enough that you can easily get two of them in one hand. I'll run that machine with the boom and dipper controls in my right hand and the bucket in my left. A guy I once worked with would put his left palm on the bucket, and his right on the boom, and use the fingers of both hands to work the dipper.

[RonG]

Digger is right on the money there but I take the same exceptions he does.
You normally would expect the outriggers to be the outermost levers on the quadrant there and they were generally shorter sticks than the rest.
The extreme right hand stick does not connect to or rotate on the same rail as the rest of them and is right where the lever for the extendahoe is on the older Cases but then where are the outrigger levers?
There should be a lever on the right side of the control quadrant to control the latch for the boom when you are traveling and I don't see that either.
Levers 2,3 and 4 are certainly the traditional case controls and I liked the setup for the same reasons Digger said plus another benefit,you had a free hand after you curled the bucket in full of material to smoke because the rest of the functions were controlled by your feet and right hand.Since I gave up that NASTY habit I will have to find another use for that hand.LOL
So,until we can climb aboard and see what's what the only thing that seems likely is levers 2,3 and 4.We would be curious as to what the configuration finally turns out to be,those of us that can run those are getting scarce:))Ron G

[badranman]

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. Thought this would be a cut and dry case of labeling them but I guess not.

[cat320]

Digger has it right 234 are the bucket ,dipper ,boom 1&5 are the outrigers and the peddles on the floor are your left and right swing std case control pattern.

[digger242j]

The extreme right hand stick does not connect to or rotate on the same rail as the rest of them and is right where the lever for the extendahoe is on the older Cases but then where are the outrigger levers?

This was the reason I qualified my initial response with "apparently" and "should". It didn't look quite right--as Ron G said, it didn't look like the #5 lever was connected to the same shaft that the rest of them are.

I have it figured out now. I had to find my 580 parts book and scan in the picture, but as you can see, #5 is sort of a U shaped piece that attaches to the shaft at two points. In the photo, you can see the left end of the U, between #2 and #3. The right end of the U is what you see just to the right of #4.

It's pretty clear in the diagram. Your looking for part #9.

As long as I had the manual out, there's also a copy of the proper label.

[xkvator]

2=bucket
3=dipper
4=boom
i wonder if either the controls were changed or they changed the cover

[xkvator]

a guy i know that had J.D.'s forever bought a Case 580D a couple years ago and couldn't get the hang of the controls...he actually runs the machine to this day with his arms crossed.
i think the levers on my 580K are a little closer than those on the 580C pic, but i did bend the extendahoe lever out a little so it's not as close to the boom lever.
i prefer the Case controls to the JD joysticks...but i agree with Steve on the pilot controls - less fatigue...but i have to have boom/bucket control in right hand.

[RonG]

Thanks Digger for clearing that up for us,I did not expect to ever find out what the answer really was.You can guess what I am going to be looking for if I ever get into a 580 again.I imagine the differences between the C and K models might account for my confusion but ma mind is failin',gotta accept it I guess. :sleeping Ron G

[dayexco]

personally, i don't understand why all manufacturer's don't convert to SAE controls, if nothing else for safety purposes. it would be very nice to be able to have an operator hop from one manufacturer's machine to the next without having to learn where everything is at. SAE controls has everthing in a natural motion, right arm, in/out "up/down"....left arm, in/out " stick in or out...you know the routine

[BRL]

That brings back memories, that's what I learned on right there a late 70's 580C. The pic is deceiving with how close the controls really are, but as mentioned it is easy to run the boom & dipper with one hand resting on them. I believe you have to lean through that opening & reach down in front of what we see there to get to the handle for the latch that locks the boom?

[RonG]

580's are everywhere because they were a good machine.I have run several over the years,both with cab and without but possibly never a C series.I saw what appeared to be a lever for the boom latch on the outside there but was not sure if it was the factory setup or an addon.Every one I have seen was controlled from inside of the operators compartment.I am not fond of anything else that Case makes with very few exceptions until the later years,not because they are not robust machines in most cases but their design concepts were flawed.Their loaders had you sitting on the wrong end of the articulation and they take so much more room to navigate,moving the steering wheel to aim the bucket results in the rear engine nacelle swinging from side to side doing you no good at all where you need it.That is frustrating in close quarters,even worse when you know what a real loader can do.
Their dozers missed the mark by a long ways and I will give Case credit for progressive thinking but the final result was usually pretty unfriendly to work with.
The last 10 years have seen a lot of changes at Case and some of the rebadged stuff is pretty good now.One of the nicer excavators I ever ran was a Case 2020B or something close to that,certainly a far cry from the old days.
I consider John Deere the standard to measure by and they have held the lead for a long time in my opinion.The bigger equipment standard goes to Cat and probably always will. Ron G