Hitachi Ex120-2 slowly armor plating

[Syleng1]

I don’t take my EX-120-2 off my farm. But most of my property is woods. I’ve bounced off a few trees and found my side doors were bondo city. So being I own a welding shop I decided to build the side doors out of 1/8” steel diamond plate. Rolling the tops and contour the factory doors to match took a little bit of trial and error. Paint to match and the doors fit really well. I even did the same for the fuel tank and used 6” schedule 40 steel pipe to protect the fuel fill. I was glad to throw out the old sheet metal. Next is building a cage for the cab and some horizontal rub rails for the lower belt line. Maybe she will get a new coat of paint this summer. Just thought I would share.

 

[Diesel Dave]

Looks great !!
Is this the one you did some line boring at the frame / boom joint ?

 

[Coaldust]

Those doors are awesome. Impressive

 

[Syleng1]

Looks great !!
Is this the one you did some line boring at the frame / boom joint ?

Yes. This is the one. The previous owner was allergic to grease. lol!

 

[excavator]

Looks good! We've done that for years around here and it works great. Just remember to beef up the frame work that the doors swing on also. Otherwise a good hit will push them in against your pumps.

 

[Syleng1]

Thank you. Next part is the reinforcement. I installed 1-1/2” rebound bumpers between the steel and the doors for a little give. Most of the branches I hit are like 1-1/2” or less diameter. They make holes in sheet metal. Next is once done I will go around and make 1/4” wall tubes for reinforcement.

 

[Welder Dave]

Very nice! What kind of welding does your shop typically do?

 

[Deere500a]

Colorado comes to mind are you having issues with the city council?

 

[Syleng1]

General welding and fabrication. Small shop. More buckets and modifications for heavy equipment for specialized use. A lot of fabrication for USPS military and installs - loading dock items. We used to be more general Maintance but the market became so saturated it was no longer profitable or fun fixing every one’s mistakes.

 

[Syleng1]

Colorado comes to mind are you having issues with the city council?

Hippies maybe but mostly trees. lol!

 

[Welder Dave]

General welding and fabrication. Small shop. More buckets and modifications for heavy equipment for specialized use. A lot of fabrication for USPS military and installs - loading dock items. We used to be more general Maintance but the market became so saturated it was no longer profitable or fun fixing every one’s mistakes.

You're probably really familiar with higher strength and specialty steels and the proper filler metals for welding them. I'd guess a lot of dual-shield flux-core.

 

[Tugger2]

Your doors look really tidy,keeps the machine looking right and much better than standard tin. The primered piece in the lower picture is underhouse guarding and catwalk combintion .We used to build them as full kits to ship out for others to do thier own installs.These are old pictures from my shop in about 1988 ,A few ideas for you if your guarding machines for loggers.

 

[Syleng1]

Your doors look really tidy,keeps the machine looking right and much better than standard tin. The primered piece in the lower picture is underhouse guarding and catwalk combintion .We used to build them as full kits to ship out for others to do thier own installs.These are old pictures from my shop in about 1988 ,A few ideas for you if your guarding machines for loggers.
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That’s my goal right there. The lower rub rail is next and I can build off of that. It takes time to get it right. Making sure all the factory doors and compartments open still and everything is operational and removable (full access) is crucial on an older machine. I get to weld on a lot of grapples and 2 jaw claws on bigger excavators equipped from the factory with nice cages. Volvo and JD have some amazing protection packages for wood machines. Unfortunately they also make the glass protection so difficult to clean the actual windows- they never get done.

 

[Syleng1]

You're probably really familiar with higher strength and specialty steels and the proper filler metals for welding them. I'd guess a lot of dual-shield flux-core.

Believe it or not, we do a lot of stick. I’m okay with mig but honestly for the stuff we do- stick is the best. Especially in the field. Again- small shop capabilities. HY-80 and HY-110, 7018 mostly. If we run mig- typically it’s inner shield. With the suit case welders we run high nickel for wear build up. We are trying some new stuff by Lincoln for wear now. I need to get another bucket in the shop. It works well (I’m told) for AR-400/500 build up.