2003, Case, 580L

[Glenn Francis]

I'm new to backhoes, I have a 2003, Case 580L extend-a-hoe, 4x4. The front bucket will float in reverse, but lefts the front tires off the ground as soon as I put in forward.

 

[J Hamilton]

Are you pushing the bucket control lever all the way forward until it stops and stays forward? If so this is the "float" position and the bucket will float, which sounds like the position you're in. Here is something to try, slowly move the lever back just until the bucket starts to raise off the ground, now let go of the lever and let it go to its rest position. Now, move the control lever just slightly forward until the bucket starts to lower, when the bucket is where you want it, let go of the lever and it must come back just slightly when it returns to the normal rest position. This will hold the bucket it that position.

 

[Jim.ME]

I'm new to backhoes, I have a 2003, Case 580L extend-a-hoe, 4x4. The front bucket will float in reverse, but lefts the front tires off the ground as soon as I put in forward.

If you have the lip of the bucket tipped down such that it is cutting into material, float will let it follow the lip and just try to dig deeper. As that happens, the forward push of the rear tires will cause the front to lift off the ground as the resistance of the bucket cutting in is met. Roll the bucket back so the lip is off the ground and see what happens. It is a balancing act between float and working the bucket rollback if you are using float on material the lip can cut into or catch on.

 

[Nordic]

If you have the hoe flipped up in 'transport position' you can do more with the bucket in 'float position' as you have more weight on the front wheels. For the most part doing work going forward is simply in the lowered position as someone already pointed out above.