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My first thought if it tends to twist more now than when it was new is that the crossmember or members that tie the 2 arms together have cracked. They may not be to noticeable but something is flexing somewhere. A picture would be helpful.
Debating Stiffening My Tractor's FEL... Repeatedly moving stuff 2, 3 and 4 times as heavy and awkward as my Mahindra/KMW's ML112 FEL was ever meant to move, I seem to be losing some tightness and stiffness in the boom and... now that I am a near-professional welder with my nifty new machine...... I am debating the wisdom of attempting to stiffen and reinforce my FEL for continuing hard work. The boom still goes up and down very nicely... and no problems at all with bucket curl... but the boom's ability to withstand axial torsional forces (read: boom twisting) seems to be waining a bit in its old age.
Yes, I should stop abusing it and go buy myself a mega-powerful skidsteer... but that just ain't in the financial cards right now.
Has anyone else added any sort of extra support, reinforcing or stiffening to their FEL boom? If so, I'd appreciate the benefit of your experience, advice... and maybe even a few pix!
Dougster™
Dougster
My first thought if it tends to twist more now than when it was new is that the crossmember or members that tie the 2 arms together have cracked. They may not be to noticeable but something is flexing somewhere. A picture would be helpful.
I haven't found anything out of order, but I will take a close look again on Monday (The Red Beast isn't here right now). It just seems to have lost some torsional rigidity as the result of some very hard use... and maybe some pin clearances opening up as well. I'm not thinking "repairs" so much as I am thinking enhancements!Originally Posted by Theweldor
Dougster™
Theweldor: Here is an old picture of the Red Beast's ML112 loader with it's old light-duty bucket. Note the single cross member:
By comparison, note how there are two cross members on the far more powerful ML275:
This approach is what I'm wondering might help.
Dougster™
Dougy just break out the new Hobart. and you
can have 2 cross members as well......
Chris....
John Deere 2520 , R4's , 200CX loader with 61 inch bucket and JD Tooth Bar. And Markham 7 tooth. Tooth bar. 46 Backhoe with 16 inch bucket. with Custom made Street Flip pads off a 448 hoe. Foward work lights. Dual rear work lights. Heavy duty Alternator. I-Match , Ballast Box , Frontier BB2060 box blade , Frontier pallet Forks , JD 3 point reciever hitch. and soon A lot more..
2 crossmemebers would help. The ideal would be to also tie the 2 crossmembers together with a plate on both sides. If you put the crossmembers on 12" centers then use 2 pieces of 3/16 plate 12" wide the length to be just a 1/4" shorter than the inside measurement of the loader arms. You would be basically building a box using each pipe as one side. Then you can find the next weakest point.
Dougy just break out the new Hobart. and you
can have 2 cross members as well......
Chris....Yep! I haven't decided what exact approach I would take, if any. That's why I'm asking if any other folks have already gone this route and what success (or lack thereof) they had. Whatever I do, I want to be sure it will solve the issue and not just add unnecessary weight.
Regardless, it is soooooo nice to have options now.
Dougster™
Remember, if you reinforce your FEL...You MAY just split your tractor...
As Paul said and One should seriously think about this. You will then find the next weekest link. It could possibly be the tractor housing. I don't want to scare you, just something to keep in mind.
Remember, if you reinforce your FEL...You MAY just split your tractor...Let me just assure you guys that this is not about lifting even heavier loads. I can't... I am pretty much maxed out hydraulically! The cylinders will remain the same and so will the operating pressure. This is purely about restoring torsional stiffness back to original levels (or better).
Dougster™
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