Tractor loader rebuild

[rleete]

My little CO2/argon bottle cost me big bucks. I think it was something like $180 with tax. But refills (good for 10 years) are only $25, as often as I need.

[Highpower]

(11-14-2019, 09:04 PM)Pete O Wrote: I just went and returned my rental cylinder of argon mix, went to another local supplier and bought a full cylinder outright for a little over double what I've been paying annually for rental. Don't know if it's the same for you guys in the US but the big gas companies are losing the small cylinder market here, the best deal they could offer me was still abysmal. Their bill has been coming on my birthday each year, that's a gift I won't miss!

I recently returned 2 leased cylinders I obtained from a local supplier. Their shady practices made me want to cut any ties with them. I replaced them with 2 smaller (80 cu. ft.) cylinders that I bought outright from a different company.

Problem is I still have a large cylinder that I purchased from the shady outfit years ago and have a title for it. Since then they started charging me an annual 'maintenance' fee for that cylinder. After reading the fine print on the purchase receipt and the title I discovered that they are the only place I am 'allowed' to take my cylinder (that I "own") to be refilled. Also, if I ever decide to sell that cylinder, I have to give them the opportunity to purchase it back before selling it to anyone else. Unfortunately I just had it filled (swapped out) not long ago and it is still full of 75/25. As soon as that tank gets close to empty though they can buy it back and keep it.

Tip: NEVER 'purchase' a tank with a company's name embossed on it. EVER. And read all the fine print before handing over your money.  

[Pete O]

Wow that's a really dodgy arrangement. I was paying $234 annually to rent an 'E' size argon mix cylinder, their refill price was (IIRC) just over $150.00; the purchase of the same size cylinder (full) from the new supplier was about $430 and the refill price is $150. The other mob offered me a better deal where I could pay a minimum $159 annually including one refill annually, with any further refills costing another $159. I figured out I was better off with the purchased bottle if I used more than one a year, and if I used less than one every two or three years. My use tends to be very spasmodic, I'll use it hardly at all for a couple of years, then I'll have a project every now and then (like this loader) that uses a lot of gas. One of the factors for me is that I live in a rural area and need to be able to get a refill locally so there are better deals around but not around me. The option of the company paying me back the cost of the bottle was not a big factor for me as i'll be in front after 2-3 years anyway compared to just handing over exorbitant rental money.

[Highpower]

Yes you really need to do your homework first these days when dealing with these gas supply companies. I had a 20 year lease on the Argon cylinder I got from the dodgy place. That covered any and all hydro-testing when needed. All I had to do was pay for the gas when it came time to swap out the cylinder. I was fine with that. But then they started charging me this maintenance fee on the Ar/CO2 cylinder that I bought from them several years before I leased the Argon cylinder from them for my TIG/Stick machine.

I was only 9 years into that lease but decided to return it to them now because 1) the tank was just about empty again and 2) they ticked me off by extorting more money from me for this new 'maintenance fee' they came up with for 'customer owned' cylinders. Essentially they are charging for hydro testing whether you take them in to be tested or not. But of course the fine print says they can retroactively change the terms any time they want - and they did.

   

In the end I paid for 11 years of use of the Argon cylinder that I'll never get to see, just to end the contract with them and to be done with the scum bags. Two cylinders down and one to go. I wish I could loan the large 75/25 tank to you so you can use up all the gas for me.  

If I haven't used it up before the next bill is due, I'll dump it all into the atmosphere before I give them 1 PSI back in that tank.
Thankfully I have since found a new supplier with none of the headaches and at 1/3 of the price.

[arvidj]

Winter is coming and along with it comes snow. After some careful thought I determined that I needed to take the forks off the tractor and put the bucket on. As long as I was going to switch it I thought I would take some pictures so Pete would have a reference as to how John Deere did things.

As you can see, snow removal will not be the forks long suit. Though it can be done, balancing snow on the forks is, at best, tedious and is not conducive to efficient snow movement.

   

Here is a closeup of the lift frame and attachment upper connection.

   

And a closeup of the lift frame and attachment lower connection.

   

To remove the attachment you simply pull the pin ...

   

And then curl and slightly lower the frame to remove the attachment. Yes, I took this one while attaching the bucket and not while I was removing the forks, but you get the idea.

   

Here is what the frame looks like without any attachments in the way.

   

With a closeup of the frame upper mount ...

   

And the frame lower mount ...

   

And closeups of the attachment upper mount ... it looks the same on both the bucket shown and on the forks ...

   

And the attachment lower mount ...

   

Putting whatever you want on the front is exactly the opposite of taking it off. Bring the tractor up to the attachment, slide the upper frame mount under the upper attachment mount, curl the frame, put the pins in the hole and Bob's you uncle.

   

Pete, I hope this is enough to get you started, and everyone else, sorry to bore you to tears 

Arvid

[Pete O]

Thanks heaps for taking the time to take and post those pics Arvid, it will be a great help to have them there for reference.
I found a document online that shows there are two different locations for the lower pin
   
and I've seen a photo of a hitch frame that has two holes to accommodate both types; I think I will do that with mine.
With your hitch frame, it appears that the lower pivot pin is one piece extended across both arms- is that the only thing that prevents the two sides from pivoting to different angles? I'll probably add a cross member between the two.

I got finished welding the barrels into the cutoff arm tips and beveled the cut edge of the pieces ready to weld back on, won't get back to it for a few days now but the next step will be to weld the ends back on the arms.

Having already decided to add the more complicated double-link tipping arrangement to the loader, I'm toying with the idea of also adding a level-lift system. Of course this would add massively to the complexity of the project but it would also be kinda fun.

[arvidj]

(11-17-2019, 07:33 PM)Pete O Wrote: ...

With your hitch frame, it appears that the lower pivot pin is one piece extended across both arms- is that the only thing that prevents the two sides from pivoting to different angles? I'll probably add a cross member between the two.

...

"the only thing?" ... Yes and no.

If there is nothing attached then the relatively small bar is all that keeps the two sides in sync. But both the bucket and the fork frames are robust enough that they easily handle the syncing chores.

I am assuming John Deere wanted to save material and weight on the frame so the small bar in no bigger than it needs to be given that, used correctly, the attachment takes the load. Given that I have used the forks to pull palets out of the back of trucks that were far heavier than it will lift (i.e. can get them out and down from the truck but could never get them up and into the truck) and not turned the loader frame into a pretzel suggests JD got some things right.

[Pete O]

Yeah I was thinking more during the implement change process, or any time you may have no implement attached- but I guess during implement changes one only actually operates the tilt control while the hitch is in contact anyway.

[f350ca]

When I made the quick attach for my kubota I thought about tying the sides together but didn't. Was concerned about the rod getting bent, they do get out of sync on occasion but a light bump into the bucket realigns them.

[Pete O]

I managed to get some time on this yesterday, spent a while with the hot glue gun and stuck the ends back on the arms. Getting them lined up to the marks was a real pain, I tacked the first on in place three times before I got a system happening. Lots of grinding to do to get a flush surface for the fish plates.