Front-End Loader Worst things to do to a FEL

[slowzuki]

And similar to when you drill the plugged vent on a single acting cylinder that is passing oil via the piston seal... when the cylinder is under pressure. Lucky the drill was in the way or I may have had an wonderful oil injection.

It sounds like a balloon popping followed by a shower of oil

[Ruark]

A tooth bar on the bucket will make loose materials.

It also depends on how strong the loader and tractor are.

[jacspath]

I have nothing to add on the 'DO NOT' list. I seem to have tried most of the gigs mentioned here and, while still alive and my Kubota is still working, I have no clear idea why 'we' are still living.

However, on the pull back with the FEL, I have a hook in the exact middle of the front cross bar and have been using it, mostly in logging [for fire wood] as a pull back for 18 years with no damage. Obviously, I am careful to use it only with the chain more or less straight ahead to avoid torque on the frame and lift cylinders.

And I usually add the beer first. Otherwise my hands get too cold pushing the beer down through the ice. This could lead to frost bite or hypothermia and loss of ability to hold to hold to hold, the beer for drinking.

[Dr_Zinj]

My father and I split the tractor together and he seems to be the one that wants to push it a little harder than I do....that might be because he has money, though :/

If you're pushing so hard you split the tractor, you're pushing too hard.

[Dr_Zinj]

This thread looks like my diary entry for last weekend.



The first thing on my list of "must have's" when I bought my tractor was a cup holder.

Funny, I was looking at Kioti's this weekend and they all had built-in cup/beer bottle holders already.

[LandGuy]

This is a really great discussion. Thanks for all the feedback.

I think a FEL can be used as a "dozer" blade as long as you don't try to push anything too massive (like a mountain of dirt). And, the bucket should be somewhat retracted (pistons not extended far)---makes the FEL structurally sounder and less vulnerable to damage.

I've been pushing big piles of brush (mixed with small logs) out of an area I'm clearing, without any noticeable ill effects.

As for the proscription against ramming, I wouldn't even know how to lift piles of loose material without "ramming" them at low speed, and tilting back the bucket as I do so to take a bite.

I've also used my FEL to scrape down the gravel hump in my long driveway (you know, the hump between the tracks where the tires of your pickup travel). I was careful to adjust the "angle of attack" of the bucket so it wasn't too aggressive. Again, no noticeable damage was wrought. However, I was nervous about attempting this. I should make more use of the beer holder during such risky activities.

[IslandTractor]

This is a really great discussion. Thanks for all the feedback.

I think a FEL can be used as a "dozer" blade as long as you don't try to push anything too massive (like a mountain of dirt). And, the bucket should be somewhat retracted (pistons not extended far)---makes the FEL structurally sounder and less vulnerable to damage.

I've been pushing big piles of brush (mixed with small logs) out of an area I'm clearing, without any noticeable ill effects.

As for the proscription against ramming, I wouldn't even know how to lift piles of loose material without "ramming" them at low speed, and tilting back the bucket as I do so to take a bite.

I've also used my FEL to scrape down the gravel hump in my long driveway (you know, the hump between the tracks where the tires of your pickup travel). I was careful to adjust the "angle of attack" of the bucket so it wasn't too aggressive. Again, no noticeable damage was wrought. However, I was nervous about attempting this. I should make more use of the beer holder during such risky activities.

The type of activities you describe are not an issue. it's when the FEL is subjected to ramming into stumps or other immovable objects with a lot of momentum that the potential for damage occurs. "Ramming" into a pile of dirt is not really ramming but "loading" in my book. Pushing a pile of brush is also not an issue unless you happen to snag an unseen rock or stump while pushing at speed. As a rule of thumb, I think it is reasonable to say that you don't want to do any pushing or ramming that jerks the operator out of his seat or stalls the tractor suddenly. That is when damage can occur.

[dusty3030]

If you have forks, especially if they are painted black, do not, I mean do not use them as an outdoor toilet seat while mowing in the blazing hot sun in summer time. Them sunovabritches get HOT!

[tungularafishcamp]

If you have forks, especially if they are painted black, do not, I mean do not use them as an outdoor toilet seat while mowing in the blazing hot sun in summer time. Them sunovabritches get HOT!

Speaking of hot, reading this just put hot coffee on my leg n hand,as I just took a sip as I read this

[MHarryE]

Thursday afternoon I finished hauling manure and tossed the fork I had been using into the bucket before heading back to the house. When I got inside and changed from my work clothes to my civies, I remembered the fork. I told my wife that the next day I would probably forget the fork and either fill the bucket with the fork in it or even worse, dump the bucket and run over the fork puncturing a tire. Sure enough the next day I was hauling black dirt for landscaping and was unloading the first bucket with a shovel doing some edge work when I hit something odd. While cleaning the black dirt off the fork handle I thanked my lucky stars that only the first part of my prediction came true and I didn't find a tine sticking out of a tire.