Front-End Loader JD 748 FEL up to tough jobs?

[Whitford Man]

I have some earthwork to do and rather than paying someone to do the heavy work thought I might by the 45 FEL for my 748 with the money instead and do the job myself

My only concern is that there is a lot of earth to shift and is the 45FEL on a 748 up to the job. The topsoil has been sitting in mounds from when it was scrapped 2 years ago and I would need to pick it up and spread it.

What are people's experiences with the 45FEL? Is it tough, or does it have limits of use that I need to be aware of? For example, the JD literature/reviews refer to using it for "loose material." My dirt has been in a pile for 2 years so is not exactly "loose" now.

 

[SSdoxie]

Can it be done? Depends on how fast you want to complete it. It could be done with shovel & wheelbarrow if someone wanted to work that hard.
Add teeth to the bucket or a tooth bar, it will make digging into the packed soil much easier and back dragging with the teeth will help break up the clumps.

 

[Deere Dude]

From my understanding and experience, the transaxles will take a beating if really torqued. For instance, I had a 2WD JD595 and did some pushing of small trees and some heavy scraping with a front blade. I had loaded tires plus 200# wheel weights and chains plus about #300 on the 3PT, so I had all kinds of traction. I would use the differential lock quit often. After a morning of digging and pushing the tractor stopped. What happened was the rear end casting cracked open and dumped the hydraulic fluid.

Luckily it was about 3 months shy of the end of the warranty so it was covered, but I never really torqued it that hard again. I trading that tractor in eventually for a X740, but they all have the same rear ends. I was told that in my case, there was a problem with internal workings with the dif. lock and that caused a stress that broke the casing. As for me, I think I just overdid a small tractor.

I was also told by a few people that, that is why they don't really push front end loaders for those, because it tears up the transaxles to often.

For you, it all depends on the pile size. If the size was maybe 20-30 yards, I would take a crack at it, but I would try not to over tax the tractor. If you didn't have a bunch of weight on the rear end I think it would spin before it could do any damage.

 

[Whitford Man]

Thanks - comments on the transaxles worth thinking about