Broken plastic hood?

[GreatWhitehunter]

Has anyone broken the hood on their 3000 series? I was loading my dump trailer today and a large rock fell out of the bucket and smashed my hood. I was wondering how much this is going to cost me. I'm so upset with myself for be so careless. I looks like it won't be to hard to replace but I'm sure it will take a few hours anyways.

Matt T.

 

[dirtworksequip]

What piece of hood was damaged? You will not be happy with what the replacement parts are going to cost. The side panels are around $260 and I'm thinking the top piece is over well over $500. If you are replacing the top piece don't forget to order the two long decals that cover the seam between the side panels and the top piece. You will have to drill out the old rivets and place the old side panels on the new top piece. Then rivet the old side panels onto your new top piece. Then put the new decals over the new rivets. The good news is the decals are less than $3.00 each. Sorry to hear about your mishape. You may want to consider getting a some type of spill guard welded onto the top of your bucket to keep this from happening again in the future.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

Dirt, it was the top of the hood. The rock was basketball size, I just was going too fast with the loader. I didn't look at how the sides were attached to the hood. I suppose I could always glue the cracked pieces back together. And order the hood when I have hundreds to spare. Have you replace your hood before? Are the rivets anything special?

Matt T.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Matt, no I have not replaced my hood. The only reason I know about the rivets on the side panels is I need to replace the left side panel that is cracked. It was damaged about a month ago when my tractor got hit by a Chevy Suburban when I was plowing snow on a county road. It doesn't look like the rivets are anything special. Rivet with a backup washer. It would have been nice if Deere had attached the side panels onto the top piece with another type fasener other than rivets. Then you wouldn't need to replace the decals.
You were lucky that the rock only damaged the top piece of the hood. Basketball sized rocks can do lots of damage when they roll out of your bucket.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[pat32rf]

I have a new hood for my 4300 sitting in my basement, after my helper dropped a big chunk of ice out of the bucket. The original hood had been cracked for a few years from the same helper trying to stand on it so I didn't feel too bad----until I found the price. The new one isn't going on until I can figure out some guard system and the snow melts from our driveway....It will be a two man job to hold things lined up while the hinge bolts go in.
From what I've been able to learn plastic welding is your only hope with JD plastic.

 

[Eagleview]

If it's coloured plastic it can be welded with an electric soldering iron(dependant on type) . Use a new blade type tip or sand off any solder on a used one . Use the blade crossways to the crack to pierce the plastic but not right through . Right in front of that small depression do it again and again and so on along it's length . You will end up with a zippered effect . If you can , do the reverse side as well .Once you finish these steps use the tip on it's flat to smooth the weld from one end to the other pulling slowly as you go . As you work you will get good at it and have good results . I have never done painted plastic but it would be the same only you will need to remove the paint along the crack . Once it's finished if you dont like the look of the repair it can be filled with car bog , smoothed and painted . I have repaired major damage to my tractor fuel tanks in this manner and have never had a leak .

 

[Superduper]

There are plastic welders for sale that look like soldering irons but actually use hot air with precise temperature control depending upon the type of plastic. I am told that the repair should be as strong as the original but without a lot of experience, I am sure that the repaired look might leave much to be desired. Automotive urethane bumpers are repaired in this manner but then again, they sand, then paint them when done. All in all, it might simply be easier to pay for the hood replacement, learn from your mistake, then move on and be done with it.

I actually thought those plastic hoods were quite durable but then again, a basketball sized rock dropped from loader height would probably do a number on a hood of any material.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

The hoods are very durable. If the hood was metal it would have done alot of damage too. The cracks are in the very front and there's no missing plastic. I'm going to try and glue it. The breaks are perfect in pattern so I think I'll be able to lie with it for now. That's the one thing I don't like about the 300x loader the bucket curl in not enough when loading and too much with the loader raised.

Matt T.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Matt, just about any loader when the bucket is raised and its heaped with material the material is apt to spill over the back of the bucket and fall onto the machine. As you are raising the bucket you have to also gradually move the bucket slightly into the dump position so as to not cause it to spill material either over the back of the bucket or prematurely dump it. Some machines are equiped with self leveling buckets, but this still is not a guarentee that you will not get material over the back of the bucket if it is raised to max dump height with a heaped bucket. If you were to raise a full bucket of material on a skid steer without doing this you would soon be under a shower of rocks and dirt either in your lap or on the roof of the machine. Same goes for just about any heavy equipment loaders.A heaped bucket will spill back over the back of the bucket if you don't move the bucket slightly towards the dumped position as you raise to full dump height. As I said before if you use your tractor to load a lot of material it may be worth having someone weld a spill guard onto the top edge of your bucket. This would keep most of the material from coming over the back of the bucket. Most not all. You still have to watch and be careful.
You are saying the curl is not enough when loading the bucket and too much when in the raised position. If the curl was more when loading it would also be too much when in the max raised position and be spilling a lot more on the hood when in the max raised position. You just can't have it both ways.Thats just the way it works. You as the operator have to allow for what is not built into the machine design. Start moving your bucket into the dumped position to keep material from spilling over the back of the bucket.
Good luck on your repairs. Let us know how it goes or better yet, post some pics.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[ray66v]

Some plastics are repairable, and some are not, some can be fused, welded, and some cannot. Plastic welding is not commonly used on bumpers anymore, because the OEM's have switched to polypropylene and it does not respond well to this. Epoxy, and fiberglass cloth, is the most common repair process now but, it requires some tricks due to the oily nature of the plastic.
A smart, well qualified repairman could possibly attempt a repair depending on the amount and location of the damage.