CMV
Platinum Member
I posted before about feeling that the breakout/lift force on my loader seemed a little light. Also about how when I set the bucket or loader arms down on level surface, the right one hits first by about an inch or so.
Well, today I was moving and IBC tote with water and the platform it sits on. Here's what it did/didn't do:
First was moving the platform which consists of 12 typical cinder blocks and a 4x4 sheet of 1/2" PT plywood. I wanted to relocate, so I put on the pallet forks, put the plywood on the forks, then stacked the 12 cinder blocks on. I could not curl back the forks any or lift from the ground. A heavy cinder block is around 40 lbs (I think) and these are nothing special - just plain old cinder blocks that Lowe's sells. I do have a pretty stout SSQA pallet fork rig. 300-325 lbs. 12 blocks is 480 lbs more, & then whatever 1/2 sheet of plywood weighs. Basically, 800-825 lbs was the load. And my loader arms wouldn't budge it. Had to off load a few blocks and then still it really struggled just to get up up enough to drive to new location.
SO after that it was time to unload the IBC tote from bed of my truck. Now, not being stupid, I didn't fill the tote with 275 gal of water since I know there's no way my little tractor could deal with that. I had about 125 gal in it, and not thinking ahead, figured 1050 lbs of water + 100 for the tote should be right at what I can lift. However, I wasn't thinking about the weight of the forks. So my mistake. Easy enough, just dump some water out. I ended up needing to let out enough to where only 75 gal remained. SO that put the load with forks and all around 1060. And it still wouldn't lift. I could keep trying and got it to bump up just enough to slide it off tailgate. lowered it, and from ground would not lift it. Had it all the way back on the forks too- not sticking far out making it harder to lift. Ended up having wife work loader stick while I lifted on the tote to get it to creep up to height....
I remember reading when I was complaining before (from I think Tom Plum) that there is an adjustment at the loader joystick to relieve/increase/something pressure to set the breakout and lift force appropriately. All I saw that I thought was it was a lock nut with an allen head screw directly below the loader joystick. Not knowing which way to turn it or how much, I screwed it in a little, tried, screwed in a little more, tried, etc. Didn't seem to make any difference.
Here is what I did notice getting the tote out of the truck though. Level ground. The left side was picking up more than right side. Noticeable amount. When I did get it coaxed up enough to barely get it out of truck bed, it was at an angle with left side a few inches higher than right. That has me thinking that the issue is the right arm cylinder isn't doing it's job - left one probably doing what it should, right is working at reduced capacity, making overall lift/breakout force lower than should be and causing left side to lift more than right. Could also be why right side wants to hit ground slightly ahead of left too.
No idea how to diagnose, measure, or tell exactly what problem is. I know nothing about hydraulics other than they magically move fluid to do work. I'm not expecting my little tractor to handle a cu yd sized bucket of dirt or lift a ton on pallet forks. But do think I should be able to break out with full scoop of loose dirt taken from bottom of a pile or lift <1100 lbs load....
Well, today I was moving and IBC tote with water and the platform it sits on. Here's what it did/didn't do:
First was moving the platform which consists of 12 typical cinder blocks and a 4x4 sheet of 1/2" PT plywood. I wanted to relocate, so I put on the pallet forks, put the plywood on the forks, then stacked the 12 cinder blocks on. I could not curl back the forks any or lift from the ground. A heavy cinder block is around 40 lbs (I think) and these are nothing special - just plain old cinder blocks that Lowe's sells. I do have a pretty stout SSQA pallet fork rig. 300-325 lbs. 12 blocks is 480 lbs more, & then whatever 1/2 sheet of plywood weighs. Basically, 800-825 lbs was the load. And my loader arms wouldn't budge it. Had to off load a few blocks and then still it really struggled just to get up up enough to drive to new location.
SO after that it was time to unload the IBC tote from bed of my truck. Now, not being stupid, I didn't fill the tote with 275 gal of water since I know there's no way my little tractor could deal with that. I had about 125 gal in it, and not thinking ahead, figured 1050 lbs of water + 100 for the tote should be right at what I can lift. However, I wasn't thinking about the weight of the forks. So my mistake. Easy enough, just dump some water out. I ended up needing to let out enough to where only 75 gal remained. SO that put the load with forks and all around 1060. And it still wouldn't lift. I could keep trying and got it to bump up just enough to slide it off tailgate. lowered it, and from ground would not lift it. Had it all the way back on the forks too- not sticking far out making it harder to lift. Ended up having wife work loader stick while I lifted on the tote to get it to creep up to height....
I remember reading when I was complaining before (from I think Tom Plum) that there is an adjustment at the loader joystick to relieve/increase/something pressure to set the breakout and lift force appropriately. All I saw that I thought was it was a lock nut with an allen head screw directly below the loader joystick. Not knowing which way to turn it or how much, I screwed it in a little, tried, screwed in a little more, tried, etc. Didn't seem to make any difference.
Here is what I did notice getting the tote out of the truck though. Level ground. The left side was picking up more than right side. Noticeable amount. When I did get it coaxed up enough to barely get it out of truck bed, it was at an angle with left side a few inches higher than right. That has me thinking that the issue is the right arm cylinder isn't doing it's job - left one probably doing what it should, right is working at reduced capacity, making overall lift/breakout force lower than should be and causing left side to lift more than right. Could also be why right side wants to hit ground slightly ahead of left too.
No idea how to diagnose, measure, or tell exactly what problem is. I know nothing about hydraulics other than they magically move fluid to do work. I'm not expecting my little tractor to handle a cu yd sized bucket of dirt or lift a ton on pallet forks. But do think I should be able to break out with full scoop of loose dirt taken from bottom of a pile or lift <1100 lbs load....
