Finally got around to checking the rim bolts on my P 7010

[Gary Fowler]

Finally got to the task of checking for loose bolts. Got out my HF 3/4" drive metric socket set and started with the front tires. A loose bolt or two on each tire but not more than a 1/4 turn on anything. Then got to the back and same thing. It seems that only one bolt was a little loose and some only got about 1/8 turn.
Then I decided to check the FEL attachment points. This was a different story. Almost all point had loose bolts. One attachment point on the left side(setting in the seat) was behind the fuel tank and had 3 bolts. I could barely see them and had to use an open ended wrench. One bolt must have taken 4 turns to tighten up another about 1.5 rounds while the 3rd was tight. Loosened by vibration? Maybe?
While I was feeling so industrious and hadnt yet passed out from heat exhaustion, I decided to re-install the belly plate for the drawbar attachment. I had several months ago, broken the pin ears off and luckily found the pieces and welded them back on. Yesterday, I decided to do some more welding on it and made a scab plate for each side of the triangular shaped pin attachment point using a piece of 1/8" plate welded all around. I think it will hold better now than original design. Now if I could only get my 1 1/8" diameter x 3.5" long pin to pin on the drawbar. I have a new dealer in Sheridan that actually has a website and email address and have been trying to get the owner to order the pin for me, but she is slow in responding to emails and I didnt want to waste gas driving the 60 miles to her door. We'll see how the email goes for a while.
Just thought I would remind everyone to check those bolts. NOW I need to go check the B 26 TLB bolts. I can likely get them with my 1/2" drive socket set. That darned 3/4" drive rachet wrench/extension and socket must weigh 15 pounds and that gets heavy pretty fast when laying on your back holding it overhead

 

[rwork]

My dealer mentioned checking the loader bolts periodically as well. I picked up a touch up pen with a fine point, at the local auto parts store, and put index marks on the loader bolts. This way I can visually see if they are backing off.

 

[joshuabardwell]

My dealer mentioned checking the loader bolts periodically as well. I picked up a touch up pen with a fine point, at the local auto parts store, and put index marks on the loader bolts. This way I can visually see if they are backing off.

This is, in my experience, insufficient. I have checked my loader bolts every 10 hours for the first 30 hours of my tractor's service. The bolts were marked with paint from the dealer. None of them had backed off at all, but some of them were definitely under-torque. (BTW, did I mention that I'm checking with a torque wrench?) This has happened to at least one, and sometimes several, bolts at each of the 10-hour checks. What I'm getting at is that torque can change even if the bolts don't back out. This is probably more true if you've got a new loader and the parts haven't settled in yet, but I'm not sure I would rely on the paint marks given how much damage can be done if your bolts are loose and your bolt holes wallow out.

My current theory is that the paint marks from the dealer are actually so they can tell if you have been checking the tightness, if you come in with a warranty issue. If they see all the paint marks lined up at 50 hours, they know you didn't check every 10 hours like you're supposed to.

Another thing to keep in mind is that hand-tightening may not detect loose bolts, depending on how tight your bolts are supposed to be. If memory serves, my loader's bolts require something like 160 ft-lbs of torque. A bolt at 130-140 ft-lbs is loose! Especially given how awkward the angles are at getting to some of them, if I was just pulling "hard" by hand, I might not detect the difference between 130 ft-lbs and 160 ft-lbs. I know that on some of them, I pulled the torque wrench "hard" and checked the gauge and it wasn't at 160 yet, so I had to redouble my efforts. Some of them were rock solid until they hit around 130 and then went "ping" and tightened down to closer to 160.

 

[rwork]

Well...maybe I should dig out the ole torque wrench.!

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[BlackDogTx]

Well...maybe I should dig out the ole torque wrench.!

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Heck, my problem is waiting on some metric sockets to arrive from USPS. All my stuff is SAE or smaller Metric stuff from my old tractor.. Got a good torque wrench ready..

 

[BlackDogTx]

Well...maybe I should dig out the ole torque wrench.!

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Heck, my problem is waiting on some metric sockets to arrive from USPS. All my stuff is SAE or smaller Metric stuff from my old tractor.. Got a good torque wrench ready..

 

[Gary Fowler]

Heck at my age and strength level, I dont use a torque wrench on larger bolts (I do have one by the way) but just give it all with both hands that I have with an 18" bar and whether tight or not, that is all it is getting. In my younger days, I had to be careful not to twist off anything smaller than 3/4" diameter but not I dont worry so much about breaking bolts. I can sometimes here the ping as mentioned on lug bolts but not on those loader bolts. Most of them took a 26 mm socket so they were pretty big bolts.
I did go invest in some more wrenches in the 21mm-30mm range for the big boys where I couldnt get a socket on. I was at Lowes and started out to replace my 1 1/16 combo wrench but it was $24 and I could get a set 1"-1 1/2" for $59 so I bought one of each MM and SAE. So I have a couple of same size but sometimes you need a backup and all I had was adjustable wrenches when I get to the big boys 1" and larger.

 

[SPYDERLK]

This is, in my experience, insufficient. I have checked my loader bolts every 10 hours for the first 30 hours of my tractor's service. The bolts were marked with paint from the dealer. None of them had backed off at all, but some of them were definitely under-torque. (BTW, did I mention that I'm checking with a torque wrench?) This has happened to at least one, and sometimes several, bolts at each of the 10-hour checks. What I'm getting at is that torque can change even if the bolts don't back out. This is probably more true if you've got a new loader and the parts haven't settled in yet, but I'm not sure I would rely on the paint marks given how much damage can be done if your bolts are loose and your bolt holes wallow out.

My current theory is that the paint marks from the dealer are actually so they can tell if you have been checking the tightness, if you come in with a warranty issue. If they see all the paint marks lined up at 50 hours, they know you didn't check every 10 hours like you're supposed to.

Another thing to keep in mind is that hand-tightening may not detect loose bolts, depending on how tight your bolts are supposed to be. If memory serves, my loader's bolts require something like 160 ft-lbs of torque. A bolt at 130-140 ft-lbs is loose! Especially given how awkward the angles are at getting to some of them, if I was just pulling "hard" by hand, I might not detect the difference between 130 ft-lbs and 160 ft-lbs. I know that on some of them, I pulled the torque wrench "hard" and checked the gauge and it wasn't at 160 yet, so I had to redouble my efforts. Some of them were rock solid until they hit around 130 and then went "ping" and tightened down to closer to 160.

Good points. Typically bolts will loosen if the design does not include enuf of them or they cannot provide adequate tension for the usage. Both are design issues, and a mfg advising repeated tightening ... and you finding them necessary, has miss speced the assembly for its purpose. My loader on the 7520 is mounted with 18MM 10.9 strength bolts ... ~the equivalent of 3/4 Gr8. Each bolt enters the casting thread about an inch and a half. They were assembled loose at 100 ftlb or so. I tightened them to 300, about 1/6 turn in most cases. Checked at 300 and 1000 hrs I have not been able to move them at 20 ftlb higher. The tractor weighs 12000# as set up and I use the loader for all its worth. If your bolts loosen try tightening them to the bolt spec after 1st verifying good thread engagement. If they continue to require retorquing you have cause for complaint.
larry

 

[ozley]

Good points. Typically bolts will loosen if the design does not include enuf of them or they cannot provide adequate tension for the usage. Both are design issues, and a mfg advising repeated tightening ... and you finding them necessary, has miss speced the assembly for its purpose. My loader on the 7520 is mounted with 18MM 10.9 strength bolts ... ~the equivalent of 3/4 Gr8. Each bolt enters the casting thread about an inch and a half. They were assembled loose at 100 ftlb or so. I tightened them to 300, about 1/6 turn in most cases. Checked at 300 and 1000 hrs I have not been able to move them at 20 ftlb higher. The tractor weighs 12000# as set up and I use the loader for all its worth. If your bolts loosen try tightening them to the bolt spec after 1st verifying good thread engagement. If they continue to require retorquing you have cause for complaint.
larry

What tractor should I buy next that does not have design issues or miss spec'd assembles?

 

[joshuabardwell]

Good points. Typically bolts will loosen if the design does not include enuf of them or they cannot provide adequate tension for the usage. Both are design issues, and a mfg advising repeated tightening ... and you finding them necessary, has miss speced the assembly for its purpose.

I think this is common when new parts are first assembled. It's why they say to check your lug nuts 50 and 100 miles after rotating your tires. Stuff needs time to "settle in". If the bolts were constantly backing out, that'd be another story, but that's not what's happening here.