Bucket not level from left to right

[Charolais]

I've seen two tractors with loaders like what you wrote about your's. Both were twisted in the loader arm frame. The only way to get it back straight (if it's twisted) is with a torch and reweld.

The twist will be in the suport tube that holds both arms together right above the bucket. Your's could have been welded like that from the factory or it could have gotten twisted from more(extreme) weight on one side than the other.

My neighbor got a machine shop to fix his. They used a torch on the high side arm and cut around the tube on the inside and outside. Then set the loader down flat on the concrete floor and welded it back up.

Funny thing on both loaders is you couldn't look at the tube and see anything that would give a clue that it was twisted. I would have thought you would see the paint cracked but didn't.

Machine shop guy said he'd repaired many over the years.He also said most of the time he's seen this, someone had turned up the pressure on the pump (like JD) or the relief pressure(on the loader) had been raised so the loader is now exceeding what it was rated for.

 

[daTeacha]

I'm liking this suggestion from Spyderlk, after checking tires pressure, of course.
Spyderlk's process won't mess anything up, and could easily be the remedy.
When they assemble tractors and FELs at the dealer, I'm guessing they've done it so often, that they may skip some of the finer tuning steps.

i would add, fdepending on how tight the lockwashers are, and the size of the bolts, you may need to loosen a little bit more than 1/2 turn, but, it's certainly the right idea!

Good Luck.

HMMM -- Are spacers or washers ever used to level the loader frame? A washer on the wrong side of a piece might give an 1/8" difference in the frame and then have that magnified throught the magic of levers. This is just a wild thought that came while reading everyone's ideas.

 

[putt_putt_green]

Darn, I must have forgot to hit the submit button on my last post.

I wasn't strong enough to turn the bolts on the mount bolts, and I'm no weakling. They are on really tight. There are not washers involved.

I rechecked the angle coming off on the rear of the loader arms, and it looks about the same on both sides.

The twist will be in the support tube that holds both arms together right above the bucket. Your's could have been welded like that from the factory or it could have gotten twisted from more(extreme) weight on one side than the other.

This sounds very probable and makes a lot of sense. I'll try to check this tonight. However, the bucket the arms have been uneven since day 1, but I assumed it was something simple. I haven't moved anything other than buckets of clay, which should be pretty well distributed. And I don't using it for moving my string trimmer would cause any harm.

Anyways, I made a call to the dealer, and they said to bring it in. So now I just need to find time to bring it in. It's 40 minutes the opposite way from work.

Thanks, again.

 

[dsgsr]

It may have to do with the hydraulics. I know when I'm changing attachments on my loader, Bucket,Grapple and forks, and there is no attachment on the loader plates the cylinders move at difference rates until they hit something. Too check this, I would curl the bucket completely and then set the bucket down on a level surface and take my measurements. I wouldn't go by the bucket edge unless the cylinders were completely extended.


David

 

[putt_putt_green]

Well, it now seems normal.

I did the following things.
- Curled the bucket lifting the front of the tractor off the ground. Held the tractor in that position of about half a minute.
- I put another 2 lbs of pressure in my left rear tire, so now it has 1/2 pound more than the right rear (32.5 pounds). Not sure which of these made the difference.

All in all, I think it was just a combination of a bunch of little things. Normally the little things cancel each other out. Perhaps in my case, everything was leaning the same way.

I'm ready to put this to rest.