I was a Baaaad boy

[nap61]

I had 12 yards of river sand delivered to my daughter's house yesterday. I figured that it would be a learning experience on my new CT225 w/ loader.
I knew from reading TBN that I had to have rear weight, but I don't have my boxblade yet. I thought that if I just took smaller bites, it would be "No problem". My first bite went in low and deep. As I lifted, I went on three wheels. I quickly reacted and dropped the load. All went well until the last load when I took an angle close to the house. I grabed a good load but had to look back towards the house. I forgot that I had my hand on the loader in the upstroke mode. The loader hit the upper limit and bounced. Both rear wheels came off the ground and bounced twice. BIG pucker factor. But, in the end the sand was spread and "no harm, no foul". When I got home, I locked all the doors and windows so that the safety police couldn't get me.
Thanks to TBN members for the information that I needed to handle the situation.

Norm

 

[6dog]

 

[texasjohn]

Thanks for your honesty... will reinforce for those who doubt the wise TBN advisers that even extreme care will not always overcome an improperly balanced tractor. Glad all ended well!

May you spend the rest of your days with all 4 wheels on the ground

 

[IslandTractor]

There are times when the rear wheels just need to come off the ground. I do it fairly regularly with my Kioti DK40se when digging out stumps. The only way to get max curl power to something you are digging out is to risk lifting the rear and I do it often even with a mower or other implement back there. So long as the front axles are heavy duty it doesn't do any harm and once you get used to it (and don't do it on slopes etc) it isn't uncomfortable. Haven't managed to lift the rear when the BH is mounted though so I guess that shows me what my hydraulic limits are.

 

[Gil Case]

The key words are "as long as the front axles are heavy duty". With my old Chinese tractor (Benyi), driving into a pile in four wheel drive, lifting a load that took the rears off the ground and trying to back out would result in broken front axles. Learned to live with the BH on all summer.

 

[IslandTractor]

The key words are "as long as the front axles are heavy duty". With my old Chinese tractor (Benyi), driving into a pile in four wheel drive, lifting a load that took the rears off the ground and trying to back out would result in broken front axles. Learned to live with the BH on all summer.

Actually, lifting the rear off the ground is sort of a safety valve for the front axles. Having a heavy BH on and then curling enough so that without the BH the rears would have come off the ground will end up putting more weight on the front axles than if the rear just comes up.

Basically manufacturers should do is engineer the front axles to be strong enough that the loader cannot break them with curl or lift. So, if the rears come up at say 3000lbs lift then the axles should have been spec'd for 4000lbs or so. Not sure that always happens. In this example, if you put a 2000lb BH on that tractor and the loader was capable of more than 4000lbs breakout/curl you might exceed the designed limit for the front axles while without the ballast the tractor would be OK as the rear lift would protect the axles.

 

[Transit]

There is little reason to lift a loaded FEL all the way to the upper stops, unless you are dumping a load into a truck, very, very unstable. Easy to roll over! Keep the bucket low, as needed to clear obstacles for the best stability. Keep the bucket low and make smooth turns.

 

[IslandTractor]

There is little reason to lift a loaded FEL all the way to the upper stops, unless you are dumping a load into a truck, very, very unstable. Easy to roll over! Keep the bucket low, as needed to clear obstacles for the best stability. Keep the bucket low and make smooth turns.

I don't think that is the issue the OP was talking about.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't think that is the issue the OP was talking about.

I do. He accidentally lifted the loader all the way up in the air so fast that when it hit the stops the rear tires bounced twice. That is a lot different than what you were talking about regarding hooking a bucket under something and lifting so the rears come off the ground. Two completely different situations.

 

[smfcpacfp]

The kind of experiences that you had are great learning tools if they don't kill you.