Bent cracked loader arms

[vtsnowedin]

Reading through several of the snow removal threads I keep coming across references to bending or racking loader arms while pushing a front mounted plow or even cracking welds and breaking loader mounts. I thought I'd try to pull the subject into one thread and get some real experiences from those that have actually had this problem.
Now I know you can damage a loader by over stressing it. The loader I had on my 880 David Brown was designed to load manure and had a four foot bucket with round tines that stuck out a foot from the main bucket bottom. Useing and abusing that loader to do way more then it was designed for I managed to bend or break off all the tines and even sheared off several of the bolts that bolted the loader from to the tractor body" when I was young and foolish I was young and foolish"
But now who has actually broken their loader pushing snow with it? What size tractor? Are small SCUTS prone to this ? Are large utility tractors immune? Dose having chains on the front make it more likely? Dose moving the plow back towards the loader arms reduce the stress?
Any info from people that have been there and done that would be appreciated along with the pictures if you still have them.
Of course I have a full set of prejudices and opinions in mind but I will try to keep them in check and let the facts speak for themselves.

 

[tessiers]

I watched an owner of a john deere 200 excavator (45000 lb machine) break the main boom OFF at just over 2000 hrs. My point here is most if not all machines have the capacity to damage themselves. It is the operators responsibilityt to work within safe and reasonable limitations. With a proper trip blade of a reasonable size I think damages are very un-likely. I have a 6' plow on my JD 790 with quite a few hours plowing snow with no prblems.

 

[DK35vince]

My opinion, as long as the snow blade has the proper trip springs on it you will be fine.
I run chains on all 4 and a 9' snow blade on the loader of my 35 HP tractor with no problems.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I watched an owner of a john Deere 200 excavator (45000 lb machine) break the main boom OFF at just over 2000 hrs. My point here is most if not all machines have the capacity to damage themselves. It is the operators responsibilityt to work within safe and reasonable limitations. With a proper trip blade of a reasonable size I think damages are very un-likely. I have a 6' plow on my JD 790 with quite a few hours plowing snow with no prblems.

Thanks for the response. Yes I have seen excavators crack the dipper stick between the pivot point and the crowd pin attachment point. They seem to have figured that out as it has been a while.
Do you have any pictures of your successful set up?

 

[vtsnowedin]

My opinion, as long as the snow blade has the proper trip springs on it you will be fine.
I run chains on all 4 and a 9' snow blade on the loader of my 35 HP tractor with no problems.

Thats good to hear. Any pics of your setup?

 

[DK35vince]

Any pics of your setup?

Not any more.
I had lots of pictures until a car hit a utility pole near here last week and causing a huge voltage spike. Took out computer with all the photos on it, printer and several other items.

 

[xring100]

I'm sure anything is possible especially if your going fast. You could do the same thing running your bucket into a dirt pile really hard with uneven edge contact. I would think with a trip edge and cushion valve on the cylinders your chances are low just take it easy especially when working near frozen ice/snow piles the wider the blade the larger the moment arm and thus more torque on the arms.

Dave

 

[daugen]

Not any more.
I had lots of pictures until a car hit a utility pole near here last week and causing a huge voltage spike. Took out computer with all the photos on it, printer and several other items.

a suggestion:
if you have to replace your computer, don't throw the old hard drive away. It might still be ok, and could be a second drive on your new unit. And all your photos will hopefully be saved. Unless you were using your pc
when the spike hit, likely your hard drive survived. Power supplies often die, as well as anything connected to unprotected phone or cable lines. In a past life I owned an electronics business and saw plenty of this.

 

[Rustyiron]

Common sence must be used here. But I think that slow is the key, at least on gravel/rough surfaces. Just this morning I plowed with my 95hp 'Bota instead of my skid steel that I usually use. The loader arm movement was a little alarming. (watching it vs. the hood) With the SS, the loader arms are down resting against the frame stops. I was using a "factory made" plow with the SS quick attach plate (Snowwolf) 108" and of course with trip springs. Around here, usually we end up with a smooth snow "build up" that the plow glides smoothly over, but this last snow was on open gravel. With pavement, nevermind.:thumbsup:

 

[daugen]

how fast can one go pushing a bucket into a gravel pile? 2-3mph?
Always wondered how putting all that force on the bucket hydraulics
worked in the long haul. Seemed to me that the hydraulics would cushion the
impact but clearly bent or cracked arms are a reality.

Seems reasonable to expect any modern well made implement to not crack or bend structurally at full load,
or even something over that. I'd expect movement to stop, but not metal to break.

Now i guess if you run your tractor and loader into a tree at 15 mph, anything goes.
But short of a higher speed collision with something or a tractor upset or rollover, that steel should handle it.
Shouldn't it?