Bucket pins/bushing issue

[Fastball]

Picked up the pins and accompaning hardware.
Banged the old ones out, no problem.
Got the first one banged in, easy-peasy.
Got the second one 2/3's of the way through...and it hangs up. Can't get the last bit of loader hole to totally line up with the bucket hole. Just a teeniest tiniest bit of an overlap...and the pin won't slide through that last inch. Its the bucket that needs to come back towards the arm by a smidge. I can lever the bucket AWAY from the loader arm...but I can't move it CLOSER to the loader arm. No matter which way I start the pin, it always hangs up in the last bit. It's like there's a tiny twist.
Is this just a matter of fiddle, fiddle, fiddle until she slides through...or should I unpin both of them and see if it'll line up better? I mean it's just the last 3/4s of an inch.

 

[boomer1025]

Take the first pin back out, then see if the other pin will go in. If it does then try putting the first pin back in.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

For the price of these reamers it takes away a lot of screwing around when you have a burr or something inside the bushing.11 Piece Adjustable Hand Reamer Set

I used to overhaul/rebuild industrial machinery. They were part of the tool box

Ron

 

[Egon]

Those readers will surely work.

Other suggestions: grind a v edge on the end of the pin. It may make it easier to start.

Move the bucket up & down and curl. Try different positions and you may get a spot that works.

A bolt same size as pin with a v ground on one side or around the circumference and drive it in from the other side. Then try the real pin from the original side.

Any combination of bucket movement and tries may work. Even try a light push or back drag may help.

 

[jmc]

Got the second one 2/3's of the way through...and it hangs up. Can't get the last bit of loader hole to totally line up with the bucket hole. Just a teeniest tiniest bit of an overlap...and the pin won't slide through that last inch. Its the bucket that needs to come back towards the arm by a smidge. I can lever the bucket AWAY from the loader arm...but I can't move it CLOSER to the loader arm. No matter which way I start the pin, it always hangs up in the last bit. It's like there's a tiny twist.

I wonder if that undersized pin on the opposite side allowed enough bucket deflection to bend the (now) misaligned side? With the bucket off the loader, a length of pin diameter bar stock longer than the overall width across the loader arms would let you guage if the two loader holes are coaxial, and the four bucket holes coaxial as well. That may affect how you want to fix it.

 

[Fastball]

Well, I went out this morning and fiddled more and more. It was just hanging up by a millimeter - and for love nor money, it would not line up easily. So I got it as close as I could...and then gave it about three or four whacks with an 8-pound sledge. It slid through. Of course the holes for the 2 inch retaining screw aren't lined up...but I don't think that sucker's gonna slide out anytime soon. So I gave it a shot or two with tha grease gun, and will keep my eye on it in case it ystarts to back out.
Thanks for the replies, guys - and helping a rookie out.
PS - i was in the dealership so long, gushing over a new 3301 with a backhoe that my wife started texting me from inside the car. I said I'd only be a second, right. I figure that's not even close to making up for all the times we've run into Costco "for just a few things"

 

[Egon]

Big hammer!!

 

[aczlan]

Well, I went out this morning and fiddled more and more. It was just hanging up by a millimeter - and for love nor money, it would not line up easily. So I got it as close as I could...and then gave it about three or four whacks with an 8-pound sledge. It slid through. Of course the holes for the 2 inch retaining screw aren't lined up...but I don't think that sucker's gonna slide out anytime soon. So I gave it a shot or two with tha grease gun, and will keep my eye on it in case it ystarts to back out.
Thanks for the replies, guys - and helping a rookie out.
PS - i was in the dealership so long, gushing over a new 3301 with a backhoe that my wife started texting me from inside the car. I said I'd only be a second, right. I figure that's not even close to making up for all the times we've run into Costco "for just a few things"

If you roll the bucket down, it should eventually line up, then you can pin it in. It needs to be pinned so the pin spins where it goes through the loader arms, otherwise, it will chew out the bushings welded into the bucket mounting brackets.

Aaron Z

 

[Fastball]

If you roll the bucket down, it should eventually line up, then you can pin it in. It needs to be pinned so the pin spins where it goes through the loader arms, otherwise, it will chew out the bushings welded into the bucket mounting brackets.

Aaron Z

I'll take it out in the next while and dump the bucket a few times to get the pin properly seated in there and maybe loosened up a bit. Then I'll see if I can tap it ahead, line up the holes and get that quarter-inch retaining bolt in there. But its a bit cold to work outside...so tomorrow is another day.

 

[Fastball]

Well, I went out there and got it done....but mind you, that pin is in there TIGHT. You have to to bang the holy **** (jeez, you can't say aitch-ee-double-ell here?) out of it to get that pin to move either way. I managed to get that 1/4 x 2 inch retaining bolt in there - again, using the BFH method. I've loaded it up with grease and the bucket dumps OK without squealing or hanging up. My question is...Will it be OK longterm that the one pin had to be HAMMERED in that last inch? Is it occasionally normal that one has to resort to the sledge to persuade the odd thing?