Didn't Even Grunt

[Texasmark]

I appreciate your guys taking the time to comment on this. Some interesting comments and things to keep in mind. Thanks for your time and comments.

 

[ovrszd]

What kind of serious failure? I can show you just how the loader is mounted to this tractor and you won't believe me when I show it to you.....1" thick steel plate for a material source before they start bending, cutting, welding and drilling (holes for mounting to the tractor frame). Pin holding the loader frame to the tractor mounted receiver is Cat III (removable loader). Loader is rated at 2000# at pin fully raised. Accessory to loader attachment is standard skid steer quick change and the chain was wrapped around the rear of the attachment meaning that 4 Cat II bolts were holding the frame to the loader arms. I can double stack heavy, 5x6 rolls of hay on a semi trailer without grunting.....the loader and mounting design was another reason for buying Branson. I doubt that I was exerting 2000# of force......the chain was 3/8 and didn't break, or even stretch the links.

When it happens you will know. Too late. But you'll know.

As to the strength of your tractor and FEL. Everything you stated is intended to push and lift rather than pull and pry.

As to the load you were pulling, no way to know. But since you were able to pull it out without lifting the rear tires and/or spinning indicates it was a very light load. Tends to give a fella an abundance of confidence. Which can be dangerous.

Without yanking, your tractor doesn't have the traction weight to break a 3/8 grade 70 chain. Probably can't break a 5/16".

 

[ovrszd]

Besides, it reduced the stress on the pulling elements.

Until maximum traction is reached, a lower gear increases driveline stress.

 

[k0ua]

Without yanking, your tractor doesn't have the traction weight to break a 3/8 grade 70 chain. Probably can't break a 5/16".

The tractors most of us own, could be hung suspended off of the ground from a grade 70 5/16 chain. All the rest of the largest ones could be hung from a 3/8.

 

[npalen]

Chain Strength Chart

 

[Texasmark]

When it happens you will know. Too late. But you'll know.

As to the strength of your tractor and FEL. Everything you stated is intended to push and lift rather than pull and pry.

As to the load you were pulling, no way to know. But since you were able to pull it out without lifting the rear tires and/or spinning indicates it was a very light load. Tends to give a fella an abundance of confidence. Which can be dangerous.

Without yanking, your tractor doesn't have the traction weight to break a 3/8 grade 70 chain. Probably can't break a 5/16".

I attempted to lift the end of the log so that it wouldn't dig into the ground as it came up the embankment before the ground leveled off where I was but the only thing that happened was that the front end of the tractor started squatting and with all going on, didn't want to break something in the front axle.

I don't know the grade of the chain. My 2400 elongated the links and broke ⅛ or 3/16" chain didn't measure had just bought it from the hardware store, pulling logs out of the water.

Pull was straight line and the tractor was on level ground....just before it broke to the slope of the pond bank where dug. The rears were full of ballast and the tractor weighs about 6k#.

 

[k0ua]

Chain Strength Chart

That chart showed the WLL (Working Load Limit) The breaking load is about 3 times that. The WLL is the weight (or pull) that you should not routinely exceed to make sure the chain does not elongate or risk breaking. But still 4700 lbs for 5/16 is a lot more than most of our CUT tractors will deliver on the drawbar. Some may get close.

 

[arrow]

What kind of serious failure? I can show you just how the loader is mounted to this tractor and you won't believe me when I show it to you.....1" thick steel plate for a material source before they start bending, cutting, welding and drilling (holes for mounting to the tractor frame). Pin holding the loader frame to the tractor mounted receiver is Cat III (removable loader). Loader is rated at 2000# at pin fully raised. Accessory to loader attachment is standard skid steer quick change and the chain was wrapped around the rear of the attachment meaning that 4 Cat II bolts were holding the frame to the loader arms. I can double stack heavy, 5x6 rolls of hay on a semi trailer without grunting.....the loader and mounting design was another reason for buying Branson. I doubt that I was exerting 2000# of force......the chain was 3/8 and didn't break, or even stretch the links.

Not so much structural as possible hydraulic cylinder failure. One of them lets go under pressure and you won't be questioning. The stress on them with this procedure is opposite for their design. My tractor company (Mahindra) stipulates to not even backfill with a completely rotated bucket because of cylinder stress.

 

[arrow]

That chart showed the WLL (Working Load Limit) The breaking load is about 3 times that. The WLL is the weight (or pull) that you should not routinely exceed to make sure the chain does not elongate or risk breaking. But still 4700 lbs for 5/16 is a lot more than most of our CUT tractors will deliver on the drawbar. Some may get close.

I've logged for 40 years with a 1/4" chain.

 

[k0ua]

If you are going to back drag make sure the bucket is not dumped too far. Keep the bucket nearly flat or slightly dumped, AND keep the lift in "float". That way if you hit something (cedar stump cut close to the ground, rock that won't give etc" you won't pretzel up the hydraulic dump/curl cylinders. The bucket will float over the obstruction instead of digging in. You have to use common sense. If you completely dump the back so that it is rotated backwards, you have just extended a bunch of the dump/curl rods out there from the cylinder and the forces on them can fairly easily pretzel them up.