Everybody loves a guessing game

[BeeferMan]

Take it to a machine shop with a big press, or an auto body shop with a frame machine - it'll straighten...

 

[Farmerford]

Kevin:

It is hard to see, but you must be referring to the plate that appears just above the top of the threaded rod extending through the spring. So, that plate is close enough to the top of the rod to keep it from lifting?

My L4330 (2007?) does not have it.

There were many complaints about this a few years ago, and Kubota made a kit like my home made one to fix it. Now I see the permanent fix.

 

[kevinj]

Kevin:

It is hard to see, but you must be referring to the plate that appears just above the top of the threaded rod extending through the spring. So, that plate is close enough to the top of the rod to keep it from lifting?

My L4330 (2007?) does not have it.

There were many complaints about this a few years ago, and Kubota made a kit like my home made one to fix it. Now I see the permanent fix.

Yep, it can only lift about 1/8" and it hits the plate over the threaded rod.

 

[jcliburn]

Called two dealers today to get the price of a new QA assembly. One quoted $630 plus tax, the other $657 plus tax.

Time to get out the saw.

I'm gonna attempt to repair it myself using 638's and Ductape's advice. Cut the tube in two, then attach to bucket to ensure proper vertical and rotational alignment of the QA plates. Once connected this way, the displacement of the tube ends at the cutoff point should tell me which direction things need to be moved.

 

[kevinj]

Called two dealers today to get the price of a new QA assembly. One quoted $630 plus tax, the other $657 plus tax.

Time to get out the saw.

I'm gonna attempt to repair it myself using 638's and Ductape's advice. Cut the tube in two, then attach to bucket to ensure proper vertical and rotational alignment of the QA plates. Once connected this way, the displacement of the tube ends at the cutoff point should tell me which direction things need to be moved.

I do not know about your area, but here we have several large welding shops which have nice presses.

When I bend stuff I start with the press route, usually cheap & effective, even if they only get it real close you have a lot less work to finish the job.

You may get by with just some final heating of the tube rather than cutting or you could just blow the welds and put in a new tube.

20 to 50 bucks and a half hour will get stuff fixed with the ol' 60 ton press at my local shop:thumbsup:

 

[jcliburn]

I do not know about your area, but here we have several large welding shops which have nice presses.

Well, let's just say your area sounds quite a bit different than my area. In my area a press is what makes the county's weekly newspaper.

When I bend stuff I start with the press route, usually cheap & effective, even if they only get it real close you have a lot less work to finish the job.

You may get by with just some final heating of the tube rather than cutting or you could just blow the welds and put in a new tube.

20 to 50 bucks and a half hour will get stuff fixed with the ol' 60 ton press at my local shop.

Thanks for the advice. I'll do a little more calling around and see what I can come up with, but I'm not optimistic.

BeeferMan suggested an auto body shop up above. It's worth a try...

Jay

 

[kevinj]

Well, let's just say your area sounds quite a bit different than my area. In my area a press is what makes the county's weekly newspaper.

Jay

It must be the farmers in my area are hard on equipment to support them

I do all my own welding, fab and repair but do not own a good press, yet

 

[dstig1]

You need to check your grapple fit. It should not come off on one side.

I have a Markham bucket that was made "to skid steer spec" per Markham.
That may be true but it does not work right on Kubota due to the rebated top of the QA device.

Compare the fit to you bucket, look at the top and the bottom by the beveled pins.

Also the pins should have stops above them when latched

When hooked there was 1/2" open on the bottom by the beveled pin

I had to weld in a piece of steel to shim the top where it belonged, no problems since.

The pic should show the issue that I had.

Wow. Where were you when I was fighting this issue last fall? Post #64 and on... http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/179052-grapple-width-7.html

Another Gator/Markham grapple falling off victim... What I did - based on what Gator told me to do - was to weld on a second plate they sent me to the lower pin attachment bracket that essentially made it double thick. This did NOT solve the problem but it improved it. I was thinking about adding some blocking below that top tube for the QA top to hit against similar to what you showed, kevin. You have any more close-ups of your fix? This just reinforces the fact that I need to do that this year. Modifying brand new equipment to make it work as intended is not my idea of a good product...

I know a lot of people like these grapples, and they sure are pretty handy (when not falling off), but this one has a serious design flaw. They also told me I was "the only one" they had ever heard about with this issue. I doubted it then, and I really doubt it now.

I need to look into the pin stop issue also.

Jay - I wouldn't blame yourself. I think you are another victim of this design flaw.

Completed pic on top. During tack welding on the bottom for clarity.

Edit: Thinking about this more, this relates to a concern I had about the space behind the QA plates being open. I didn't realize that the Kubota plate's upper edge being recessed like that was quite the issue it is. I thought the plate needed to be there for other reasons (ease of mounting and stopping the plate from pushing through when stressed). If you are saying it is keeping the QA mount out of place, then it all adds up. Man I'm glad I saw this thread...

 

[jcliburn]

Well, well, well... Verrrrry interesting... Thanks for sharing, Dave. Puts a whole new spin on things.

I can't hook squat up to my SSQA right now because it's so far out of alignment, but when I get it cut/welded/straightened/lined up, I'm DEFINITELY going to pay close attention to the fit of the grapple.

Will be in touch...

Jay

 

[kevinj]

Wow. Where were you when I was fighting this issue last fall? Post #64 and on... http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/179052-grapple-width-7.html

Another Gator/Markham grapple falling off victim... What I did - based on what Gator told me to do - was to weld on a second plate they sent me to the lower pin attachment bracket that essentially made it double thick. This did NOT solve the problem but it improved it. I was thinking about adding some blocking below that top tube for the QA top to hit against similar to what you showed, kevin. You have any more close-ups of your fix? This just reinforces the fact that I need to do that this year. Modifying brand new equipment to make it work as intended is not my idea of a good product...

I know a lot of people like these grapples, and they sure are pretty handy (when not falling off), but this one has a serious design flaw. They also told me I was "the only one" they had ever heard about with this issue. I doubted it then, and I really doubt it now.

I need to look into the pin stop issue also.

Jay - I wouldn't blame yourself. I think you are another victim of this design flaw.

Completed pic on top. During tack welding on the bottom for clarity.

Edit: Thinking about this more, this relates to a concern I had about the space behind the QA plates being open. I didn't realize that the Kubota plate's upper edge being recessed like that was quite the issue it is. I thought the plate needed to be there for other reasons (ease of mounting and stopping the plate from pushing through when stressed). If you are saying it is keeping the QA mount out of place, then it all adds up. Man I'm glad I saw this thread...

I posted a bunch of this a couple years back and most did not seem to get it so I do not post it unless I can clearly see the posters issues.

Markham was not at all helpful for me. They claimed any fit issues were Kubotas fault. All they were doing is saving a small amount of steel on every item they sold. I will never buy from that outfit again!!!.

It is easy to see the fit issues when you study it. As you can see in your pic you are not bearing in the correct spot and the attachment slides down and lets the it get loose on the pins.

The shim on the bottom is the wrong way to fix it. Cut that out and put steel in to get bearing like your bucket has. That recess is 1/2" on mine so use 1/2" stock to fix it, a bar of flat stock will weigh less than a full plate.

All Markham had to do was use a 6" bar rather than the 3" at the top and no one would be having these issues.