1510 D Upper lift arm broke

[MJPetersen]

I was in the green belt near our house gathering branches and trees broken in our recent storm. I will season the wood and then next winer I will have something to those who ask for help with heating. Most lower income people still heat with coal. Any way, I had a pretty large load of maple and was trying to turn around. I lifted the load with the 3pt to take a load off the gauge wheels and SNAP. The right upper lift arm broke near the rock shaft. I unloaded the wood in a stack and limped home.

The left arm was not that difficult to take off the splined rock shaft, but the left broken piece would not budge. I tried to drive it off and used wedges, but to no avail. I finally decided that maybe I should pull the whole shaft and press it off. I pulled PTO assembly--seems that in the last 6 months I have had it out so often I think that I need to put in a zipper!

The bushing on the right came out and I was able to disconnect the rod to the 3 pt cylinder, but I could not get the piece to budge. So I found a larger persuader and with a chunk of maple drove the whole shaft out the left side. The whole shaft was a bit pitted and obviously rust had partially welded the pieces together.

I took the shaft and pieces to a welding shop that I know of. he pressed the shaft out of the left bushing and lift arm. I talked to him about welding up the lift arm and he thinks that he can. He will add some strengthening pieces and we will see. I will pick it up tomorrow. He will charge me about $17 to do it so it is worth it until I can get a new lift arm.

A friend is coming to see us in Nov and is willing to bring a new arm to me so I ordered a lift arm from Wayne at LMTC in Ohio. What a great guy to deal with and so knowledgeable about these little tractors. Thanks Wayne! I wanted the repaired lift arm as a "stop gap" measure until the new arm arrives.

I cleaned the shaft up carefully with a wire brush and coated it liberally with some anti-seize compound and with new o-rings I slid it all back together except for the left arm. So tomorrow I should be back in business. At least to a limited state.

I will modify a trailer frame that I have to haul the wood and then go rescue that stack of maple that is waiting for me. I did not get pics of the break, but there seemed to be a definite pre-existing crack. I have lifted against the relief valve before (Lots of times ). Glad that it did not happen when I was lifting my lathe.

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

Since I was already inside the case and I was home and had nothing pressing and would not get the arm back until this afternoon. I decided to fix something that has not ben right since I got the tractor 2.5 years ago. My diff lock did not work correctly. It was VERY stiff. I could not easily move it by hand and it stayed in whatever position it was placed. So I decided to pull the diff lock shaft and see what the problem is.

Yanmar has kind of a poor design here (I believe) in that the place where the rod enters that case and exits the case is recessed (Pic 1, 2) and therefore retains dirt and moisture. My only suggestion would be to make sure that there is a drainage hole through the inner fender well.

I only had to pull the 3pt cylinder to gain access to the shaft and roll pin. It was very difficult to pull out, but persistence, and some major wiggling got it done. You can see where the rust has been eating away at the bottom of the shaft and lever (pic 3).

All the parts were cleaned and lubed up and ready for reinstall. (Like the pink and red, sort of clashes huh!) So now it is all put back together and waiting for the lift arm, which will be ready after dinner.

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

The lift arm was finally ready today. But it looked pretty good. The guy said that it welded nicely. Cast is like that--sometimes it welds easily and sometimes you can see contamination and bubbles. Then he added some extra on top and bottom. It is not so pretty, but I hope that it works. If I had done it I would have worked it over a bit with the flap disk, but I did not have my angle grinder here it is at church. Maybe some time I will clean it up a bit.

But for now my tractor is ready to go back to work. I am making a wood trailer to haul my finds home so that I do not put that kind of stress on the 3 pt right now.

Mike

 

[deepNdirt]

Glade to see you got it back together, I am curious though approx. how much weight you were lifting when it snapped? I used to do the same with my kubota and box scrape, I'd cut the wood lengths 20" and stack them onto the box scrape 3-4 ft. high, strap it down and lift-n-go, never give a thought about breaking the arms, I'm sure this much wood plus weight of the box must have weigh around 700 lbs. but then I have also used boom pole lift 400+ lb engine blocks 8 ft out very easily lifting the front of the tractor but didn't seem to put any strain on the hydraulics or lift arms,
I think sometimes we think our compact tractors are versatile mini train engines that move heavy things about, I once had a 18 ft lowboy trailer weigh 1100 lbs. 400lb tongue weight, I would hookup to the kubota and move it in order to cut grass under, But again! never give a thought of breaking something....

 

[MJPetersen]

I am curious though approx. how much weight you were lifting when it snapped?

I really do not know how much it weighed, but I can say that the front wheels were just off the ground and the lift had maxed out with the relief squealing. Therefore, it was at the max. Plus I was backing up in a tight place and I think that put the extra strain on everything. I often max the lift out and run in the relief range. (I need to get a gauge, to measure the pressure of the relief.)

Your YM 1500 is about 45 cm, and 40 kilos more than my 1510D. I am working on a small wood trailer--for hauling short logs out of the the woods, not a trailer made of wood. I hope that with this I will avoid doing this again. I should finish it tomorrow.

Mike

 

[MJPetersen]

For the curious, I thought that I would post a picture of the load of maple that I had on the tractor when I broke it and what I have done to "fix the problem. I made from scraps a small log hauler trailer. Basically, I used only materials that I already had in the shop. The trailer has no suspension, spindles off the front of a Ford Sierra (I carved up the cast somewhat with an angle grinder and a metal cutting disk, and then just welded them to the "axle." The main frame came from gate posts that I rescued about 6 months ago.

I wanted a narrow trailer, so that it would work better on narrow trails and between trees in pretty rough circumstances. So far i have tried it this once and it worked well. One of the advantages of picking up the broken branches and trees is that it is partially split already.

My repaired lift arm held up to this so for now I am back in business.

Mike

 

[normde2001]

Just curious Mike, you are apparently an American. Always wondered how you happened to locate in Poland.

 

[MJPetersen]

Norm, You are not the only one to have wondered that. Yes, I am an American and we have lived in Poland since 1994, let's see that is now 15 years. I am a missionary and I teach in Bible Colleges here in Poland and other places, pastor a new church here, and direct a non-profit charitable organization.

The follow up question could be "if that is your work, why the tractor? Let me turn this back to tractors. I use the Yanmar to do various projects around the church and at our home, especially in landscaping, but other things too. The church property was a disaster when we bought it a few years ago and now it is starting to look pretty good. Right now, because of storm that we had there are lots of big branches and trees down in the forest near my home. I am gathering the wood so that I have something to give to people that come to me and want help with their heating in the winter. I also have done jobs for hire to get money for my tractor projects and primarily as a way to meet people. It is also a very fulfilling hobby that I enjoy very much.

I recently made a wood stove from some scrap that I had to heat my work shop. My neighbor said that I ought to take orders and make them to sell. I told him that would ruin a really enjoyable hobby and make it plain work.

We do get back to the States from time to time for a couple of months. My son will graduate from college in May so we will be back for that.

Mike

 

[tallyho8]

Mike
That is a very nice basic trailer for your purposes. I wondered why you did not weld 2 uprights to your front crossbar to help hold the logs and make loading easier.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Thats a nice trailer. Makes me want to make one for my 169D. Have fun on your Yanmar.