Camera for loader

[Tony M]

Gooday all

I'm located in South Australia and have a John Deere 3720 cab tractor. I've previously posted about my experiences with fitting skidsteer wheel spacers.

Up until now the tractor has mainly been a very expensive, but extremely comfortable, lawn mower.

I have had a few tentative attempts at doing some earth-moving with the 4 in 1 bucket I bought with it, but I seem to have a problem judging the location and attitude of the bucket and how far it is open and this severely limits the amount of use I get out of it. I seem to use the float setting a lot as I'm otherwise not sure how far off the ground the bucket is. I get very embarrassed fixing glitches with a shovel afterwards.

So I got to thinking a camera mounted somewhere above the bucket and a monitor in the cab might give me a good view of what's happening up front while it's happening - at least until I develop the necessary skills. Truck reversing camera kits seem to be cheap on ebay and should do the job?

However, before going down this path I thought I'd try to find if anyone else has tried this - but couldn't find anything relevant. So, I want to ask if this is because it's a bad idea or doesn't work or am I the only one who finds this so difficult?

Any hints or advice would be very welcome.

Cheers
Tony

 

[greasemonkeyok]

There was a thread about cameras a few weeks back. Here is the setup being discussed:
Rear View Camera Waterproof System One (1) Camera Setup with 7" Display Model # RVS-7709900

I plan on trying it myself. Would be interested in hearing where others have mounted the camera (on loader arms?) and other details also. Also, seems you would want to have two camera mount locations, one in front and one in back.

 

[banjodunn]

G'day Tony put that money into fuel and go and find somewhere to practise:thumbsup:. You will be surprised at how quick you will pick it up if you are not too worried about digging a little deep or not getting it quite right. Do you have a bucket level indicator? If not the I would suggest getting/making one as you will find it really handy, oh and think of the fun you will have while learning


Jon

 

[5030]

A spot mirror from a big truck is so much cheaper and you can leave it on. I have one on both my large frame Kubota's to see where the fork ends are.

 

[RoyJackson]

Agree with banjodunn...practice is the most important thing you can do.
Everybody with a loader screws up at first, so no need to be embarassed (although if your wife is like mine...I'm sure you hear all about your mistakes!!)

 

[jenkinsph]

Seat time is all you need.

 

[oliver2255]

running a good bucket is hard the thing i find helfull is the newer loaders have a rod that runsup the side of the arm that is attched to a bucket as the rode slides up and down. thats how i learned.

 

[RoyJackson]

running a good bucket is hard the thing i find helfull is the newer loaders have a rod that runsup the side of the arm that is attched to a bucket as the rode slides up and down. thats how i learned.

That's the bucket level indicator described earlier in the thread.

 

[k0ua]

Another vote for the practice crowd. I have a bucket level indicator now on my new tractor, but don't rely much on it.. with practice you can feel how the bucket is doing in the way tractor is acting. I remember my first tractor, and being frustrated with loader work, and how I never could tell if I was getting much of a load or not. It was so bad that I stationed my wife off to the side to tell me if I was doing it right..(not a lot of guys would admit to that!) But after a month or 2 of practice I finally got it pretty well figured out. Over the years I have gotten better at it. Just keep practicing mate!

James K0UA

 

[BeeferMan]

Yes, experience is what's needed.

Funny how no ones seems to think that once they know how to swing a hammer they can then build a house, but will think that knowing which lever moves the bucket means they're now an "operator"!