Tweaked FEL

[mercdv]

A head on frontal impact, is not the way this would have been damaged anyway.

That was pretty much my point and I was responding to the "forks would be damaged."

 

[mercdv]

To the OP, one thing I forgot to mention is that things might not be tweaked as far as you think. With it being unlocked and shifted out of position on one side, that could exaggerate the appearance of the twist. Sometimes you can loosen the nuts on the loader and release the pressure on the hydraulics and it relieves the twist a bit. I wouldn't recommend you try this unless you know exactly what you are doing and the loader was securely attached to the tractor. You have to know how much to loosen things and how far you can safely actuate the cylinders otherwise you can cause more damage and even hurt yourself. It is just extremely hard to tell from the photos without seeing it in person what might and might not work or how far things are really twisted. The only way to really tell how far things are out of spec is taking some measurements to see how far out of square the loader is to itself but it would have to be removed from the tractor or mounted back on correctly. I wouldn't do either of those things until the dealer looks at it.

I'm hoping things look worse in the photos than they actually are. It would be nice if you escaped this with minor costs. None of us like to see someone suffer major damage or major failure. We've all been there, done that and we know how bad it sucks.

 

[goeduck]

One thing I don't understand, is why so many people keep ignoring the fact that the OP already mentioned and showed pictures of the lock that was not fully seated causing the twisted arms.
If that lock had failed with the loader arms lifted all the way up, it could get seriously dangerous.

Right. I suspected the mounts not being secure all the way back in post #3.

 

[mercdv]

Can locks get disengaged as a result of the damage instead of being the cause of the damage? Of course they can so that is why people are discussing other possibilities. Who knows if that happened before or after the failure/damage. In all reality, we all have our opinions since we weren't there, didn't see it happen, and haven't physically examined the tractor. The OP could be telling the truth or he could not. I don't know him so I just have to trust what he says happened. At this point the only thing that truly matters is helping him get it resolved. Ultimately it is up to the JD dealer if they want to cover it under warranty or if the OP has to pay. I would think our collective goal is to guide him on the best way and lowest cost to get the issue resolved. Heck, if he lived near me I'd probably offer to drive over and help him figure it out.

 

[ray66v]

That was pretty much my point and I was responding to the "forks would be damaged."

Sorry, I did not mean to give you the impression I was disagreeing.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Good advice :thumbsup:
If there happens to be pictures of delivery from the dealer of that side showing it unlocked, that would be golden.

EDIT. I did a YouTube search and the release levers are behind the towers so I doubt you would have a picture unless from the operators station. Nice release system by the way. Except there sure should be some sort of pin or something that would prevent accidental disengagement.

I am going to disagree with that statement. Familiarity of equipment operation is paramount to safe use. The operator/owner is responsible for reading and understanding ALL features of any piece of equipment, if not, they should not be operating it.

 

[ddbackhoe]

A head on frontal impact, is not the way this would have been damaged anyway.

The way the loader frame is deformed, is very similar to the kind of damage I saw many hundreds of times on a vehicle frame, when impacted from the side, in the front. It's called "sidesway"

If someone was carrying a heavy load, and hit something with the right side of the load, while moving forward, and turning to the right, I could see it causing the type of damage the OP has. The weight of a heavy load of 2x4's could exert strong forces if it's momentum was suddenly stopped by an impact. In that scenario, you could have no damage, or witness marks on the forks, or signs of direct impact to the loader frame. The loader frame is weakest at resisting heavy side forces, so those forces could conceivably bend it in a manor like we see.

I am not disputing the OP's claim on how this happened. I'm just giving an observation based solely on what I have experienced, and what the photo's show. There could certainly be a material defect, or other explanation that caused this to fail.

But, without prior failures of this model, which would clearly tell them they have a problem, I could see the possibility that JD will conclude it's collision damage.

Isn't there a possibility that it just came undone from being improperly secured? Demount and remount the loader maybe before deciding the whole thing is "toast"?

 

[BKBoiss]

Here are pics of the disengaged right side and the normal left side. I would never think to take pics of something for future use like this; I have pics, but not close-up details. It's going to the dealer tomorrow.View attachment 562810View attachment 562811I guess I shouldn't have touched the lever as it removed the dust.

Just something that popped into my head when I saw your picture of the lock undone; is it possible that the movement of the hydraulic hoses as the loader goes up and down could have hooked that little latch and unlocked it?

 

[ovrszd]

Sadly, it's obvious by the last two pics that the lock was engaged at one time. You can clearly see the skinned paint.

Why it unlocked is going to be the issue to be resolved. The dealer is going to have to be very creative with JD to get this covered under warranty. If he pulls it off I would be a faithful customer from this time forward. Including all fluids and filters.

If a JD warranty rep gets called in this isn't going to end well.

Side note and my opinion only. That lock system sucks!!! An "over center" latching device should never be used here. I'd have zero faith in it from now on......

 

[aczlan]

Side note and my opinion only. That lock system sucks!!! An "over center" latching device should never be used here. I'd have zero faith in it from now on......

That's where I like the system on our B7500, a 1" steel pin that goes through both sides of the bracket and into the loader arm.

Aaron Z