Using And Abusing Your Front End Loader. What is the difference?

[JasperFrank]

A 6 pack.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Here's both..
At the Everything Attachments Group

 

[oosik]

That IDIOT has some kind of death wish.

 

[5030]

I'd be embarrassed to even post that.

 

[oosik]

I certainly wouldn't admit that he was using my brand implement or tractor.

 

[jyoutz]

You and your weird backwards tractor.

Would kind of machine is that?

 

[Xfaxman]

Would kind of machine is that?

It is a put together machine. FEL, TORO Groundsmaster Put Together
A Toro Groundsmaster out front deck mower like this one:

And a Loader for a garden tractor:

 

[jyoutz]

It is a put together machine. FEL, TORO Groundsmaster Put Together
A Toro Groundsmaster out front deck mower like this one:
View attachment 752632

And a Loader for a garden tractor:
View attachment 752633

Ok. Thanks. Didn’t think it was anything I recognized. Looks like you have spent some time in the shop.

 

[Dan Lamb]

I think a lot of loader damage comes from materials it’s used on as well. Our basic tractor loaders are really intended for moving already disturbed materials like manure piles , mulch , topsoil , stone etc. I see a lot of people smashing them into hard clay not touched in decades. The frames are not robust enough for constant use doing this.

Not everyone has a hoe but when I know it’s hard compacted soil or base or road grinding I just loosen it up with my hoe then it digs easy

 

[tacticalturnip]

Ok. Thanks. Didn’t think it was anything I recognized. Looks like you have spent some time in the shop.

You ought to check out the thread he links to in his signature, @Xfaxman has had a lot of fun with that machine.

 

[Xfaxman]

You ought to check out the thread he links to in his signature, @Xfaxman has had a lot of fun with that machine.

This one?

 

[tacticalturnip]

I was actually referring to the Toro, but the telehandler is of course cool in it's own right.

This one?
View attachment 752658

 

[newbury]

Not everyone has a hoe but when I know it’s hard compacted soil or base or road grinding I just loosen it up with my hoe then it digs easy

I usually used my box blade.

 

[Fixastuff]

I repair a lot of buckets

How do you find the time with all the posting you do here?

 

[5030]

How do you find the time with all the posting you do here?

Slow right now, it's the 4th. I do need to give the tractors a bath however so I'll be gone until tomorrow. Sun has dropped enough I won't be sweating my buns off....

 

[metalbender]

Don't buy a used tractor from Ted. LOL

 

[Xfaxman]

I usually used my box blade

Now I can use and abuse the front end loader with the 8' box blade:

 

[IndyJay]

Now I can use and abuse the front end loader with the 8' box blade:
View attachment 752742View attachment 752743

Yep, Xfaxman switched to the front mounted TORO and Telehandler...
"and never looked back".

 

[Vigo327]

I remember having the idea to use a mower like that as a basis for a loader, and then found Xfaxman's TORO thread and felt so affirmed about it that i didn't even need to do it myself afterwards. I don't know if that's how it's supposed to work, but now there's nothing left to prove about it so on to the next idea.. And i REALLY want a mini telehandler as an all-around machine (including digging), so here I go finding Xfaxman's V417 thread, which has to be one of my favorite threads on a tractor forum. But i'm still looking for the way to put it together myself for 10k.

As far as use vs abuse, usually the stock hydraulic pressure is set so that you can't damage the loader just by pulling the control levers, IF you're loading the loader evenly from side to side (not all on one side) and IF the force in the bucket isn't concentrated too heavily in one area (lifting/prying).

Not using MOMENTUM for ANYTHING is a huge one which has already been said but probably bears repeating. If you have to bump/ram it you're in the danger zone where operator talent/technique becomes the difference between whether it breaks or not. You'll see people doing it and getting away with it just fine, but they're not the ones who 'have to ask'. Mechanical empathy will let you run something past its stated limits, but it's not something you develop overnight or without cracking some eggs along the way. When things are rated, the way they're rated is "what's the max weight etc that the Lowest Common Denominator Operator can do with this thing without us having a warranty claim on our hands?". When you get a lot gooder than the Lowest Common Denominator Operator, you can go way past that.

Me being a mechanic who likes to modify things, I take great joy in finding the limits of machines because i can change those limits, and more importantly.. I can clean up my own messes without breaking the bank. For example, I've cracked a lot of pistons in my turbocharged vehicles, but i never paid anyone else to replace them, or i'd have stopped at the first one! So IF you can physically or financially afford to make mistakes, do whatever you want. But if you can't or don't want to, keep that time and money you don't want to spend in mind when using the equipment.

 

[5030]

Now I can use and abuse the front end loader with the 8' box blade:
View attachment 752742View attachment 752743

That box blade is pretty well whipped out. Should have hard rodded the lower leading edge before it wore away.