Tweaked FEL

[UtahJock]

Greetings to all. I was trying to lift a pallet of 2x4's and this is what happened to my FEL arms. Afterwards, I calculated the weight of these 2x4's to be about 200 lbs over my limit. With my previous tractor, this would not have happened. I don't think this should have happened with this tractor (3039R with 320R FEL). Any comments and suggestions to fix are welcome. Thanks.

 

[4570Man]

That looks pretty bad. It definitely wasn’t caused by 200 pounds overloading. Any details on how it happened?

 

[goeduck]

Maybe show some pictures of the mounting where it deformed? Were you on sloped ground? Did the load shift when it was up? I assume you were able to lift the load before this happened? I would have thought the loader would have stalled before damage. If you never got it off the ground are you sure your FEL attachment points are secure and in place?

 

[mercdv]

Are you sure you didn't accidentally ram the forks/FEL/2x4's into something while moving forward to lift the pallet or driving around with the pallet? Or did you try to backup with the forks hung on the ground or pallet? That is a lot of damage and looks more like things were shoved backwards towards the front of the tractor on one side and then bent. I've seen FEL's bent up as bad as this before but it has always been from ramming or hooking something off center with the FEL while the tractor was in motion not just lifting. Most tractor hydraulics stall on a good lift that is too heavy if the tractor and FEL are matched before any damage can occur and before the item can be lifted. I know all of the tractors I have operated popped the pressure relief valve which prevented the lift. Now, my experience is limited to only tractors and excavators that were properly matched to their attachments. We could certainly bend a FEL on the things we operated but you had to ram something or try to lift with just one fork out on the edge or only the side edge of the bucket. We never bent anything lifting a secured load properly. Also, on just a bad lift you usually twist the arms out of square or bend cylinders and mounts. I can't say I've seen a bad lift shove things back into the tractor without the tractor being in motion either forwards or backwards. I mean, heck your brush guard is even jacked to one side from the looks of the pictures (not positive on that). You sure whatever happened didn't bend the tractor frame too?

The following is just my opinion and others will certainly chime in with other opinions. Kind of hard for me to tell from the current photos where the problem actually starts so my advice is to figure out what all is actually bent. If it were me, I would start by taking some measurements along the frame to make sure the frame is still square. If you can't visually tell what on the FEL is bent, I'd start measuring that too. The masts ($??), boom ($1580), and cylinders ($710 a piece) can all be replaced on the FEL. Make a list of things that are bent and price out the replacement parts. John Deere Parts Catalog Take that price and compare it to the cost of a new 320R (approx. $5000), a used 320R (not sure you can find one), and a quote from the dealer for repair. You might also be able to find a heavy equipment repair shop near you that could give you a quote on fixing just the parts you find damaged/bent. You won't be able to bend the masts, booms, or rams back into spec on your own without the expensive heavy hydraulic machines.

If you haven't worked on a heavy attachment before and decide to do the work yourself, be very careful. It is easy to get a crushing injury or lose a finger if things shift/fall when disassembling something like this. You will need to use bracing and a hoist/lift or a second set of hands when replacing the masts or the booms. Remove the wrong part without the proper bracing and the whole thing could collapse on you. I'm sure you already thought about that but I'd feel bad if I didn't say it and you got hurt.

 

[Jcoon]

That most certainly was NOT done by picking up a pallet of material 200 pounds over your limit...

I have accidentally drove the corner of my bucket into a huge boulder doing about 4 MPH and all it did was stop me dead, that tractor hit something very hard and very fast!

Or the FEL is garbage.. there is a defect in it somewhere in the welding and it caused it to deform like this, I would bring it back to the dealer and have them check it over.

 

[wagne223]

Looks to me like the loader experienced excessive side load. It appears to be bent to the left.
Side loads occur when the operator is turning and contacts an immovable object with the loader.
Perhaps attempting to slide said pallet of 2x4's into a certain position.

 

[ovrszd]

Definitely more to this story.

The twist can be minimized by overloading the high side abusively.

Not sure what will be the end result in regards to being shoved sideways

 

[Ford850]

Did one cylinder or valve give out while you had the load in the air?

 

[Thomas]

Were you on rough ground while turning?

 

[UtahJock]

It was just from tying to lift. I got it about 6'' above ground before the FEL stopped trying. I didn't ram anything, I wasn't moving. The brush guard is attached to the FEL frame, which is why it moved. And it looks like the ram heads (at the attachment pin) are bent. The driveway slopes slightly away from the front end. The load was maybe six inches off center, but with the load at ten feet wide, six inches shouldn't make any difference. And there was NO ethanol involved! The mechanical engineers at work agree that this shouldn't happen unless there's a defect somewhere.
This weekend I can take more pics and measurements. A Thanks, again.

 

[CincyFlyer]

It looks to me as if down pressure was excessive, causing upward bending on one side. Loaders are engineered for lifting, and it's difficult to overload a properly engineered system by doing so (I can put one fork under a load and stall the hydraulics and it won't bend like that!) With better pictures once could see if things are bent/twisted upward or downward from normal.

 

[herm0016]

maybe the high side lift cylinder is doing all the work and the line in blocked on the low side? the valve or hoses or the o-rings in the cylinder are blown out? if all the weight was being lifted with one side, i could see this happening.

 

[Ford850]

It was just from tying to lift. I got it about 6'' above ground before the FEL stopped trying. I didn't ram anything, I wasn't moving. The brush guard is attached to the FEL frame, which is why it moved. And it looks like the ram heads (at the attachment pin) are bent. The driveway slopes slightly away from the front end. The load was maybe six inches off center, but with the load at ten feet wide, six inches shouldn't make any difference. And there was NO ethanol involved! The mechanical engineers at work agree that this shouldn't happen unless there's a defect somewhere.
This weekend I can take more pics and measurements. A Thanks, again.

Wow! So you drove up with your forks and got into position, and then raised the load only 6" off the ground and this happened?

 

[wagne223]

Wow! So you drove up with your forks and got into position, and then raised the load only 6" off the ground and this happened?

Pretty sure there's a lot more to this story......

 

[UtahJock]

Pretty sure there's a lot more to this story......

Tonight, I will confirm with my eyewitness to see if there's something I'm missing.

 

[1010]

Some more PICs would be great also sir! Some from underneath, front and back.

 

[Ford850]

Some more PICs would be great also sir! Some from underneath, front and back.

Maybe there's a cracked weld somewhere that failed and caused such a major shift and twist.

 

[Djames55]

I would take it to a friends body shop and let them pull it back as straight as they could... Take some pictures of the loader on the tractor... Then take some pictures with the loader off the tractor... Then run a ad on craigslist and sale the loader because if it bent like you say, it will do it again... I wouldn't trust it a second time... I would just buy a new loader or get a larger tractor with a larger loader...

 

[ovrszd]

Based on the OP's description no FEL should fail like that. The cylinder strength is always matched to the frame strength.

Only plausible explanation so far is regarding a failed cylinder?

 

[ptsg]

Unless JD is making the loaders as cheap as they can't, that shouldn't happen.

That kinda looks that the loader wasn't properly attached onto the tractor frame. Maybe one of the latch/pin of the quick attach was not in fully?