7308 FEL adjustment on front bracket

[Mosey]

Page 21 in the 7308 FEL manual says the hooks on the FEL should be positioned against the tubes on the tractor. Mine are not actually touching, there's a 1/8" gap. Is this right or should it be touching? Thanks.

 

[BigDave]

I can't tell you right from wrong, but I have about a 1/2 inch gap. I believe this was discussed in a thread about a year ago & mine had a tighter alignment than some others.

 

[DavidJ]

They should be touching. The reason is that when you push into something with the loader the front mount absorbs some of the load. If there is a gap the rear mounts take the entire load and may fail prematurely. I would keep mine adjusted to touch. Be ready though, my manual says to torque the bolts to about 300 ft lbs /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif You'll need a serious torque wrench to do that. My Proto will only go to 250 ft lbs.

 

[thcri]

Mine are not touching. I had numerous problems of my front bracket even coming loose. I had to take apart a couple of times and no matter how tight I got them they would shift whenever I put down pressure on the bucket. I finally asked my dealer if there was ever a time that I would have to take the bracket off and he said no. I told him to weld them and since I have never had trouble. But I do have about 1/2" in front and 1/4" on the bottom.

murph

 

[kpk]

I too have a large gap. Probably in the order of 1/4 to 1/2 inch. The first time I saw it I thought "that can't be good". I have used the loader many times without a problem, but I still think they should be touching. Otherwise, as you plunge into a pile of whatever, the rear mounts take all the stress. I never got around to doing anything about it though. I was going to take them off, lengthen the slots, and put them back on.

 

[SteveInMD]

I have a gap too, but that is with the loader resting on the ground. Wouldn't the gap close up when pressure is applied to loader? I take a look at it tomorrow with the loader pressed up against something. It looked to me like my front adjustments were maxed out minimizing the gap.

 

[Mosey]

I was thinking the same thing. I'll put some pressure on it and see if the gap closes up.

 

[MikeBurr]

Mine too was getting a big gap, so I re-alined the parts for as small as possible gap. Then I drilled thru all pieces and put a bolt in place. Worked for little over a year, then the bolt broke on one side. Put another one in that is holding ok. Must likely need to bore a bigger hole and use a stronger bolt. Or I may just weld it, haven't had the loader off in 3 years... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[thcri]

Just weld the brackets in place. You still can take the loader off. Mine used to jump off and then they would sit on top of the post instead of around it until I welded them.

murph

 

[Mosey]

After using the FEL to scoop up some dirt, now I have about 1/2" gap. But, it doesn't look like the hooks on the FEL have moved, it looks like the bracket that the tubes are on has pivoted back some where it mounts to the tractor.

 

[Mosey]

I loosened up the 4 bolts that hold the bracket on (they were not very tight) and moved the top of it forward until the posts hit the hooks again, then tightened the bolts as much as I dared without twisting them off (125 ft lbs). I was going to check the tightness of the big bolts on the hooks, but I don't have the right size socket for them, it's between 1 1/16" and 1 1/8". I put a big adjustable wrench on one and turned it fairly easy, so they're not real tight right now.

 

[thcri]

Danny,

The 4 big bolts on the loader itself for me no matter how tight I got them, they would move. I even put a 36" bar on my socket and they still moved for me. Then to get them loose again it was a pain in the A$$. Anyway I told me dealer to just weld them in place and since then I have had no trouble with them moving or the loader jumping up and over the front mount bracket.

Another thing I think a guy could do, the manual says not to but I don't understand why not, but it would be to flip the front mounting bracket around and you would move the post forward some. I seriously am thinking of doing that so that I have a tigh fit. But maybe before anyone doing that you should check with your dealer or if any dealer mechanics here could tell us if we could or not.

murph

 

[Mosey]

Anybody know what size socket I need for the big bolts that hold the hooks on? I tried 1 1/16" and it was too small so I tried 1 1/8" and it was too big. I went to Sears to get a 1 3/32" socket, but they don't have that size. Is it metric?

 

[DavidJ]

I don't know about yours but I just went out and double checked mine and there english. I even looked in the manual and it says that they're 3/4" bolts and to torque them to 270-324 ft lbs. I slipped a 1-1/8" socket on one and it fits perfectly.

Look at the head of the bolt and see if it has radial marks like follows or letters and numbers stamped on the head. If marks it's english, if numbers and letters it's metric. If it is metric it'll take a 28 mm socket.

 

[KrisHansen]

Rotating the posts looks like it would change the angle on the arms, wich would affect the angle of the rear vertical posts, which would be bad, as that would limit how far down the loader could go, and it doesn't go far enough as it is.

I think the best solution is to get the gaps as tight as possible, and weld the hook plates to the horizontal arms.

along these lines, I have batted around the idea of welding on some guides that would keep the front mount from moving side to side, which on my tractor, they do about 1/2" each direction.