3-Point Hitch Bent Telescopic Stabilizer using box blade

[Porchfan]

Bent the right telescopic stabilizer today on my 3pt hitch. Did not notice it until I was almost done for the day. I was ripping up some roots and leveling a road that runs the back of our property. I tilted the box blade to the left most of the day. This allowed me to cut into the high side incline. The road has never really been level. It is now- although I now have a bent stabilizer. Was wondering what caused the bend? Was the tilt the cause? Was the top link not adjusted correctly? Or did I just over do it. Some of those roots were brutal. The tractor did a great job. However, this was essentially the first job it's done. Below is a couple pictures of the stabilizers.

 

[jeff9366]

B2650 is a great tractor but at 2,300 pounds you were expecting too much from it.

Certainly pulling on a tilt increased the stress on the lower link.

If you have a good welding shop nearby it may be repairable.

 

[Porchfan]

The link is OK, it's the much lighter stabilizer. Yeah - Maybe so on the size. I have a loader with a QA 60 in bucket on the front. I was really workin' it today. It could have been when I was backing up with the rippers down in the dirt. Not sure. I'm pretty sure the stabilizers are meant to bend if you push it too much. The box blade I have is also 6in wider than recommended (54 vs 60). Weight it ok. (395lbs vs 500 limit). For now, I bent the stabilizer back in my vise. I can heat it up with my mig welder with a bead around the stress point, grid it off and then quench in oil. That's work in the past on other things like this. One thing I noticed is I had the left stabilizer pinned in the slot, and the right side in a fixed hole. The slots allow for a little sway in your implement. I probably should have had both fixed with a tilted box blade. Not sure if that put too much stress on the right side fixed position. With the box tilted to the left, I would have thought most of the stress was on that side. Anyway, when it gets light out, I'll post some pics of the road. I still have more work to do as well as put in a few drain pipes under it. Good news is most of the roots are gone now and I have good weather the next 4 days

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

Try to find some one with a press to straighten try not to heat it as this will weaken link.

 

[jeff9366]

Stabilizers are much weaker when the tractor is in reverse, pushing a Box Blade.

Fundamentally, tractorS are designed to PULL.

 

[PHILIP8N]

You did all this with turf tires? And most people say turfs are useless

In my experience, I have never bent a stabilizer pulling an implement. I have bent them by being over aggressive in reverse. Taking a 3000# tractor, backing up at speed, and dropping a blade into a snow bank, bent the stabilizer. My guess is that you did this while in reverse. Philip.

 

[Porchfan]

Yup - Turf tires. The wife convinced me to get those instead of R4. I have to drive through the yard to get to the back of our property. When you have the 4x4 engaged it can make a mess of grass even with turf tires. Also - the ground is not too wet and had some gravel on it. I had good traction most of the time. The road is also a little down hill when I had the box blade down. On the bent stabilizer - I'm almost convinced I did this going in reverse with the rippers down. No more of that. As a far as heat and strength on the steel - if I heat and quench it right, it can actually make it stronger. I'm not convince I want to do that (make it stronger). I suspect they are designed to bend. Better that than breaking an axle or something more expensive. Whether I do the steel conditioning correctly or not depends on how much I educate myself on that. Maybe a torch would be better than a bead of Mig Weld. I'll probably get a replacement anyway.

 

[jeff9366]

I believe you will shudder when told the cost of the factory replacement stabilizer.

With the old-style factory turnbuckles, they were only available as a pair.

 

[Porchfan]

Yeah...Probably so on the cost. Below is the stabilizer straightened and re-installed. I also added a few pics of the road. I need to cut a ditch on the high side today. No backing up this time. The road is less leveled than I thought after looking at these pics

 

[kcender]

Glad to see you got it fixed.As far as heat treating the steel,I wouldn't think it would have a high enough carbon content to allow any appreciable difference.

 

[s219]

It could have been when I was backing up with the rippers down in the dirt.

None of the 3-point hitch structure is designed for pushing/loading in reverse. You are lucky you didn't bend the lift arms, or something worse. The only time I go in reverse with my box blade on the ground is when the cutter edges are feathered such that it's not digging in, it's just smoothing.

Consider this a warning shot before the real damage has occurred! The 3-point structure is designed to be in tension. It has little to no capability to be in compression.

The box blade I have is also 6in wider than recommended (54 vs 60). Weight it ok. (395lbs vs 500 limit).

That won't help. The thing to realize with implements that are wider/larger than recommended is that you then need to go much easier with them because they are more capable of overloading the tractor or causing damage (or even leading to unsafe operating conditions). For example, if you upgrade to the 60" front loader bucket, it's called a "light materials" bucket since you can't load it full of dirt like you could the standard 54" bucket.

I see people on here asking about upsizing rear implements on small tractors all the time, and this is an example why it's a bad idea. I had a 50" box blade on my B2920, and it was a good size (big enough to stop the tractor dead when it filled with material). When moving up to the much larger/heavier L3200, I went with a 60" box blade, which has been a good size. Knowing what I know about the beefier L tractor and the bigger 60" box, I think would not put that box on a smaller B myself, unless you were only doing very light work.

 

[mswlogo]

Thanks for sharing and glad it was no too bad.

So in regard to comment above on tension.

I usually allow some slack so that implement can swing side to side a few inches.

I also do this because on some implements the pins on lower arms point inward towards each other.
If I tighten the lower arms have tension on the pins, which feels wrong.

 

[triptester]

The reason the stabilizer got bent is because of improper adjustment. When properly adjusted there should be no side to side movement. The links must be pulling on the lift arms at all times. The multiple holes allow for about 1/8 inch adjustment from hole to hole.

 

[Porchfan]

Thanks for the info s219. I'm pretty sure the only time I went in reverse with the rippers down was when I got stuck on a root that I could not rip nor lift off of. I suspect backing off the root did the bending. After straightening out the stabilizer, I went out back this morning and leveled the road some more. No issues nor bending this time. I'll check it closely each time I use it to see if there is more wear or bending. Triptester- On the no sway back and forth and adjustment. Below are the recommendations for different implements. - essentially no sway for a box blade and holes must be aligned. I know I had one of the hole in the slot and another in a fixed hole. That was not correct. At the time I was putting it on, I had a tough time lining each stabilizer up with each other... It's in there correctly now.

 

[ttriff]

None of the 3-point hitch structure is designed for pushing/loading in reverse. ........... Consider this a warning shot before the real damage has occurred! The 3-point structure is designed to be in tension. It has little to no capability to be in compression.

This may come as a bit of a surprise to all those running 3pt mounted PTO powered snowblowers

 

[motownbrowne]

This may come as a bit of a surprise to all those running 3pt mounted PTO powered snowblowers

With a snowblower, you're not pushing backward. You're just setting it on the ground and chomping snow as you drive backward. Totally different than pushing backwards with a box blade. A little compression is fine (snowblower, mowing backwards, etc). A lot of compression (box blade or back blade going backwards) not so good.

I actually bent one part of the turnbuckle that does the same job on my tractor recently. We have a 50" tiller. It's too narrow for the tractor, so we start at the bottom of the hill, and let it swing to cover the bottom tire track. It's a pretty light tiller, definitely under 600lbs, but apparently the six inches of swing was enough momentum to bend that piece. Lesson learned.

 

[s219]

This may come as a bit of a surprise to all those running 3pt mounted PTO powered snowblowers

I'm talking round-engaging implements here. Snowblower is fine.

 

[Porchfan]

So I spent another 3 hours out back this afternoon leveling the road some more after I fixed the stabilizer and set the hitch flat & plumb. I got both stabilizer pins in fixed holes opposite of each other. I then leveled the box left to right on my concrete driveway turning the adjustable lifting rod. When I measured on each end of the box the same distance I knew it was level. Then I adjusted the top link so the box was level with the ground from front to back. This worked real well and I had no issues cutting dirt and moving it around the road to make it more level. I have another 3 days to get this done. I need to make a ditch on the high side of the incline. I intended to use the box blade but now I'm not so sure. Anyway, here are some pics of the road and my tractor with the implement

 

[Grandad4]

Don't let your incident with the stabilizer put you off using the box blade on your B2650... it's one of the most useful tools available and your tractor is designed to handle it. You just need to install it and use it properly and carefully. I've been using a small box blade on our BX2230 - smaller than your tractor - for nine years and hundreds of hours with no problems and it works quite well for many tasks. I have even used it to remove potholes from a hard-packed gravel/dirt road with no ill effects. The small size makes it possible to make spot repairs in places the box blade for the big tractor would be tearing up the whole road. The advice about not pushing heavy loads in reverse and keeping the sway adjustment snug is spot on. Glad the stabilizer straightened out!

 

[Porchfan]

Thanks. I completely agree. For me, Rule number one should be to read the manual from start to finish. I guess I was a little too eager to push dirt around. Bottom line is the box blade did a great job. I suspect that and the tractor will continue to do so for a long time coming if used properly