bucket level indicator

[ljjhouser]

Yep, have it and use it most times. It is low cost attachment and a good indicator. And you can set it where you want.

 

[ruffdog]

Good points everyone is making. I decided to forge ahead and design & make them. I hope to keep the costs down and add another “level” feature so you could choose between a level relative to the ground and a level relative to the tractor. It’ll be hardwired too. Just a matter of finding indicator lights that’s bright enough in daylight.

Maybe instead of using an angle sensor, a proximity sensor (part present switch) with a remote led light would be cheaper and more durable. We used proximity sensors in a factory setting all the time and they handled weld slag and shock loads. Brackets and something to detect would be needed.

 

[LD1]

Maybe instead of using an angle sensor, a proximity sensor with a remote led light would be cheaper and more durable. We used proximity sensors in a factory setting all the time and they handled weld slag and shock loads. Brackets and something to detect would be needed.

That would work good for detecting the bucket in only one position....level when on ground ideally.

But don't solve how to tell if a bucket (of forks) are level at various heights

 

[Cattleguard]

Do any of you guys use that thing?
I got one on my tractor but it seems to be kind of unhelpful. I think I do better just looking at the load.

Up until now, I thought the one on my tractor was a gadget I would ignore and simply learn to do it by “eye”
After reading all the answers here I will be adjusting it and USING it! And…remembering ALL the times I screwed everything up because I wasn’t using it.
Thank you all. Ya live and learn!

 

[SmallChange]

These are what I use

Hey, repete, can I beg you to explain what I'm looking at here? Is it just a label on a right angle bracket on the top of your bucket? How does that indicate bucket level? What happens differently between slight dump and slight curl positions?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Another vote for VERY useful reference tool. Mine is pretty darn accurate and takes most of the guess work out of using the bucket.

 

[Otgaugres]

I was on my 3rd compact tractor before really ever using my bucket level indicator. I modified mine in my 4066R and put a bend in the rod so that when adjusted correctly falls into then guide rod bracket when the bucket is level. Easier to see than describe. (Pic attached). Kudos to those that can do a really good job of grading with a tractor, especially a newer one. It’s hard, especially when compared to doing the same with a compact track loader. You absolutely cannot see anything on my 4066R. You need some point of reference to know when the bucket is level.

 

[repete]

Hey, repete, can I beg you to explain what I'm looking at here? Is it just a label on a right angle bracket on the top of your bucket? How does that indicate bucket level? What happens differently between slight dump and slight curl positions?

The top of the angle bracket is parallel with the bottom of the bucket. No matter the height you raise the loader arms the bracket is still reflective of the levelness of the bucket. The rods to me only indicate level if the bucket is on the ground.

When I remove items off say a shelf located 4' off the ground then the rod becomes ineffective, yet the angle bracket is still in reference to the bottom of the bucket. If the angle bracket top is on the same plane as the ground your bucket is level. To test this, if you use the rod set the loader flat on the ground and see where the rod is indicated. Now raise the loader 4' and see where the rod is when your loader is again adjusted to be parallel to the ground.

This is sort of a "to each his own" thing but I just find the visual level bracket always accurate regardless of the loader arm position. My method simply works for me and there is no right or wrong thing.

On our fire department ladder trucks with baskets we used what was referred to as a pendulum switch to control a hydraulic valve. The pendulum, mounted in the basket, always wanted to be level so it would move fluid to the basket hydraulic cylinders to constantly level the basket regardless of the steepness of the ladder. The pendulum was contained in an oil filled chamber to "slow" the adjustment in event of unanticipated basket movement.

 

[WranglerX]

After seeing some of the pictures of "factory" bucket level indicators its obvious some of the person engineering them has never been on a tractor or used one....

IF one has to know exactly the angle of bucket is in relation to plane of tractor, this one is interesting...

Bucket level indicator rod---useful?

I have had several over the years and used them all. Some seem to be better than others. I think it is in how the linkage is set up. It is best to have maximum swing in the linkage at or near the level position. The one on my new Branson doesn't seem to be as accurate or repeatable as...

www.tractorbynet.com

Might be my winter project when its to nasty to go outside of shop...

 

[SmallChange]

Now, this is interesting. Repete describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to gravity, and DL Meisen describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to the wheelbase of the tractor. And there are reasons why one might want one or the other.

Mostly, I've wanted an indicator to help judge whether the bucket edge will slide right under things, or bite in and try to tear up the ground, or ride up over things. So, I want a relative to wheelbase indicator.

 

[repete]

Now, this is interesting. Repete describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to gravity, and DL Meisen describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to the wheelbase of the tractor. And there are reasons why one might want one or the other.

Mostly, I've wanted an indicator to help judge whether the bucket edge will slide right under things, or bite in and try to tear up the ground, or ride up over things. So, I want a relative to wheelbase indicator.

I wanted an indicator that showed level even if I was on a hill. If the indicator is in relation to the tractor wheels, and calibrated when on level surface how would you know where level is if you were going up or down a hill with something on forks?

 

[Aquamoose]

Maybe instead of using an angle sensor, a proximity sensor (part present switch) with a remote led light would be cheaper and more durable. We used proximity sensors in a factory setting all the time and they handled weld slag and shock loads. Brackets and something to detect would be needed.

Forgive me but I can’t see how that can work. Can you please explain?

 

[ruffdog]

Forgive me but I can’t see how that can work. Can you please explain?

Most of the rod and tube level mechanisms only tell you the relation between the loader arm and bucket. If a proximity sensor and target (with brackets) was set up near the bucket/arm pivot, a single light near the operator could light at "bucket level". Edit...more:

Position Control Options for Scissors Lifts | Advance Lifts

 

[Aquamoose]

Oh I get it now. Thank you. The flaw with this is one indicator. I believe having 5 helps the operator zero in.

 

[WranglerX]

Now, this is interesting. Repete describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to gravity, and DL Meisen describes an indicator for the angle of the bucket relative to the wheelbase of the tractor. And there are reasons why one might want one or the other.

Mostly, I've wanted an indicator to help judge whether the bucket edge will slide right under things, or bite in and try to tear up the ground, or ride up over things. So, I want a relative to wheelbase indicator.

Well there is this..... But might want to read whole thread

Dumb questions that deserve good answers.

Yes...Angle relationship of bucket to ground tractor is setting on with bucket full down as in float... A lot of discussion here is trying to make it something it is not... Lot of misinterpretation of the meaning of level...... In all three instances above bucket is "level" to tractor...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[mkendrix]

Here’s a wild idea. I’m an electronic engineer and it just came to me as an idea which I’d like your feedback on…

A battery operated two-part device connected via cable and is a bucket level indicator with colored LED lights on a second device mounted on the loader arms (or near the operator station) showing the current level via 5 LEDs arrayed vertically. Center could indicate 0° while others read 2°, -2°, 5°, -5° on either side.

It would sleep when motionless, awaken when moved to preserve battery life, could be dampened so the electronic “pendulum” wouldn’t swing wildly, and very simple to use.

Is this worth pursuing?

I would keep it separate battery, mounting display on loader arms. When you take loader off, there would be no loose wires. I’m a glutton for electronics that make a job easier. Let’s see it when you’re finished. I’ll buy one.

 

[SmallChange]

Here’s a wild idea. I’m an electronic engineer and it just came to me as an idea which I’d like your feedback on…

[...]

Is this worth pursuing?

Not to rain on your parade, here, but you asked for my feedback. The way I'm looking at this is that it's like the ordinary bucket level indicator, only prone to breakage, and it has a battery I'm supposed to maintain.

You could improve it by wiring it to the tractor 12V, in which case it's like an ordinary bucket level indicator, only prone to breakage, and it has a plug I'm supposed to remember to unplug when removing the loader.

One thing I like about my tractor is that so much of the design is mechanical, and made of parts I'm not likely to bend by accident. There are not many little bits hanging off of it here and there trying to get torn. Much of the "user interface" on my tractor is easy enough to understand, just by looking at it, that it is not immediately obvious that there is a user interface. The first time I ever noticed a bucket level indicator, it was a long rod passing through an eyebolt, the rod having a kink in it that rested right in the eyebolt when the bucket was level. I didn't have a loader yet, myself, and had never operated one. It took me a few seconds of looking at this parked tractor before it dawned on me what the indicator was, and why it might be necessary, it never having occurred to me before that the operator can't see the bucket edge. But it did dawn on me, pretty quickly, and it pleased me. I think there's a kind of tractor aesthetic that works exactly this way. It's a sort of mechanical resourcefulness. It's like you telling me a joke, and I get it, and we both laugh in pleasure because we share that clever instant.

There's a tendency in electronics to make things too feature rich and too breaky. The electronic world keeps reinventing itself too rapidly. In my work, I do a lot of computational fluid dynamics, and it's not unusual for me to run jobs on the high performance compute cluster that take, for example, 100 hours to solve on 40 processors in parallel. If computers got 1000 times faster, I'd still be running off for a bio break or to check whether the mail came, running that calculation in just 6 minutes. So, yeah, I'd love to see computer speed improve a whole lot. Let's reinvent that. Let's not reinvent these bucket level indicators that require no instruction to use, and no batteries, and at least on my machine are sturdy enough I don't think I could break it even if I worked it over with a claw hammer.

You know what was pretty neat? People figuring out that, using colons and parentheses and the 8 numeral and semicolons and so forth, they could type what you could interpret as little faces if you looked at them sideways. That's clever, pleasingly clever. You know what wasn't neat at all? Somebody deciding to scan text for these character strings and substitute little inline graphics. It replaced pleasant cleverness with hamhandedness.

Instead, why not go invent a nonvolatile timer that rezeros itself whenever the oil filter is spun off?

 

[lc12]

I use mine all the time for bucket, grapple, front mount sickle saw.
Works well with keeping forks level too.

 

[RalphVa]

Do any of you guys use that thing?
I got one on my tractor but it seems to be kind of unhelpful. I think I do better just looking at the load.

Use it all the time. VERY helpful.

 

[Aquamoose]

Not to rain on your parade, here, but you asked for my feedback. The way I'm looking at this is that it's like the ordinary bucket level indicator, only prone to breakage, and it has a battery I'm supposed to maintain.

You could improve it by wiring it to the tractor 12V, in which case it's like an ordinary bucket level indicator, only prone to breakage, and it has a plug I'm supposed to remember to unplug when removing the loader.

Noted, I’m already planning on a hardwired version based on earlier feedback from others. It’ll have a disconnect plug.

One thing I like about my tractor is that so much of the design is mechanical, and made of parts I'm not likely to bend by accident. There are not many little bits hanging off of it here and there trying to get torn. Much of the "user interface" on my tractor is easy enough to understand, just by looking at it, that it is not immediately obvious that there is a user interface. The first time I ever noticed a bucket level indicator, it was a long rod passing through an eyebolt, the rod having a kink in it that rested right in the eyebolt when the bucket was level.

Mine has that too! Unfortunately it only works with just the bucket, at ground level. Forks, grapple, tree puller, and blades often have different “level” positions.

There's a tendency in electronics to make things too feature rich and too breaky. The electronic world keeps reinventing itself too rapidly.

Like the hand cranked vs power windows? Agreed, but we’re just old & spoiled.

Let's not reinvent these bucket level indicators that require no instruction to use, and no batteries, and at least on my machine are sturdy enough I don't think I could break it even if I worked it over with a claw hammer.

One of my best selling product can be placed in the engine compartment and be subjected to harsh brine environments in -40° or in 180° desert temperatures. It’s going to be made right here in USA. It’ll also be simple enough, one switch to toggle between two level settings (relative to chassis & relative to gravity) and a second button to zero the unit.

Instead, why not go invent a nonvolatile timer that rezeros itself whenever the oil filter is spun off?

If there is a demand, I’d happily fulfill it!