Bucket Pins

[Farmerford]

The loader on my 8 year old small Kubota B2400 uses 1" pins and the bushings are not replaceable. I prefer to replace pins rather than weld on new boom ends when the bushings wear, so when it was new I replaced the steel pins with phosphor bronze pins (80,000 psi tensile strength). I did some rough stress calculations and it appeared that the bronze pins would be more than sufficient.

The loader has been used regularly for 8 years, and most of the use has been at or near capacity (about 800#, I think). I keep them greased with a yellow metal safe 5% moly grease. There has been minor wear on the pins, but no measurable wear on the bushings. The pins should serve for another 8 years at least.

I bought the phosphor bronze on line (McMaster Carr, I think), drilled a grease hole down the center from one end, tapped it for a 1/8 NPT grease zerk, and drilled a 1/16 cross hole to admit the grease to the bearing. It was expensive ($25 per pin ?), but worth it.

I bought a well used John Deere loader a few years ago that needed new boom ends because the prior owner had worn through the replaceable bushings and into the bushing sockets. I managed to weld new ends on and get them aligned without line boring, but I don't want that project again. So the extra cost of bronze pins for the small loader is worth it to me.

 

[Soundguy]

I guess residential use people don't like to re-bush too much then huh? Guess I'm on the other side of the fence looking at all this industrial equipment out in the yard. It's nothing to bang a bushing out and drive a ne wone in and repin if needed.. or if it is not bushed, then to bore out and bush back to original OD.. or bore out, weld in a sleave, and and then adda replaceable bushing back to ID.. or if an ID is egged, rebuild with welding, or bore and sleave and bush.

This is a pretty common 'mainteance' repair item kinda like replacing tires.. i had no idea residential machines were so uh.. um.. designed to not be repaired... pretty sad in my opinion.. cuz those things aren't cheap... still.. boring and bushing isn't that bad of a chore.. or at extremes.. welding a new end on... etc.

I think this problem stems from the 'disposable' mentality of society.. it is becoming more and more prevalent every day. Kinda funny that the big political mouth pieces are pushing for 'greener' and renewable items.. yet.. society is pushing for non-repairable-throw-away items.

I doubt tractors made today will have the same serviceable lifespan of tractors made 50-60ys ago.. IE.. an 8n parked under an oak tree with the engine swinging from a log chain, and a box of about 800-900$ worth of parts which will renew the engine, trans and rear end wear items.. and can be done with a 50 page manual, and common hand tools by a horse farmer... which, afterwards, will run like new for another 4-5 decades...

soundguy

 

[crashz]

I think it all depends on the type of equipment Soundguy.

My father owns an excavating company, and we have re-bushed and re-pinned many machines, but generally the loaders take the most abuse. These machines, even the relatively small ones like a Ford 555 TLB, are sooooo much more machine than my 770. They also are designed to work everyday, loading trucks and digging holes. The home owner or even hobby farmer will not be doing that on a regular basis.

So my little loader has a bit of wear, which isn't surprising since the PO used the bucket to plow the drive and wore through the bucket and cutting edge (holes!) and was once a heavy equipment operator himself. So I took the bucket off to have it rebuilt by a friend and checked the wear. Yep - slightly egg shaped holes. I would say bushings, but bushing assumes a replaceable wear item. These are mearly mild steel tubes welded into the ends of the loader arms. For an almost 20 year old loader, I can live with it. Just keep lots of grease in the joints.

So its gone 20 years and is still servicable. Yes a litlte slop in the joints, but certainly not bad. So with plenty of grease, I can see it going another 20 years.

 

[Egon]

I think maybe the old ford 8N would be far-far behind if it came down to comparing it to a modern tractor and the hours of work put on it.

Many do not have the privilege of looking out the window and seeing a couple million dollars of heavy equipment sitting around. We just got our little tractors and some like mine are just little toys! They don't see a duty cycle of 20 hours a day 7 days a week for weeks on end.

 

[jake98]

Egon,
I think 'bolts' is a great idea. Nylock nuts. The bottom pins/clips getting knocked out and twisting my loader is the fear here.
Thanks, Jake

 

[Soundguy]

I think maybe the old ford 8N would be far-far behind if it came down to comparing it to a modern tractor and the hours of work put on it.

Many do not have the privilege of looking out the window and seeing a couple million dollars of heavy equipment sitting around. We just got our little tractors and some like mine are just little toys! They don't see a duty cycle of 20 hours a day 7 days a week for weeks on end.

I'm not so sure an old tractor would come in last on hours worked / condition.

I've seen these old tractor with their proofmeters broke.. stopepd on 5thousand hours.. still kicking good. 5khrs is 'diesel' range hours nowadays...

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Crashz.. if it's a mild steel tube.. weld it up and then bore it out.. or weld a ne wone ont here and then no more slop...

soundguy

 

[Egon]

That's just what I did Jake. No problems since then.

As for the old tractors and hours 5000 hours on Cat equipment is barely broke in. A good 8n [ don't they have an l head ]would probably be on its second or third overhaul at those hours. There are still lots around but from the experiences of the location where I grew up they never did see many hours as they were too small for serious work and three point really wasn't that attractive for large fields.

Machining tools and steel quality control of today are much superior to the good old days. So are the seals etc. as more new material hit the market.

 

[Soundguy]

That's just what I did Jake. No problems since then.

As for the old tractors and hours 5000 hours on Cat equipment is barely broke in. A good 8n [ don't they have an l head ]would probably be on its second or third overhaul at those hours. There are still lots around but from the experiences of the location where I grew up they never did see many hours as they were too small for serious work and three point really wasn't that attractive for large fields.

Machining tools and steel quality control of today are much superior to the good old days. So are the seals etc. as more new material hit the market.

No arguments there.. but.. you can't compair gasser and diesel equipment straight up... If a gasser is getting the hours that a diesel normally gets.. that's a darn good gasser... Also hard to make a comparison to cut sized antique tractors, if there weren't many of that size in your area....

soundguy

 

[Egon]

Then I guess you can't compare the longevity of the old and the new tractors either. No common basis of comparison. Or???

Of course car engines would be no indication would they??

In my youth there were enough 8N's around to be able to formulate an opinion.

My Father had a small farm of 320 acres. An Allis Chalmers B handled this acreage for quite a few years. The neighbour had 180 Acre farm. He had an 8N . His required an overhaul about every four years. The Allis got one about every 8 years.

In comparison a WD9 looking after 640 acres got overhauled about every 8 years also.

In the locality in which I now live there are lots of 8N's. But on looking at the type of acreage they worked one quickly realizes they are not high hour machines!

One can like the old iron but if you be making a living it may be a pain!