In April I got a Takeuchi TL8R2 track loader to supplement the Kioti RX7320. Being on 60 acres there are a ton of varied tasks and the Tak has been a great fit. Of course the first thing I did was to back it into a tree. Always good to get the first ding out of the way so ya don't have to worry about it anymore. Obviously I was gonna have to learn to drive or get a bumper of some kind.
After casting about online I found a company that sells what I was looking for but the price was gonna be be between 3 and 4 grand. Found all the pictures I could online, measured on the machine and used the results to produce a 3D drawing in Google Sketchup. Sketchup has some strengths that recommend it for a consumer CAD product. One is that it is free for a home user. Another is that it calculates the necessary angles for the cuts.
Decided to go with 3" 1/4 wall square tube. The bumper had to swing out to enable access to the back of the machine so one side had to hinge. After making the cuts I tacked some metal pieces to the welding table for a jig.
Took a little trimming and fussing to get the hinge system worked out just right.
Added a Horrible Freight Badlands 12.5 k winch for $349 (since on sale for $299, sigh). Et. voila, one CTL bumper.
This gives me right at 300 lbs. on the back where I needed it. I have a RUT brush cutter that clocks in at 2300 lbs on the front a lot of the time. The winch has already popped me out of big stuckness like a Champaigne cork.
Price of the build, metal, hardware and winch was right at $730.
The End
After casting about online I found a company that sells what I was looking for but the price was gonna be be between 3 and 4 grand. Found all the pictures I could online, measured on the machine and used the results to produce a 3D drawing in Google Sketchup. Sketchup has some strengths that recommend it for a consumer CAD product. One is that it is free for a home user. Another is that it calculates the necessary angles for the cuts.
Decided to go with 3" 1/4 wall square tube. The bumper had to swing out to enable access to the back of the machine so one side had to hinge. After making the cuts I tacked some metal pieces to the welding table for a jig.
Took a little trimming and fussing to get the hinge system worked out just right.
Added a Horrible Freight Badlands 12.5 k winch for $349 (since on sale for $299, sigh). Et. voila, one CTL bumper.
This gives me right at 300 lbs. on the back where I needed it. I have a RUT brush cutter that clocks in at 2300 lbs on the front a lot of the time. The winch has already popped me out of big stuckness like a Champaigne cork.
Price of the build, metal, hardware and winch was right at $730.
The End
