Customized brush guard kioti dk 4720 se

[oosik]

Very nice and clean. Mine is similar to yours. View attachment 678164. I read several posts like yours Nb707 and had the OEM guard modified prior to the grapple being installed.

 

[OldPaint]

Welding and drilling all you need is about a 10 foot 1 x 1/8 angle iron plus expandable metal from Home Depot the cost for both of them are about Just under $50. Plus I added 1 x 1/8 trim around the back just to make it look nice and add more strength. But I must warn anybody who wants to do this. Drilling into the OEM grill guard was a ***** with a handheld drill. I had a very good Dewalt 18 V drill with brand new cobalt blades and it took me an hour to drill one hole youæ±*e gonna need to drill about six holes. I said forget that and I end up buying at Home Depot a cheap drill press 169..oo bucks but what a difference that made, completely surprised how easy it was to drill with the drill press I use three different drill sizes starting with a pilot hole and it went through like butter. I have never built anything like this I知 not a machinist this took me a long time but I took my time lotta measuring and a lot of figuring out. But it turned out great.

You must have grabbed a dull drill at first, albeit, the drill press will give you some mechanical advantage. The top of my bucket where I put my grab hooks is pretty thick, but I made short work of that with a Milwaukee 18V drill. I do have the big XC batteries though. Just because a drill says cobalt on the package, doesn't make it the best or sharpest bit. Don't EVER buy drill bits or blades from Harbor Freight and expect anything resembling good service from them. You're better off getting good bits, even though they cost a lot more. A small enough pilot bit will break quite easily with a hand-held drill and too much pressure. I made 1/2" holes in 4 steps (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2). The biggest challenge was keeping the 1/2 inch bit from stalling my drill, so changed the chuck speed to 1 for slower speed higher torque. I'm just glad you didn't break a bit off in the OE frame. That's pretty mild steel in that frame. It's actually designed to bend and not break. I already have a drill press, though, so I can bring the guard to it easy enough. A little harder holding the bucket up, though.

Nonetheless, as all have pointed out, very nice job, especially considering your self-proclaimed novice skills. Your brush guard frame is quite similar to my Kubota's, but my Kubota guard has a few more cross bars in it. Still not enough to prevent a big stick from poking through the plastic grill and taking out a radiator or oil cooler. What you did should be plenty strong, depending on what size bolts you used to mount it. The best part is that it's easily replaceable if a stick does bend it and make it ugly. I'm thinking more along the lines of tapping the holes I drill in the guard which would leave me with no bolt heads sticking out if I choose the right length bolt. I'll have to get some metric taps, though. I'd rather keep everything on the 'bota metric if I can. I even like the contrast of the black on the orange. Looks great, and should do the intended job quite well. Now you're gonna have to put in the ROPS mounted lights because that screen is gonna kill your night vision from your headlights. As if the FEL doesn't get in the way, though .....