Does my Float Mech. Have a mind of its own???

[Kubota-monkey]

Today I was scraping off a thin layer of ice, snow and god knows what else off the top of my drive. In order to not completely rip off the top dense grade on the driveway I set the loader to float (things are thawing around here) As a bigger and bigger pile began to accumulate in front of the bucket, The loader arms themselves would extend all the way down and push the front wheels off the ground. To my dismay the Float mechanism was not doing its job! The dense grade on the drive was slowly diminshing with each pass. Every time a decent size pile built up in the bucket, the loader would do the same thing again. Does anyone have any thoughts?

The Ben from MA /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[Bird]

It'll do the same thing in dirt, too. The float position is good for backdragging to smooth dirt with the leading edge of the bucket, and I suppose there are other uses for it, too, but if so, I haven't found them./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[SteveV]

Just for the fun of it, lets say the control is working for a moment. In the float position, only the weight of the bucket, or bucket and load, should be exerted on the ground. Something else is lifting the wheels. The loader frame is mounted to the center of the tractor, between the front and rear axles. If the bucket were chained down and the loader control asked for lift, the rear wheels would come off the ground. If the loader is pressed down, the front wheels lift. Now add forward motion to the mix. If you contact a tree (for example) with a slightly elevated bucket and use the float position, a forward motion of the tractor would raise the front wheels. The tractor pivots around the loader mounting point.
The easiest way around this is to use a level bucket to push the load and tilt (dump or rollback) to control the amount of dig.
All that said, sometimes the control gets stupid, especially if rapid dump gets involved. SteveV

 

[Thomas]

Kubota-monkey,
Try curling your bucket up a tad so it doesn't dig in and go slow,for frozen ice can shake up any equipment.

Sure could use some of that warm weather up here to deal w/the ice.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[LarryT]

I agree with Bird. Happens to me all the time, and I don't have snow here in SoCal. I continuously adjust the bucket tip to modulate the cutting edge up. About the only thing you can do. Otherwise, like Bird, I can't find much use for the float on the FEL. Float on the box blade is another issue. I use that all the time and it works well.

Larry...

 

[radman]

The float position on the hydraulic valve should do what it is designed to. Mine works like it should. I suspect you may be doing two things causing your problem. First, I suspect you probably have the bucket slightly tilted down instead of being flat or curled back slightly. The more tilted the more the loader wants to bite into the surface. Second, you state the front wheels begin to lift as the load/pile gets bigger. What maybe happening is the front end is being lifted because of the back wheels having good traction and as the weight in the bucket gets heavy and the bucket tipped down, the back wheels "pushes" the the front wheels up. Remember, the valve is in the float postion and thus the cylinders can be compressed allowing the rise of front end to give the appearance of a malfuntioning valve as the culprit. Hope this makes sense. I have used my bucket to push snow in the float position on cement and asphalt and I can see the loader rise and fall as it floats over the surface. The loader for me works well as long as I dont catch an edge with the lip of the bucket. (Hitting a curb also is not nice - ouch). Let me know if this might be your situation.

 

[cowboydoc]

I agree with Radman, mine works great for front end loader work. I have only done a little work with the 4600 John Deere which I know isn't the kubota and may be altogether different but it never digs in and goes right across the surface whether I'm leveling or pushing snow, dirt, gravel, etc. My skidsteer is the same deal. Set it on float and it's a road building machine for leveling and anything else. It's been a real timesaver for me getting things level and I've never had the problem with it digging in like that on the 4600 or the skidsteer.

 

[Charliebrn]

KubotaMonkey,
I'm new at all of this, but I had some time to play with my float valve during the last snows. I found that if I keep the lip of the scoop up just a bit everything worked great, but if i had it bite down i experienced the same problem you did.

 

[Kubota-monkey]

I suppose my problem arises in the simple fact that the loader cutting edge was biting too hard into the ground. LIke you guys said the back wheels would "push the front wheels up. Thanks alot for the helpful information/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The Ben from MA /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Float is for finish grading going backwards. You can get away with going forwards if the bucket's curled but it usually a pointless excercise.

Try this experiment...tie a stick to the front of your pants about crotch level, walk backwards...floats good! Now go forward with no down pressure from your hand. Hmm, not so good!

Same thing in reverse with a box scraper driving backwards.

In fact most loader leveling with these small tractors works better going backwards (until I get the closed circuit camera mounted to the top of the bucket so I can see what's going on up there!)

dig on

del