FEL bent....

[fred98050]

My Bx24 has about 600 hrs and I have been using the FEL 80% of the time vs 20% for the backhoe.

Today I have noticed that the bottom right side of the fel bucket is wearing out faster than the left side. Puzzled by this discovery I investigated further and found out that the right vertical bracket sitting on the frame (near deck) is a bit loose. For instance when lifting the bucket all the way to the upper position the left bracket would stay perfectly still however the right bracket would move about a quarter of an inch backwards just before the bucket reaches its highest point....

Don't know if this makes sense... But basically the right arm is a bit lower than the left until it is raise to its maximum height.

I am on my way to my local dealer tomorrow but I was wondering if anyone else have noticed this problem on their BX24?

Thank you.
(I'll try to post a small video tomorrow)


Fred

BX24 2.5 years old
mostly move gravel, sand, dirt, fire wood and snow. Never tried to lift anything heavier than a load of gravel.
Frame does not seem bent, tire pressure is good, never hit anything hard.

 

[dodge man]

I don't know if this is your problem or not, but when I first put a loader on my BX2350, I didn't know what I was doing. When I first drove into the loader and installed it, I got the pins in, but the loader wasn't seated down in the brackets. The back end of the loader would pivot on the pins and it worked pretty lousy. After I figured out what was wrong it was pretty obvious, and it seemed almost impossible to install it the wrong way, but I manged to. Is there any chance you don't have one side seated all the way in the bracket on the tractor?

 

[fred98050]

Dodge Man,

Thanks for the reply.

I would not be surprised that I might have messed up that too but by looking at it, it looks like it is sitting correctly. It is on a trailer right now, ready to go to the dealer first thing tomorrow, so I can't take the loader off tonight and check it.

Looks to me like there is some play somewhere in the bracket.

Now that yours is sitting correctly, do you see any (left or right ) brackets moving forward or backward when operating the loader?

Thanks again.

Fred

 

[dodge man]

Now that I have mine installed correctly, they don't move, but they did when I had it installed wrong. It wasn't really obvious either when I had it installed wrong, but the brackets on the back of the loader arms really flopped around when using it. I also noticed the bucket would not sit on the ground level. Good luck.

 

[radioman]

no problems with mine. it seems to be square the whole time i owned it. keep us posted on what you find.

 

[fred98050]

I will. I'll also post some pix.

Fred

 

[Charliebrn]

Heres one way to straighten it out: First: Air up the tires to the proper inflation...especially important that the two rear are exactly the same. Then drive to nice, flat concrete and loosen the FEL bracket bolts at the tractor frame slightly, not much, but enought the frame can move a bit. Then put a little down pressure on the FEL...not a lot, but enough to move the frame snug against the bolts. Retorque all the bolts to proper torque.

 

[kevinj]

Heres one way to straighten it out: First: Air up the tires to the proper inflation...especially important that the two rear are exactly the same. Then drive to nice, flat concrete and loosen the FEL bracket bolts at the tractor frame slightly, not much, but enought the frame can move a bit. Then put a little down pressure on the FEL...not a lot, but enough to move the frame snug against the bolts. Retorque all the bolts to proper torque.

Darn....................that is pretty much what the manual says

 

[PILOON]

Had similar problem.
Probably because I always load left side more than right side due to visibility issues when working up close.

Also found loose bolts that had worn the holes oval.
Because torqueing still was not sufficient, being lazy, I tack welded the frame componants at that point.
The real proper repair (I know) would be to bore out oversize to next bolt size to take up the slop and good torque wrench.

Don't blame the factory as INMHO that is a maintainance issue.

 

[fred98050]

Piloon,

That is exactly what the problem is.....

Loose bolt made the holes oval which rendered the right fel bracket loose over time.

I will try to bore out the next size bolt and see if this work.

The bx is at my local dealership for the weekend (new seat), I'll try to solve the problem next week.

Thanks again for all the info.

Fred

 

[dqdave1]

If it is at dealer, why not have them adjust/repair the FEL.

 

[bx24]

I ultimately found that one of my brackets was not torqued down properly (I noticed the frame flexing). I am ready to blame quality control at the factory. I have caught and corrected many "quality control in assembly" issues.

The list includes:

- a lot of "less than adequately torqued" bolts
- many many hydraulic couplings not tightened enough
- loose zirk fittings (to the point where they fall out when you remove the grease gun)
- I have 2 of the bolts that retain the pins in the FEL come loose and drop out

None of this is a real big deal, but it tells me that quality control could be better. I am not as fussy as the person in the other thread about the paint or the look of the welds (so long as they perform), but this nickel and dime stuff is irritating.

The problem with the zirk fittings just happened yesterday. I would recommend that you all check that those are tight. I found that using the handle and "socket" from one of those 4 way screwdrivers is the right size to fit over the zirk

My machine has about 300 hrs on it

 

[kevinj]

I ultimately found that one of my brackets was not torqued down properly (I noticed the frame flexing). I am ready to blame quality control at the factory. I have caught and corrected many "quality control in assembly" issues.

The list includes:

- a lot of "less than adequately torqued" bolts
- many many hydraulic couplings not tightened enough
- loose zirk fittings (to the point where they fall out when you remove the grease gun)
- I have 2 of the bolts that retain the pins in the FEL come loose and drop out

I do not know how old your machine is but I do believe that the loaders are dealer installed. The manuals also list a specific number of hours to retouque the bolts. This is for wheels, loaders, etc. Was this done? The pin retainers should have self locking nuts or maybe the pins got dry and they sheared rather than the nuts falling off. The zerks have loosened on mine but again these are worked every grease job and is another maintenance item. I have not had any issues with the couplings leaking except for a dealer installed item.

 

[fred98050]

Yes the BX is at the dealership for the moment and I will have them look at it and see what they can do about the FEL.

Ever since the tractor has been delivered new 2.5 years ago I have use the dealer to do the 100/300/500 hrs maintenance. All of the oil changes, greasing etc I did by myself.

Don't know if part of the inspection is to retorque the bolts (I'll have to check when I get back home) but I have to admit that I never did it on my own.

This is no big deal I am sure that it can be fixed. I was just a bit puzzled by what happen.

I guess when I get the bx back I will go trough all of bolts, zirks, hoses fittings etc... I was under the impression that the dealer would check those when the machine was down for maintenance.

Fred

 

[kevinj]

I was under the impression that the dealer would check those when the machine was down for maintenance.

Fred

If you are paying the dealer then he should service it as per the operators manual. Issues like this are why many of us perform our own service.

 

[fred98050]

Kevinj,

I hear you and from now on I will service my machine as much as I can.


Fred

 

[fred98050]

Quick update!

So the BX is back home now. The dealer looked at the FEL and determined that nothing was bent per say. The pins holding the arms of the FEL have some play (the right side more so than the left) causing the FEL to be a bit slanted to the right and therefore wearing the right side of the bucket a bit faster than the left.

This is not a warranty issue (according to the dealer).

I suspect that the bolts holding the brackets support needed to be re-torqued more often than the regular inspection interval. The play at the bolt level allowed the pins to move over time which created the problem. So IMHO if you have a BX24 and if you are using the FEL for gravel, dirt etc.. You might want to check those bolts as often as you can to avoid any premature wear.

I am going to fix the problem at my expense and keep you posted if I encountered any more issues.

I wanted to thank every body here for your suggestions and help, this forum is an extremely valuable source of knowledge for guys like me.

Fred

 

[radioman]

glad you got your baby errrrr bx back . how are you planning to fix the loose pin ?

 

[kevinj]

Quick update!

So the BX is back home now. The dealer looked at the FEL and determined that nothing was bent per say. The pins holding the arms of the FEL have some play (the right side more so than the left) causing the FEL to be a bit slanted to the right and therefore wearing the right side of the bucket a bit faster than the left.

This is not a warranty issue (according to the dealer).

I suspect that the bolts holding the brackets support needed to be re-torqued more often than the regular inspection interval. The play at the bolt level allowed the pins to move over time which created the problem. So IMHO if you have a BX24 and if you are using the FEL for gravel, dirt etc.. You might want to check those bolts as often as you can to avoid any premature wear.

I am going to fix the problem at my expense and keep you posted if I encountered any more issues.

I wanted to thank every body here for your suggestions and help, this forum is an extremely valuable source of knowledge for guys like me.

Fred

Once you have everything properly aligned, torqued and retorqued it will remain tight and not need to done every eight hours. Which pins are you refering to as loose????

Follow the procedure in the loader manual to square it to the frame and your problem will probably go away.

 

[actionaj]

After reading this post I think I will make it a point to check the torque on my loader. Never really gave it much thought before. I guess the torque specs. are in the loader manual.