Goodbye M246, hello 7308!

Mosey · Oct 13, 2003

( I regularly use the FEL to relocate limestone and I do not have any weight on the back of my TC25D nor do I have loaded tires.)

Mike - Thanks for letting me know that. Hills make a big difference, so I won't try the "no weight" method on any hills, but for level ground and keeping the bucket low, it sounds reasonable for lighter loads.

Mosey · Oct 13, 2003

( Anyone look at the 7308 loader and compare it to a Woods loader? They sure look a lot alike!

No way my TC29 could do FEL work without some sort of ballast. Even my plow is not really enough, although that's what I use. )

have_blue - Looks can be deceiving! I made that mistake on the M246. It looked fine, but turned out to be a mistake.

What is your definition of "FEL work"? If you mean loading and lifting full buckets of dirt, sand, or other heavy material, then I would agree that ballast is needed.

Mosey · Oct 13, 2003

( Interesting. I wonder if it's a case of different people having a different tolerance for using the FEL w/o ballast.)

Mike - I think it depends on the person's definition of "FEL work".

Mosey · Oct 13, 2003

"Now that you are the newest owner of a 7308 loader why don't you let us all know if you can lift up your front tires with using just down pressure and not curling the bucket? Maybe you would be interested in getting the gauge sent to you to check your pressure."

Spence - I have been following that thread. My 7308 can not lift the front tires off the ground without curling the bucket. I did not have the brakes locked, so the rear wheels could roll. That's with no ballast on the 3pt. I'll try it again with ballast on the 3pt and see what happens. I need to get on the list to check the pressure.

PS: I just read the other thread more carefully and I did not have the RPMs up to 2600, so I'll have to try it again and report back.

Bob_Skurka · Oct 13, 2003

You cannot have too much weight on the back end with a loader on the front.

I posted a story in another thread about some work I was doing with large granite cobbles (10 to 50 pound stones) using the Kubota B2910 without the backhoe attached to the rear end. I figured the job was pretty small, I did NOT bother to put a box blade on the hitch. The rears are NOT loaded, there are NO wheel weights, but I do have about 300 pounds of cast iron attached to the lower frame. I was moving the stones to a ditch, I was working on a paved roadway and picked up a load of stone, but it was off center, all the stones were in the right side of the bucket. And the roadway was slightly sloped to the right. The left side of the tractor lifted up, I had my hand on the bucket controls and dropped it fast enough to get the tractor back on all 4 wheels. But . . . after the puckering in my shorts subsided I was a lot more careful and worked a lot slower. And I still don't have the backhoe reconnected, but I also have not used that FEL on anything else.

Normally the backhoe is attached so weight is a non-issue for me. But I think I may throw a set of EZ Weights on the rear wheels and pick up 250 to 300 pounds just for the heck of it. I put them on the frond end of my NH TC24D and love the way they work, they are easy on and easy off, the weight sizes are manageable (25# per disk) so you don't kill yourself if you need to remove the weights.

Anyway, if I was you, I'd add some weight to the wheels. Fill the tires if you can. Add factory or EZ Weights. And hooking up a box blade is a good idea for ballast too.

billfires · Oct 13, 2003

Mosey, PM me with your address and I will ship the pressure gauge to you. Bill C

Mosey · Oct 13, 2003

I sent my address to Bill via PM. I'll post the results on the "NH 7308 Loader Owners" thread.

Mosey · Oct 20, 2003

I went to the Expo in Louisville yesterday and talked to the rep at New Holland. The new Class II Boomers are due out in the 3rd week of Nov 2003 and will have the 14LA loader. The 14LA will NOT mount onto the older Class II Boomers because the front axle is too weak to handle the extra lift capacity, which is 1200lbs. The front axle of the new tractors has been beefed up. I walked by the Bush Hog display, but they didn't have any loaders there, just ZTR type mowers was all they had on display.