Grille Guard, hinged, loader frame mounted

[OkieG]

Hello my friends on TBN,

Here, for your viewing pleasure(?), is another variation on the venerable Grille Guard. There is no reasonable accomodation for mounting a grille guard on my tractor itself, but the loader frame has holes strategically drilled, as if meant for one.

I must tell you that, originally, this thread was going to be posted in October. The very day I was going to post, Northcreek posted his masterpiece /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif DIY grille guard</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif. (The tongues are hanging out, drooling with envy.) I was so awestruck that I decided not to subject my DIY project to comparative scrutiny with his excellent piece. Well, I've mostly gotten over it /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif, mostly /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif, so here goes. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[OkieG]

Here is another view that better illustrates the problems with a grille guard mounted on the loader frame (at least my loader frame).

You can see that the guard is close to the grille (that's good), but when unmounting the loader, the bottom of the guard hits the top of the front bumper (not so good). Also, the hood moves forward as it's lifted (to refuel, etc.) and hits the guard before it's high enough to access anything underneath. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, to keep from completely removing the guard every time the loader comes off or every time the tractor needs fuel, I hinged it in the middle. I used old gate hinges. You can see 'em there in the picture if you look close.

 

[OkieG]

The lower half of the guard is up, for unmounting the loader. Now there is plenty of clearance to miss the front bumper.

 

[OkieG]

Here, the top is lowered to allow access under the hood.

 

[OkieG]

The previous picture shows the two halves held together with a couple "hairpins" and a short piece of light chain. When not in use, the pins and chain are kept behind the top half of the guard. No stray branch has grabbed 'em yet.

 

[OkieG]

The bottom half of the guard swings on the hinges when not held firmly in place. A couple of "T" bolts fasten the halves together, so the bottom doesn't just swing all the time. With the "T" bolts in place, the two halves are a pretty solid unit. The "T" bolts fit through holes in the top half and thread into nuts welded to the bottom half.

 

[Bird]

By Golly, ain't nuthin' to be ashamed of there./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Nice job.

 

[OkieG]

The top half is held upright by two bolts (actually one bolt and one pin) on each side which slip through the factory holes in the loader frame. The bottom bolt on each side has a lock nut that allows the guard to pivot forward when the pins above them are removed. The pins are held in place by another set of "hairpins".

All in all, manuevering the grille guard around is not too difficult. Hope you enjoy!

OkieG

 

[beenthere]

Looks great, and I really like the "nut" idea on the top center of the bucket. Nothing to be ashamed of with this guard design. It should be a lot more effective than the 4000 series because it is much more enclosed for protection.

My work buddy just told me he punched a stub through his radiator yesterday, and now has to repair the radiator in zero weather because someday this winter we might get snow. Yep, hardly know what that is with essentially none yet this winter.

 

[beenthere]

Appears the bolt with the locknut is a little short, and doesn't reach the locking part of the nut. Picture may be decieving.

Great job. The one picture with the bottom half lifted sure shows how exposed that grill work is when doing loader work.