L4310 Enhancements

[gordon]

Ok let me get this straight then--if its not hst its not for me!!! Not bad for a hard head--me that is./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Its hard to believe those tires have an R-4 rating with a tread like that!
Gordon

 

[MChalkley]

Gordon - I looked at tires a long time trying to find my idea of the "perfect" tire. When I first saw them in the Michelin Data Book, I immediately went out and found a dealer that stocked them just so I could look at them to be sure the picture in the book was right. I couldn't believe it. It was like I'd called a tire company and said "Ok, guys, this is what I want." And they said "Ok, no problem." (Except cash, of course.) But it doesn't often seem to happen that I find exactly what I'm looking for. And tires are very, very hard to re-engineer. At least I suspect so - I've never tried it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And I have to say that I've been absolutely 100% thrilled with them.

Mark

 

[Richard]

Mark,

1. After looking at your photos... is the mounting system on your Bradco analagous to Kubota's 4 point system on the L-35/B-21?

2. Am I correctly inferring that Richh is having problems with "your" tires mounted on his L4610 interfearing with his loader?

3. Is there any way that you can add a spacer to widen the stance of the tires? Any known reason why you wouldn't or shouldn't?

Thanks
Richard

 

[MChalkley]

Richard,

1) Roughly. There is a very important difference (to me) between them, though. With the Bradco mount, I don't have to remove anything from the tractor to put the backhoe on. Just swing the side links in toward center, let the top link dangle, rock and roll.

2) Correct. RichH is having trouble mounting "my" tires (specifically, a set identical to mine /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif and more specifically, just the front ones) because the loader subframe on the L4610 doesn't offer the same clearances as the one on my L4310. It's certainly not insurmountable, but it's a pain. I went through a couple different sets of wheels before I found ones that work properly. Too little offset, and the inside of the wheels or tires hit something on hard turns, usually the tie rods or loader hoses; too much, and they hit something else, usually the loader subframe.

3) Yes, you can widen the stance of the wheels. I've seen companies that sell spacer rings, though where sort of escapes me at the moment. You do have to be careful, though. Too much and you'll have trouble with the longer bolts. Also, the hubs take more stress when you widen the stance. It's not likely that you'd widen it enough to hurt anything but the possibility is there, especially with the front tires, when using a loader.

Mark

 

[MChalkley]

It looks like Monday will be a tractor work-day! After almost two weeks of having to deal with important stuff, I'm having withdrawal pains. My plans are to install the oil and coolant temp gauges and all of the lights if possible, but I doubt I'll get that far. We'll see.

The extra dipstick came in, so I can attach the sensor to it without fear of incapacitating the tractor if something goes wrong. But I have this feeling that I've missed something. I hate that...

Mark

 

[MChalkley]

Well, between yesterday and today, everything is done except some of the final touches on the wiring for the combination alarm/fuel shutoff security circuit.

We used JB-Weld (the gauge manufacturer's suggestion) to attach one of the temp sensors to the dipstick, and fiberglass cloth tape to attach the other one to the water outlet on the block. I'll post the temperature results for the three sensors (HST oil, engine oil, and engine water) after a few minutes of idling a little later.

We made 5 sets of brackets up for the 2 front traps, 2 rear traps, and 1 rear flood, then mounted the lights and wired them. We decided to mount them so the bottom of the lights is about level with the lower edge of the canopy. I'll post some pictures of them, too, if anyone is interested. There's nothing too special about lights, but if anyone wants to see details of the brackets, etc. let me know.

Mark

 

[MChalkley]

I went out tonight and played with the lights a little. I noticed a few things. First, I'm very glad I decided to mount the lights on the canopy. The angle you get on the front lights gives you very good lighting in front of the bucket, which is the big problem with the stock lights. Dual 55w lights throw a lot more light, too. The rear flood works as well as I'd hoped, lighting up the implement on the rear and the immediate work area quite well.

As for the temp sensors, after warming the tractor up at about 1200 rpm for 10 minutes at 90 degrees ambient earlier today, the HST oil was 95 degrees, the engine oil was 110 degrees, and the water was 150 degrees. I'll be working it pretty hard for 5 days straight next week, so we'll see what it does then.

Mark

 

[MChalkley]

During some recent heavy duty bushhogging during very hot weather, when the stock water temp gauge got halfway between the high normal mark and the red (because of the air inlets and screen being plugged with chaff), the highest temps I saw on the gauge were: Transmission - 185, Oil - 270, Water - 210.

On another topic, I've found a suspension seat and hope to be installing it tomorrow. I'll let everyone know the details when I have more to report. And hopefully post a pic of it, too. It's made by the same company that makes the ones Northern sells in the box by themselves (page 34 of the Fall Master Catalog, I think), but I got it from a local dealer instead, because he had a little bit better model with a deeper seat, and the shock absorber seemed to work better. It's got almost 5" of travel in the suspension, comparing very favorably with the about 2" I've got with the stock seat. Also, the shock absorber slows the rate of deflection and rebound, keeping it from banging on either end. At least that's the way it works sitting on my garage floor - hopefully, tomorrow, I'll find out how it works on a tractor.

Oh well, these days, it's way past my bedtime. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Mark

 

[MChalkley]

Well, gang, here's an update on the seat project. It turned out to not be too bad a project at all. A hole at the center in the back of the deck fit a hole in the rear center of the seat mounting plate, and a 1/8" spacer provided enough clearance for the two raised ribs on the deck. A piece of flat steel stock 15" x 2" x 1/4" made a front plate/spacer to mimic the one on the original seat. Two bolts up front and the whole thing was fastened securely. A little bending on the seat belt mounts and drilling out the mounting holes a little larger, and they transferred from the top of the old seat suspension to the predrilled holes in the new seat bottom that already had captive nuts welded to the back side of the plate. A local bolt supply store supplied the two 3/8" socket head bolts and the two bolts that hold the seat belt ends on.

Now for the important part - the results. I'd have done the seat swap before I did anything else if I'd only known how much difference it would make! I put the tractor in high range, set the throttle at 1800 rpm, and took off at full speed down my road, making sure I hit every hump and hole - after hitting the first few, I looked down at the differential range selector to be absolutely sure I had it in high range! The ride was so smooth, I thought I had to be going slower. So I rev'ed it up to 2500 rpm and turned off into a field, which has some rough spots that always kept me from going anywhere near full speed before. The only thing that forced me to slow down was the terrible racket from the rear blade slamming up and down and from side to side. The difference in the ride is incredible. It's like going from a farm wagon to a Lincoln. Apparently the extra 2-3" of travel makes a huge difference. Also, the action of the shock absorber is very apparent. All in all, an unqualified success and one of the best investments I've made in the tractor to date.

Mark

 

[gordon]

The best overall investment or should I say upgrade turned out to be one of the least expensive ones go figure. What brand of seat is it and how much higher is it than the stock seat to the floor. I know for alot of people they want a seat thats higher off the floor but for us vertically challanged people the height might leave my feet dangling!

Glad it was an easy installation sure does make life easier when a plan falls right into place like that.
Gordon