Loader MF232 mount and spacers?

[Dredwolf]

I have a MF 232 loader that would normally be on my 250. While I was overseas, my son found out that a loader is NOT a bulldozer.
After replacing the transmission housing, I need to re-install the mounting bracket, but I only found two spacers from the original mounting. All the hardware was lost on the right side from the operator's position. I have bought a big assortment of 5/8" grade 8 bolts and washers to reinstall the mounting bracket and can make spacers for large round bar stock. But I am not sure where the spacers are supposed to go. Any diagrams or pictures would be a huge help.

Thanks.

 

[WilliamBos]

I have a MF 232 loader that would normally be on my 250. While I was overseas, my son found out that a loader is NOT a bulldozer.
After replacing the transmission housing, I need to re-install the mounting bracket, but I only found two spacers from the original mounting. All the hardware was lost on the right side from the operator's position. I have bought a big assortment of 5/8" grade 8 bolts and washers to reinstall the mounting bracket and can make spacers for large round bar stock. But I am not sure where the spacers are supposed to go. Any diagrams or pictures would be a huge help.

Thanks.

Go to agcopartsbooks.com and look the loader up, should show where they go.

Good luck.

 

[Dredwolf]

Go to agcopartsbooks.com and look the loader up, should show where they go.

Good luck.

Thank you VERY much, I had no idea they had a guest login. I have stumbled across the site before, but the dealer login was all I saw. :confused2:

Got the diagrams I need, and the exact bolt lengths, add a little luck, and I will have my tractor running today!

 

[WilliamBos]

Thank you VERY much, I had no idea they had a guest login. I have stumbled across the site before, but the dealer login was all I saw. :confused2:

Got the diagrams I need, and the exact bolt lengths, add a little luck, and I will have my tractor running today!

Glad to hear you got the info you needed. I think they added thw guest login after they got all the bugs worked out after the launch.

Keep us posted on how it comes together.

 

[Dredwolf]

Thanks to the help and diagrams, the belly mount is installed. I have not put a torque wrench or impact wrench on anything yet, but have everything tightened down to try and re-install the loader. I had to use one bolt that was too long (stack of washers), and one that was 1/8" too short (no lock washer, used a trimmed fender washer), so one more trip to the hardware store on Monday before I can actually use the loader again. But the mount is installed.

Maybe today! :tractor:

 

[Dredwolf]

Thanks to the help and diagrams, the belly mount is installed. I have not put a torque wrench or impact wrench on anything yet, but have everything tightened down to try and re-install the loader. I had to use one bolt that was too long (stack of washers), and one that was 1/8" too short (no lock washer, used a trimmed fender washer), so one more trip to the hardware store on Monday before I can actually use the loader again. But the mount is installed.

Maybe today! :tractor:

Well, I thought I would revisit this thread.

This past Saturday, my son forgot the lesson from 2012, and busted another transmission housing....only this time, he hit hard enough to bust out a section of the "bellhousing" portion of the casting.

Of course, he lost all the bolts and everything on that side, and never noticed anything wrong, until I got on the MF 250 and noticed the FEL's arms were crooked to the lines of the hood when I was cranking it.

This time, the belly mount is also bent. Maybe I need to find a disposable tractor with a little 5' rotary cutter for him to destroy.

 

[JerryG]

I don't think I would let him operate any more equipment until he grew up some.

 

[Dredwolf]

I don't think I would let him operate any more equipment until he grew up some.

That's actually a frighting thought....he's 23 yrs old, 6'5" and 280 lbs already .

The first time, other than helping load it on the roll-back, and hearing us talk about $$, it really did not hit home with him.

This time, we are not done with summer mowing yet, and were supposed to get cranked up on firewood in a few weeks. I am also finishing up a new coop that we WERE :mur: going to lift into the chicken run with the FEL....now we have to take the fence down, and build a skid or something to move this new coop. We have a lot of split-rail fencing needing repair this fall,this eliminated using the post auger. He got to dig three holes by hand Monday afternoon, I let him flail at the red clay a bit, then showed him how my father showed me to use a set of post hole diggers and actually DIG a hole.

He will grow up from this, though, building character from hard work.

 

[masseyrider]

I've had the same 232 loader for almost 25 years. It was originally on a 253mf, then a 461mf and now on a 563mf. All more HP than your 250. I have done construction work, extensive drive ways around the property, pulled acres of old orchard when I was farming 100 acres of fruit trees, land reclamation, loading and unloading countless trucks, loaded thousands of tons of manure over the years, cleared snow from here to Moscow, etc, etc plus a hundred other small jobs everyday. I remember when I bought it the dealer told me I would wonder how I ever got along without it. Truer words have never been said. The only thing other than paint fade is the original bucket has a minor wow in the cutting edge. The cylinders are all original and so is the joy stick control. No leaks. Your son I'm going to say is an abusive (to equipement) ***.

 

[Dredwolf]

I've had the same 232 loader for almost 25 years. It was originally on a 253mf, then a 461mf and now on a 563mf. All more HP than your 250. I have done construction work, extensive drive ways around the property, pulled acres of old orchard when I was farming 100 acres of fruit trees, land reclamation, loading and unloading countless trucks, loaded thousands of tons of manure over the years, cleared snow from here to Moscow, etc, etc plus a hundred other small jobs everyday. I remember when I bought it the dealer told me I would wonder how I ever got along without it. Truer words have never been said. The only thing other than paint fade is the original bucket has a minor wow in the cutting edge. The cylinders are all original and so is the joy stick control. No leaks. Your son I'm going to say is an abusive (to equipement) ***.

Mine has a warp in the cutting edge too...it lasted 26 years to the first break, then only about 2 years on the salvage housing. The first break, while I was overseas, apparently the bolts got loose, he lost a couple on one side, then broke out the ears on the two remaining.

I found the huge pine he nailed with a corner of the cutting edge while bush hogging, he's lucky he did not get bad hurt. He buried roughly 2" of the cutting edge corner of the bucket into this tree while in 1st Hi, it had to be like hitting a brick wall.

From the rust on the break, and the rain we had at time, I am guessing that hit cracked the housing at the mounting ears, it rained, causing rust in the crack, then him turning manure pile day later, and getting a load of empty pallets for firewood finished it off.

I have to admit, he has been working hard on cleaning up the old barn and clearing out the garage to get ready for splitting the tractor for the last several weeks, and noted how much easier the FEL would have made this if he had not broke it. By the time we are done, he's going to really miss that tractor and FEL.

 

[masseyrider]

I still say that's abusive and careless. Knock wood, but I use mine with the bucket, manure forks, brush forks, pallet forks and I made up a snow blade from a used 3pth blade and have yet to break anything. Believe me the tractor and loader work hard. I've been on a tractor since the time I had to stand to use the clutch and brakes. I've broken 2 things that were not directly attributable to wear. A plough. I hit a buried rock that required the help of a friends backhoe to dig up. The second was a v-ditcher that also hit a large rock. That one almost put me on the hood of the tractor. How the lift arms didn't get broken out I'll never know. My father saw it happen and said the whole tractor must have jumped 6" in the air. There was no way of knowing those obstacles were there.

 

[Dredwolf]

I still say that's abusive and careless. Knock wood, but I use mine with the bucket, manure forks, brush forks, pallet forks and I made up a snow blade from a used 3pth blade and have yet to break anything. Believe me the tractor and loader work hard. I've been on a tractor since the time I had to stand to use the clutch and brakes. I've broken 2 things that were not directly attributable to wear. A plough. I hit a buried rock that required the help of a friends backhoe to dig up. The second was a v-ditcher that also hit a large rock. That one almost put me on the hood of the tractor. How the lift arms didn't get broken out I'll never know. My father saw it happen and said the whole tractor must have jumped 6" in the air. There was no way of knowing those obstacles were there.

I'm not denying he was careless and therefore abusive to a piece of equipment that survived many years just fine before he broke it, TWICE. I expressed my displeasure at this development in a loud and obviously angry fashion, especially since this tractor had been part of his life already for 14 years, and this was the second time.

I had hoped he had learned his lesson the first time, but apparently not, despite my best hopes. So this time, with making him do all the manual preparation to get ready to split this tractor, plus the many nights we will be working on it this time, will hopefully prove the point, and it will last many more years. Least that is my hope, that it will be around for him to use when I am gone.

 

[masseyrider]

Sorry to harp, but I just hate to see equip. get beat for no reason. Work is one thing, carelessness is another. Maybe I'm a little **** about it. Just got my suv back from an oil change and winter check. The Mechanic said my brakes still have about 70% lining left when most people would be well into their second set. Light hands I guess but you wouldn't guess it looking at me. lol Good luck

 

[Dredwolf]

Thought I would post an update to this older thread, because it's taken this long to get the MF 250 repaired for the second time.
Thanks to a great neighbor with a shop with a flat concrete floor, the MF 250 that belonged to my father came home this past Sunday, after being wrenched on frantically for little over a week, installing a new transmission housing I sourced from Mid-South Salvage in Alabama in 2014. Because this tractor had low hours, we swapped the internals to the replacement case, which was not as terrible, with a e-Bay sourced Factory manual and deliberate layout of the parts as it was disassembled.

With all the work that goes into splitting a tractor this much, besides a decent cleaning, we changed fuel filters, engine oil and filter, hydraulic filter, and shift boots. I still have to rebuild the steering cylinders, and flush the hydraulics on the 232 loader somehow. Ordered the bolts to re-attach the mounting kit tonight. With some luck, I can source some paint and decals, and return this tractor to how it looked when my father was still alive. It was sobering doing this much work on a tractor with barely 1500 hours on it.

Here's hoping that before the 2 year "anniversary" of this post, the tractor and FEL will be in use once more, and there will not be a third time.

 

[JerryG]

Sorry to hear about your Dad. You could tell he wanted the best for you.
Take good care of that tractor and someday you will be able to had it down to your son.

 

[Dredwolf]

Thought I would post an update to this older thread, because it's taken this long to get the MF 250 repaired for the second time.
Thanks to a great neighbor with a shop with a flat concrete floor, the MF 250 that belonged to my father came home this past Sunday, after being wrenched on frantically for little over a week, installing a new transmission housing I sourced from Mid-South Salvage in Alabama in 2014. Because this tractor had low hours, we swapped the internals to the replacement case, which was not as terrible, with a e-Bay sourced Factory manual and deliberate layout of the parts as it was disassembled.

With all the work that goes into splitting a tractor this much, besides a decent cleaning, we changed fuel filters, engine oil and filter, hydraulic filter, and shift boots. I still have to rebuild the steering cylinders, and flush the hydraulics on the 232 loader somehow. Ordered the bolts to re-attach the mounting kit tonight. With some luck, I can source some paint and decals, and return this tractor to how it looked when my father was still alive. It was sobering doing this much work on a tractor with barely 1500 hours on it.

Here's hoping that before the 2 year "anniversary" of this post, the tractor and FEL will be in use once more, and there will not be a third time.

Well, it took a year, but the 232 is mounted back on the 250, and got put right to work today. As those know that have them, once you have a FEL, it's hard to imagine doing work without one.

In my case, I looked at my place today, and all the work that has piled up without the FEL, and for the first time in a couple of years, said to myself, "I got this.".