Well, I thought it was time for me to post some pictures of some modifications I have been working on for about the last 6-8 weeks. I have a 1978 JD-2640 and I thought I would shop around for my dream tractor with cab and loader, etc. Well it soon became apparent that what I was willing to pay versus reality, that I had better come up with option "B".
I have a local repair guy in Prairieville, LA. that contacted me and said he had a used Bush Hog Brand loader, that would fit my tractor. I went and had a look at it on a tractor he had bought for parts. The loader was in very good shape and we made a deal. He agreed to sell me the loader for $3,500.00, plus $1,000.00 labor to install, plus any additional costs for hydraulic hoses, fittings, etc. The first thing he noticed when I brought my tractor to the shop, was my water pump was going out and my hoses and belts were in bad shape. So, he had to tackle replacing these items first. The first photos show the tractor with the loader attached to my tractor and the hydraulic cylinders being flushed out.
Prior to having the loader attached, I had to remove my front bumper with weights and my limb guards. I later figured out I could put most of the bumper and gueards back. Pictures of that later.
Prior to having the loader installed, I ran across a good deal on some brand new Firestone rears and had them installed along with 2 new front tires. You might start to get an idea now why I named this thread the way I did.
I elected to go with a stacked valve system to control the loader. In doing so, I was able to add a third lever to handle a future grapple set-up.
After getting the loader installed, we hooked up to the bucket that came with the loader. Obviously, this was not the original bucket. It had about 2" of slop where the bucket attached. This was the beginning of numerous welding projects.
The first project invloved modifying the attachment points on the bucket. I welded in 1/2" plate that I bent to match the contour of the loader attachment area.
Here are some additional photos during the loader install. I worked around the owner and his helper and was able to paint the loader as it was being installed. The loader colors didn't quite match JD green! Had to wire brush off the decals to be able to paint. Have contacted Bush Hog about replacement safety labels, but they haven't come through.
Once I got the tractor home, I got to looking and figured that my limb guards and part of the front bumper would work. Well, it worked out. I had to cut the front bumper pipe off and the weight bracket and put in a new piece of angle. I was able to weld this to the front bracket for the loader. I then installed the limb ralis and did a test lift. The loader arms come within about 1/4" of the limb rails at full lift height. I thought that was great.
Once the bumper and rails were installed, the tired yellow paint just did not look right against the fresh green paint on the loader. That was a serious electric wire wheel, sand paper and different chipping tools to get the rust off. Then I repainted and was very pleased.
Since I was in the welding mood, I decided to next tackle my box blade. Don't know how old this BB is, but I bought it used about 30 years ago. I think it is a Gant. To say the least, it has been abused over the years, especially around the hunting lease. Well after Gustav, I was pushing some logs into a burn pile and I broke the inside grader blade into 3 pieces. Like I said, it has been abused. I bought a new 7' blade and when I went to install it, I quickly realized I had a couple of problems! One, the old blade had 7 holes on 13" centers and the new blade had 12" centers. Two, when I got to looking at the corroded steel and the thought of drilling 6 each, 3/4" holes, I decided to cut the old supporting angle out and replace it. I bought a piece of 3/8" by 7' angle and 2 pieces of 3/8" by 7' flat bar. I had holes punched in the angle and one piece of the flat bar. I then welded the pieces together to end up with a 2" x 2" x 7' piece of angle. I don't remember how many rods I burned, but I ended up with a pretty stout mounting support for the blade. I also added some 1/2" plate to each side on the rear. I was always bending the 1'4" side plates pushing on logs. Not the prettiest job, but it is working quite well, thanks you!
Since I now had a loader on my tractor, I wanted to have a set of forks for it. I had sold my Bobcat 753 a few months ago. The guy decided he didn't want to forks that went with it. Well, since these were the universal quick attach style, and I had a Bush Hog brand loader, the hook-up was not going to work. As I was looking the old forks over, I saw where the top plate with the notches to hold the forks in place, were very worn. After looking this over, I decide that I could use the forks and the back guard from the old forks, to make my new set with. These is the ones I started with.
I took some measurements and determined that the fork frame was 16" from the top of the carry plate to the bottom of the backup plate. Since the original skid steer forks were pretty messed up, I ordered 2 pieces of hardened T-1 plate, 3" wide x 1/2" thick x 4' long. When I got those in, I had the notches cut on both pieces to match the old ones. The machine shop owner happened to be a recent Gustav repair customer and he did the notch cutting for free! Great guy! I also had to order some 4" x4" x 1/4" angle, some 1" square bar stock and some 3/8" by 2" flat bar. The attached pictures show the project from taking out the spear holders to welding in the angle iron, welding the 1" bar stock to the T-1 plate and then welding the plates to the frame. Finished off by taking the back guard from old forks and putting them on the new set. Painted up the unit and it works very well. I think I am going to smear some grease on the plates to make it a little bit easier to slide the forks back and forth. Think that will help? They move, but take some convincing.
A few more pictures. All I know is that in the last six weeks, I have burned about 30-35 lbs of rods. Still have to make some repairs to my bionic blade, but I'm going to take a few weeks off!
