Pix of FEL strengthening / stiffening mods?

[Secret Squirrel]

I asked a related question recently in the Mahindra forum, but I thought I would open it up with a question in this general forum to get some additional experience and ideas. Our tractor's FEL is plenty strong for a 35 HP tractor, but not quite strong enough for use with our 48" pallet forks and building materials we receive on pallets. I would like to go to slightly larger diameter lift cylinders for greater lift, but other Mahindra 3510 owners have advised against it due to tractor front axle breakage concerns with a 20% -25% greater lift capability. Others have pointed out that the loader (Mahindra ML-112) flexes a lot under high loads and we have noticed this ourselves. In fact, our boom arms seem to have twisted permanently by an inch or two from handling uneven pallet loads. We need to fix that somehow to maintain these pallet loads level.

Has anyone had a similar boom flex problem and fixed it? Has anyone come up with mods to stiffen their factory FEL boom? If so, we would appreciate any information on the mods you made and how it worked out. Pix would be really great. Thanks.

Rusty

 

[AndyMA]

I asked a related question recently in the Mahindra forum, but I thought I would open it up with a question in this general forum to get some additional experience and ideas. Our tractor's FEL is plenty strong for a 35 HP tractor, but not quite strong enough for use with our 48" pallet forks and building materials we receive on pallets. I would like to go to slightly larger diameter lift cylinders for greater lift, but other Mahindra 3510 owners have advised against it due to tractor front axle breakage concerns with a 20% -25% greater lift capability. Others have pointed out that the loader (Mahindra ML-112) flexes a lot under high loads and we have noticed this ourselves. In fact, our boom arms seem to have twisted permanently by an inch or two from handling uneven pallet loads. We need to fix that somehow to maintain these pallet loads level.

Has anyone had a similar boom flex problem and fixed it? Has anyone come up with mods to stiffen their factory FEL boom? If so, we would appreciate any information on the mods you made and how it worked out. Pix would be really great. Thanks.

Rusty

25% greater lift capacity translated to quite an additional load on the loader, loader mount, tractor skeleton, front axle and drive line as well as many other components. When engineers like myself design a product we design in some safety margin but you may be asking for too much. I would try to shorten the distance to the tip of the forks. That may require not using a quick attach and directly mounting the forks to the loader pins. Much of what you say regarding flexing etc, tells me that you may not have the margin to do what you are looking to do and still maintain relatively long life. $$$

Have you thought of trading for a larger machine?

Good luck

Andy

 

[Secret Squirrel]

25% greater lift capacity translated to quite an additional load on the loader, loader mount, tractor skeleton, front axle and drive line as well as many other components. When engineers like myself design a product we design in some safety margin but you may be asking for too much. I would try to shorten the distance to the tip of the forks. That may require not using a quick attach and directly mounting the forks to the loader pins. Much of what you say regarding flexing etc, tells me that you may not have the margin to do what you are looking to do and still maintain relatively long life. $$$

Have you thought of trading for a larger machine?

Good luck

Andy

There is little doubt that we use this tractor and loader to its design limits, but a new tractor is not in the cards right now unless we can find the deal of the century. Even then, I'm not sure a different tractor would do us much good. We might have to go to a skid steer loader for a significant increase in rated lift, but that poses other problems I don't want to get too deep into.

For now, the cylinder upgrade idea is on hold, perhaps permanently. Breaking front axles is not our idea of fun. But the boom strengthening/stiffening idea has got to go forward pretty quickly. We can't run the loader like this much longer. It's just too dangerous to have it tipping or worse, lose the load.

Rusty

 

[Gittyup]

Why not a 3PH mount fork lift? You can get one with its own lift cylinder that will give you about 6' of lift height, and the 3PH can lift more and is closer to the center of moment than a FEL.

 

[20 20]

I have to agree messing with the FEL like you're suggesting is at the least "DANGEROUS", not to mention the expense of replacing parts when they brake.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the alternative thoughts and safety warnings, but it's not helping us to repair or strengthen this FEL boom. I've got some ideas of my own. Perhaps I'll sketch and scan them later.

Rusty

 

[Gizmo2]

Rusty,
Got to tell ya my JD 2320 FEL does a lot of flexing under full load also. Coming off my older JD 650 with FEL I was shocked to say the least. I think it is just a matter of time and mine will be twisted also. I have no idea how one would address the issue or even if the issue should be addressed. I keep thinking to myself what my father always told me, "Rigidity does not always mean stronger". My father was a welder and taught me not to make things too rigid as you will end up with the reverse of what you want.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Rusty,
Got to tell ya my JD 2320 FEL does a lot of flexing under full load also. Coming off my older JD 650 with FEL I was shocked to say the least. I think it is just a matter of time and mine will be twisted also. I have no idea how one would address the issue or even if the issue should be addressed. I keep thinking to myself what my father always told me, "Rigidity does not always mean stronger". My father was a welder and taught me not to make things too rigid as you will end up with the reverse of what you want.

I understand what you are saying, but the flexing in our case is not uniform and one arm is noticeably lower than the other arm even without load. This cannot be healthy and besides, we can no longer lift the pallets without them tipping. The good news is that there are no obvious cracks or other signs of metal distress, so we think this should be readily fixable.

Maybe my first question should have been on how to bend the boom back into alignment. Can't do anything in the way of strengthening mods until that problem is fixed. Can we do this ourselves? Or does this need to go to the pros for straightening?

Rusty

 

[BudinTenn]

I wonder if a body shop frame straightener would get the kinks out?

 

[20 20]

The problem with straightening out the bent metal is that it will be weaker then original. Is it possible for you to have new {stronger arms} built? Might even be able to find a used FEL that would fit??