Publishing Loader Capacity Numbers That Far Exceed The Capacity Of The Axles

[Sid Post]

Good example. But does the tractor not come with a manual stating a specific ballasting plan for this loader, which includes a ballast box + loaded rear tires + reversing the mounting of those rear wheels for better stability?

The tires are filled almost completely with "beet juice" and I use a ~1200lb tiller for ballast most of the time and, specifically for any heavy loader lifts.

Even pulling rusty T-posts out of my old barbed wire fence will lift the rear end of the tractor off the ground.

While generally a great tractor for farm chores and being a real fuel miser, a great loader tractor for heavier lifts it is not!

 

[LD1]

Exactly. My Deere 3303R is lighter than that, and I'm putting 1400 lb. out on the ballast box when doing any serious loader work, in addition to my loaded rear tires. 600 lb. is a joke, on a tractor that size.

Exactly.

I have loaded tires (700#) and cast wheel weights (600#)...and my rear blade at 1250# is what is consider the minimum on my MX

 

[4570Man]

It seems ironic to me, that one can often buy working, used industrial equipment for less than these new, tiny machines. Its not hard to find a decent D6, or payloader for 15k. Mind you, it won't be nearly as comfortable as the new machine.

I have a older Cat 320 excavator and a D5 cat dozer. I also have a much newer skid steer a mini. When the big iron breaks there’s not much to do besides call a mobile mechanic with a crane truck. When you have to move the big equipment you call a low boy. When you get the big iron stuck it’s a bad day. If you want big iron with working ac the price just got drastically higher.

 

[BnRidge]

I always hear arguments about placing ballast in the back to reduce stress on the front axle. However, I just can't wrap my head around how this can be helpful

Rear ballast is measured in number of fatguys. Kind of like t (tons), lb (pounds), fg (fatguys).

 

[metalbender]

Without going through all the posts, I see the tiny front tires on the pic in the original post video and wonder about the load capacity. Some posts elsewhere about bumping up the hydraulic pressure to get more lift on a sub compact. Manufacturers don't overbuild equipment.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

This popped up in my YT feed today and I found it quite interesting. The obvious question: Why would a manufacturer build a front axel that is already at capacity before the bucket is even loaded?

It's a marketing ploy to promote the capacity of their loaders.

The difference between sales and marketing is that sales don't realize they're lying.

 

[nova3930]

It's a marketing ploy to promote the capacity of their loaders.

The difference between sales and marketing is that sales don't realize they're lying.

Putting back on the engineering hat I left behind a couple years ago, I'd add a couple things.

1. Without knowing the methodology for determining the axle rating, it doesn't tell us a whole lot. This is just a SWAG but considering you don't see a lot of bent\broken axles they probably use a fairly conservative methodology. Probably B basis material allowables and a high factor of safety. If they consider dynamic loading the result would be even more conservative.

2. Typically neither marketing nor sales understands the difference between component specs and system specs. Just because one component (the loader) is capable of something does not mean the full up integrated system (tractor with loader) is capable of it.

I dealt with that sort of thing a lot in aviation prior. Yes your steel truss pod system for sensors is extremely strong, but breaking the entire airplane is actually worse than just breaking the pod.....

 

[billfires]

My NH 1920 with FEL and 8 1/2 foot BH had calcium chloride in the rear turf tires. I could not figure out why the dealer had loaded the rear tires as the BH weighs about 1000 pounds. I had the tire dealer remove the CaCl when I saw some slight rust around the valve stem. I unmounted the BH to backfill my dad's 24x26 garage foundation and found that a heaped bucket of dry fill would lift the back of the tractor. The solution was to not heap the bucket. The backhoe has only been off about 6 times in 22 years. Also, the factory front turf tires (27x8.50-15 tires were 4 ply with a max pressure of 30 psi) will noticeably bulge with a full bucket. Bill C

 

[eddieirvine]

Interesting to say the least, But a lot of people have problems with the front ends seals, bearings, shafts, and other components in the front end, One of the biggest problems i have encountered is front end bearings, And of course they take all of the load. Here is my take on that, they use ball bearings in this application and this is not the right bearing to use. They should be using timkin tapered roller bearings like they used to use on trucks and cars and gear boxses years ago, these bearings are made to handle heavy loads, not ball bearings.

 

[NewHampJim]

Funny because I have a 555, impossible to overload the front end. My smallest is a 1964 Economy Tractor, a original 9hp Briggs and Stratton for power with a factory Pony Loader rated at 500 lbs. Again, it can and has been handling that maxed out FEL weight for almost 60 years, axels are fine. You shouldn't have a 1/2t FEL on a lawnmower to begin with. Another thought, Maybe they make garbage today.. something to consider