Slammed sidewalk w/ bucket plowing. What to check?

malk315 · Mar 18, 2007

Hi all-

Had a blast plowing out the noreaster we had this weekend. What a difference being able to back up at higher speeds when using a loader (used to have Toro Wheel horse 315 w/ quick way loader). The CK-20 is just a real pleasure doing loader work moving a lot of snow very quickly.

Anyway -- I was zipping along and managed to catch the edge of the bucket on the lip of the asphalt sidewalk going along the treebelt. If I wasn't going full speed forward, I was pretty close to it. It hit really hard and tore out a small chunk of the asphalt and tossed me forward in the seat pretty well. Seemed like rear of tractor may have slid sideways in reaction to everything too... I wasn't wearing seatbelt, but usually don't doing snow since there's zero risk of tipping. I ALWAYS wear seatbelt mowing as I do get close to areas that could be bad if I rolled sideways on a bank. Anyway -- I'll probably wear the seatbelt plowing now as it's easy to get tossed forward when hitting stuff like that.

Anyway -- I was wondering if I should check for anything bent or otherwise that might have been damaged. I looked very closely and can't find any issues. Bucket seems to rest down evenly on garage floor like it did before. Anyone got any tips on what might be the weakest poing that could get bent or whatever when hitting the bucket blade hard on something w/ a lot of forward speed?

Anyone out there successfully bent their KL-120 loader? or bucket? I might've made the blade of the bucket a little un-even, but it's hard to tell.

It seems like everything is fine... it's one tough machine because it's like 2000 lbs or whatever and it's amazing the abuse it just took and kept going. The whole loader frame has so much metal, I doubt anything bad happened, but just looking for tips on what to check as anything you abuse enough, you can break.

54 hours on it. Will head in for service as we'll be mowing around here before you know it.

Thanks for any info.

MrJimi · Mar 18, 2007

Get a good accurate tape measure and a good level and check level and check for square with tape measuring diagonally on the frame and attach points, and look for cracked or peeling paint and warpage and kinks in unit. lots of luck
Jim

malk315 · Mar 18, 2007

Thanks for the reply.

Do you suggest doing this w/ the loader on or off the tractor?

I'm asking because checking diagonals might be a little odd w/ loader on, although if the loader is halfway up, I could probably fairly easily do it from rear top hinge to front torque tube (the one that's been known to develop cracks near the hudralic line access cover on some KL-120 / 130 models).

Also, should I do this w/ the tractor off and loader resting on the ground (assuming loader is on the machine), or w/ tractor running and picked up halfway? Also do you suggest having bucket rolled all the way back / forward for stiffness?

I checked by eye the symmetry of everything and just really don't see anything obvious, but a tape measure can certainly tell more truth than by eye. I'm wondering just how perfectly straight and true these are when brand new -- they can certainly flex plenty and I'm thinking if the hydraulics are in perfect "sync" it could make a new loader seem bent even thought it may not be. I could be totally wrong -- just wondering about these things.

Thanks again for replying. I will check everything out. Certainly no evidence of stressed paint or anything that I could find so far.

Once I hit, the chunk of asphalt gave way immediately, If it was the corner of a solid concrete footing, I think I would have been in big trouble and certainly would have been thrown further.

I certainly am very aware of what's going on w/ my machine at all times (lots of kids around, so safety is top priority as one of them could get under there very quickly -- big habit of mine to always look before moving whether it's bucket, forward, reverse, etc.). But this just goes to show you anything can be lurking under snow no matter how much you know the area and no matter how careful you are w/ bucket placement.

Worst case I get a new loader that is Kioti's new design w/ "crack proof" loader torque tube.... that would be an expensive mistake and I'm pretty confident everything is just fine.

It's certainly theraputic describing all this stuff to other guys out there who share the same pain when they know they've inflicted pain on their equipment!

MrJimi · Mar 18, 2007

I would say with the loader on and no broken loose bolts etc. Do you have a good friend that works in a a body/frame shop that could bring over his tram guage to assist you in this, That would be great or maybe you could bring it to a frame shop to have it done and make sure they know what they are doing
Don't let them blow smoke at ya
Jim

IslandTractor · Mar 20, 2007

I betcha the loader frame just flexed and absorbed the energy. If the bucket sits pretty flat on your garage floor I don't see what else you'd need to do.

malk315 · Mar 24, 2007

So I finally measured today from the where the rear curved loader arm attaches on top of the "towers" (the rear outermost top corner of the tower itself) diagonally over to the center of where the bucket dump cylinders attach to the curved loader arms. The worst case they may have differed was 1/8th of an inch and perhaps not even that -- maybe only a 1/16th of an inch. I figure that much variance in the diagonal measurement could happen from play in the way the loader is seated into the various pins that hold everything. It's straight and does not appear to have any issues... I'm assuming nothing bad happened.

radman1 · Mar 25, 2007

Just another "bump" on the road of tractor use. Seems like everything is OK. It probably won't be the last "bump".

dirtworksequip · Mar 25, 2007

malk315 said:
Hi all-
"Anyway -- I was zipping along and managed to catch the edge of the bucket on the lip of the asphalt sidewalk going along the treebelt. If I wasn't going full speed forward, I was pretty close to it. It hit really hard and tore out a small chunk of the asphalt and tossed me forward in the seat pretty well. Seemed like rear of tractor may have slid sideways in reaction to everything too... I wasn't wearing seatbelt, but usually don't doing snow since there's zero risk of tipping. I ALWAYS wear seatbelt mowing as I do get close to areas that could be bad if I rolled sideways on a bank. Anyway -- I'll probably wear the seatbelt plowing now as it's easy to get tossed forward when hitting stuff like that."

And right there is where you are kidding yourself.There is NEVER Zero risk. Every time you get in the seat and move your tractor you are at risk. Whether it 5 feet or 500 feet. Did you anticipate that you would hit the asphalt and it would throw you forward. NO. If it had thrown you off the machine and ran over you. You may have been injured or killed. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT! It only takes a fraction of a second to buckle up. And it only takes a fraction of a second to get killed. Think about it.

Sincerely,
Dirt