I agree, they would only bend as the loader racked out of square.
Tweaked FEL
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I agree, they would only bend as the loader racked out of square.
WVUNUT1985
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I am curious as to just how much weight you were lifting. A pallet of 10 foot 2x4? From what I have researched, looks like this loader has about 1100 lbs lift capacity and scary thought that only 200 lbs exceeded the safety margin built in to the loader and caused this much damage.
bigtiller
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Were the loader frame mounting bolts a little loose?
CincyFlyer
Veteran Member
I can see mine bending if one side of the loader frame mounting came loose. Not a likely scenario, but not impossible.
oldtimer 66
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The lock ( cam in the parts cat. ) on the right side of the tractor is not in the same position as the lock on left side of the tractor. Zoom in on the pics. It appears that the right side lock was not engaged. The center web is rolled down and against horz support which is the unlock position. On the left side of the tractor the center web is not rolled down against the horz support. Just a thought have the locks been moved after the accident and before the pics? I have a pic of my loader in the parked position showing the right side lock ( cam ) in the unlocked position as it would be when not mounted on the tractor. Pic to follow . Later
oldtimer 66
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Here is the pic.
Threepoint
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UtahJock, I'm no mechanical engineer, but oldtimer 66 may have this sussed out. I'm guessing one of the cam locks may not have been correctly engaged. Even so, hard to see how a pallet of 2x4s being lifted straight up only 6" off the ground, could have done this. So I'd also suspect a failed component or weld, as others have mentioned.
Here's my thinking. It's very unlikely that the load could have exceeded the FEL's limit at that height. When you say you were 200 lbs over, what weight are you using as the limit? If it was the 1,122 lbs that JD's website gives in it's basic description, keep in mind that this is at full lift height. At only 6", lift capacity would be much closer to the breakout force. The breakout force is spec'd at 3,327 lbf at the pivot pin. At 20" forward of the pivot pin, the breakout force is still 2,417 lbf. Even at a carry height of 59", capacity at the pivot pin is still given as 2,125 lbs. Here is the link to the manual:
OMPXX10906
Since your tractor is new this Spring, I'd sure get the dealer involved right away. Your warranty should cover component, weld or assembly or set-up failure, if that was the cause. Another question. Had you detached and reinstalled the FEL between the time of delivery and the mishap? If not, and if one of the cam locks was never engaged and caused the damage, the warranty may still be worth looking into. JD did not get the good reputation it has without excellent product and warranty support.
Coyote machine
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I'm not a Deere owner, but here's my take. Pics don't lie, and paint always tells the tail.
Look where in front of the radiator grille in several of the pics; and blow them up to where the area where a 'bolt to' plate shows up. Under it is part of the FEL assembly, and in most of the pics that show this area there is, on the left side of the pic, a noticeable section where the paint is missing, down to bare shiny metal. This is apparent in a bunch of the pics and from several views. A scratched torsion bar or tube would show a recent damage area, possibly from the OP's description of what he 'thinks' happened when the failure occurred. The bare metal, polished by rubbing of misaligned sheet metal above shows where rubbing/scraping, friction was taking place OVER TIME, and the end result of whatever wasn't hooked up properly finally gave way when the OP lifted his pallets. Evidence of something not properly installed worked it's way to releasing the item(s) and finally shows as a failure of the erroneous installation, which went unnoticed for some substantial amount of time. Once the lock lever, for instance, got to point of no return, it let go and result is what is shown in the pics. The missing paint shows that the fault was not a failure so much as a letting go of parts that were not, possibly ever properly engaged, and finally blew apart - as evidenced by near explainable weird FEL racking...
Not OP's fault, except for not noticing it, (missing paint/bare metal scraping) sooner, prior to failure. Scraping noises probably masked by engine noise. Daily walk around/inspection is a valuable free tool to engage before starting any tractor.
Look where in front of the radiator grille in several of the pics; and blow them up to where the area where a 'bolt to' plate shows up. Under it is part of the FEL assembly, and in most of the pics that show this area there is, on the left side of the pic, a noticeable section where the paint is missing, down to bare shiny metal. This is apparent in a bunch of the pics and from several views. A scratched torsion bar or tube would show a recent damage area, possibly from the OP's description of what he 'thinks' happened when the failure occurred. The bare metal, polished by rubbing of misaligned sheet metal above shows where rubbing/scraping, friction was taking place OVER TIME, and the end result of whatever wasn't hooked up properly finally gave way when the OP lifted his pallets. Evidence of something not properly installed worked it's way to releasing the item(s) and finally shows as a failure of the erroneous installation, which went unnoticed for some substantial amount of time. Once the lock lever, for instance, got to point of no return, it let go and result is what is shown in the pics. The missing paint shows that the fault was not a failure so much as a letting go of parts that were not, possibly ever properly engaged, and finally blew apart - as evidenced by near explainable weird FEL racking...
Not OP's fault, except for not noticing it, (missing paint/bare metal scraping) sooner, prior to failure. Scraping noises probably masked by engine noise. Daily walk around/inspection is a valuable free tool to engage before starting any tractor.
Good morning. I have some new pictures with side views, close-ups showing some major parts out-of-square. I was careful to avoid parallax error when taking these. The lock on the right side is completely dis-engaged; I will add some pics of this later. The loader has not been removed since I've had the tractor. I recalculated the weight and it was 1232 lbs - this includes the extra weight from the pallet forks versus the standard bucket. I will be taking it to the dealer this week.
