Tweaked FEL

[ray66v]

"Tweaked" would generally be considered slightly bent.

Reminds me of how I could tell when a customer who came in for a body repair estimate, was planning to pay out of pocket. They would ask for an estimate on a "ding", which upon inspection, would end up being a huge dent.

Sorry about your tractor. Like the others, I am amazed at the extent of the damage here.

If this was in fact bent, lifting a heavy load, you would think damage like this would be seen here more often. Since it's not common, it does seem to suggest the possibility that the FEL was in some way defective. Either by way of improperly tempered steel, or of bypass settings.

Since, this looks like fairly typical collision damage. You may have a tough time convincing JD, that it's not.

Good luck.

 

[chriswheeler]

I bought a John Deere 970 TLB for a bargain price several years back. The series 80 loader on it had a similar problem that the OP has. Having worked for Georgia Pacific years back and fixed similar problems, I had the proper set up and tools in my shop to perform this repair, was not going to be my first. Previous repairs were caused by a high speed hit on a immovable object. ( usually a RR track ) The cross tube on mine was twisted and the loader arms needed to be retimed to each other. To do this job, I used a Arcair carbon arc to remove the welds on the cross tubes connecting the two arms. The act of removing the welds and placing the bucket on the ground timed the arms again. I re-welded the cross tubes in that position and all is good. Careful measurement showed the arms were not bent, just the tube that tied them together was twisted. I added gussets to the ends of the tube at the arm weld points to counter any future twist loads. The repair worked well and has been able to hold up for years of use. John Deere, like many other manufactures, try to save a dollar or two on material size used and sometimes their products don't render the service under load that one might expect. The twist in my series 80 loader was caused by a carless operator and the thin tube used in the cross tube binding the arms together creating a timing between the left and right arms. That is not to say that John Deere had not used a due diligence in the design of the loader. These bends I have encountered in the past were caused by a unusual event that it would be hard to engineer for.I expect you to find you have a similar situation to mine if you give a fabricator a chance to look at it and perform some measurements.
Chris

 

[goeduck]

. John Deere, like many other manufactures, try to save a dollar or two on material size used and sometimes their products don't render the service under load that one might expect. The twist in my series 80 loader was caused by a carless operator and the thin tube used in the cross tube binding the arms together creating a timing between the left and right arms.

Some John Deere bean counter probably came up with the idea to use thinner tubes to save money AND increase the lift rating all in one fell swoop. Probably even got an award that year. :irked:

 

[Threepoint]

Some John Deere bean counter probably came up with the idea to use thinner tubes to save money AND increase the lift rating all in one fell swoop. Probably even got an award that year. :irked:

Isn't it a bit premature for that speculation? :confused3:

 

[goeduck]

Isn't it a bit premature for that speculation? :confused3:

Maybe, maybe not. He said thin tube which implies thinner than normal.

 

[Oldoak]

Maybe, maybe not. He said thin tube which implies thinner than normal.

Something has always got to be the first to give. This has been discussed in other threads and other than JD tractors and loaders.

 

[AndyMA]

Holy carp, that's a lot of good comments. Who I thought was my eye witness was in the house at the time. So it's only my word. The tractor was new this spring, and unless the dealer messed it up, it should be set-up properly. My previous tractor, a 1025R, was put through a lot of abuse, and nothing bad happened to it ever. I can't take more pictures until this coming weekend. And I will take some measurements. Thanks again for the help.

You should not be able to twist a loader no matter what you try to lift. Think of the times we are in a pile of what ever and the loader can't lift it. If it was my machine it would be back to the dealer for a warranty claim.

Andy

 

[UtahJock]

By the way, if it had been a collision of some sort, the forks would be messed up also, and they're not because this wasn't caused by a collision.

 

[goeduck]

By the way, if it had been a collision of some sort, the forks would be messed up also, and they're not because this wasn't caused by a collision.

I believe you said on your earlier post that you were taking it to the dealer? The sentence ended oddly so I was not sure.

 

[mercdv]

By the way, if it had been a collision of some sort, the forks would be messed up also, and they're not because this wasn't caused by a collision.

Only if the forks were part of the collision...not saying you had a collision. Just I have seen my fair share of them and the forks are not always the item that impacts the object. That typically only occurs when the impact is square on the front and the forks are sticking out past the item being carried. In reality, most of the impact damage I have seen in my lifetime was caused when the item being carried by the forks was rammed into another object and rarely do the forks themselves show any damage because they are much thicker/stronger metal than the loader frames and fork brackets.