Welded some hooks on my FEL

chim · Dec 20, 2002

Looks like this will end up a lot longer than the "Poor FiFi Needs Tractor Advice" thread from a while back...............chim

Hydraman · Dec 20, 2002

One day I was motoring down the road in the big truck; the road was icier than icy, and all at once there was a jack-knifed rig about a mile up ahead. So's I shut down on the shoulder to take a peeky see-- not enough room to get by him so all I can do is wait, OK! As the time went by there got to be more and more big trucks stopped on the shoulder waiting for the wrecker to come and pull the jack-knife out. The line of trucks was only about three miles long when a "supertrucker" decided he didn't have time to wait and passed the line of trucks that were just setting along the Interstate for the fun of it !! Well, when he went around the wreck HE slid off the road behind the wreck, obstructing the means of clearing the road by the first wreck. He had to be pulled out by the wrecker before the wreck could be pulled out!!!! Moral of the story---WHY????????? Is the obvious so hard to see??? MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!! Don

bgott · Dec 21, 2002

So, how much cheaper were these than a real hook? Or were they easier to weld? I'd snatch that hook straight the first time I used it!

dkchandler · Dec 22, 2002

Bigeddy,
What model tractor do you have, BX2200????

dkchandler

Gfranklin · Dec 22, 2002

I'm reading this and thinking what am I missing here. Good ideas, great initiative, yet they didn't weld a "hook" on where a "hook" should go. As a mechanical type, possibly a tunnel visioned one at that, I quickly jump to the bending moment part of the equation and conclude that the severe reduction in strength from the bootleg hook doesn't justify the few dollars that may have been saved. Then I think, maybe they are more worried about the hook being ripped off the bucket than straightening the hook out! This is supported by the "beginning to weld" and the "no torquing of the hook" statements. I looked again at the two substitute hooks and noticed that they had a larger, easy to weld "footprint". I can now see where a proper hook may seem a little trickier to weld on. It sits on its edge and if not "burned in deep" could break over sideways and rip off. I'm thinking that most if not all of us here on the board immediately saw that these hooks weren't coming off, due to good welding, and focused instead on the hooks possibly straightening out under load.

Just a thought.

Greg

Greg

MikePA · Dec 23, 2002

I'm thinking that most if not all of us here on the board immediately saw that these hooks weren't coming off, due to good welding, and focused instead on the hooks possibly straightening out under load. 
That's what I saw. The welding looked fine, it was the 'hooks' I was concerned about.

Anonymous Poster · Dec 23, 2002

I'm still waiting for the pictures of the "straightened hooks". Bet I wait a long time when tractors only pick up less than a ton.

MikePA · Dec 23, 2002

Bet I wait a long time when tractors only pick up less than a ton. 
Perhaps, but what if a newbie to TBN came along with something bigger than a compact tractor and thought these hooks were OK because no one pointed out they were being used in a manner they were not designed for?

Using New Holland as an example, their CUT loaders can lift from 750 lbs to 1,955 lbs. There are several people on this board with TN series tractors, lift capacity of 3,275 to 3,523 lbs, as well as JD 110s, Case 580, etc.

There are at least four ways to solve problems. There are 'Right' solutions, 'Wrong' solutions and 'It's wrong, but it will probably work' solutions. If people are not informed of which are the 'Right' and 'Wrong' solutions, they might end up with the fourth solution...'It's wrong, and it didn't work."

RayBee · Dec 23, 2002

What might go unoticed here is that the lift capacity of the FELis greatly surpassed in force when curling the bucket after youmaxed out the FEL ...RayBee

MikePA · Dec 23, 2002

What might go unoticed here is that the lift capacity of the FELis greatly surpassed in force when curling the bucket after you maxed out the FEL {lifting capacity}
Great point! /w3tcompact/icons/clever.gif