What is Float with the FEL?

Gobblin Tom · Sep 17, 2011

I have had my 2520 for a while now and have been reading a lot about the Float feature. Is this on every tractor? How do you know?

jdboy4410 · Sep 17, 2011

not all FEL's have that feature.if you have that feature,when you place the loader in the full down position,push the control leaver completely forward,it should then lock into position.this enables the loader to,"float",without having any down pressure on the loader.this is a nice feature for doing grading work.

Gobblin Tom · Sep 17, 2011

jdboy4410 said:
not all FEL's have that feature.if you have that feature,when you place the loader in the full down position,push the control leaver completely forward,it should then lock into position.this enables the loader to,"float",without having any down pressure on the loader.this is a nice feature for doing grading work.

So I just put the bucket flat? I'm not sure I have this on my 2520?

k0ua · Sep 17, 2011

Push the control lever further forward than you usually do to lower the boom, you will feel a "detent". In other words it sticks there and stays. Do it fast as the boom is going down, so you do not lift the front end under pressure. As the other poster said there is no down pressure in the float position. it floats up and down and follows the terrain. It is often used with backdragging (and other things) look at this video, one video is worth 10,000 words

Kubota L3400HST back dragging - Tractor Videos - Kubota, John Deere, New Holland and More

Here I am smoothing out some gravel.

James K0UA

whistlepig · Sep 17, 2011

I am not familiar with a 2520. My Kubota has a "float" position on the FEL lever. If you do have float you need to find that out. If your FEL bucket is raised all the way and you engage the "float" your bucket will drop like a rock.

9973720wb19 · Sep 17, 2011

put your bucket on the ground then do a quick snap forward with your control...you should feel it catch and stay in that position -

billb3 · Sep 17, 2011

If you push the SCV forward ( I give mine a bit of a quick stab and then let go) it'll click and the bucket will float down and drag on the ground with no force but its own weight.

Do it with the bucket up off the ground the first couple times you try it to feel the SCV click and watch the bucket drop.

Course if you lift the front wheels off the ground, it didn't click.

whistlepig · Sep 17, 2011

9973720wb19 said:
put your bucket on the ground then do a quick snap forward with your control...you should feel it catch and stay in that position -

That's the way it works on my tractor.

Gobblin Tom · Sep 17, 2011

Does anyone have a 2520 that does this? I have to take my FEL off tomorrow to cut grass I will try this out....

jdboy4410 · Sep 17, 2011

i place the loader on the ground and then just give the lever a quick motion forward to engage the detent.if you try to engage the detent with the loader in the air,it will slam to the ground.it relieves all hydraulic pressure to enable it to float.never tried to use the curl or dump feature when in float position,but i imagine they would still work.not necessary to use those when you are grading anyway.more than likely you have this feature,with the engine off,and all the hydraulic pressure off,just push the loader lever all the way forward,you should feel it click into the detent and when it does,the loader lever will stay in that position.to release it,just pull the lever back out of the detent,and it will return to normal operation.very easy to use feature.