Lesson learned today with bucket hook

[dalroo]

I've been pulling a cross fence a little bit at a time between other projects. The fence is mostly t-posts, but there was a single cedar post and was on a section I was removing this morning. I already had my t-post puller and a chain with me, so hooked up to the cedar post and tried to pull it. Worked on it for a bit, and had it really loose in the ground, but was not making progress raising, so decided to grab the tractor and make short work of it.

Since it was already so loose, I just hooked to left side chain hook on bucket, sat down in seat, and lifted ----- my right rear tire about a foot in the air. Oops!

Backed up, centered, hooked across both hooks, and lifted no problem. Struck me as a funny reminder to pay attention and don't assume short cuts are a good idea.

 

[GManBart]

I've been pulling a cross fence a little bit at a time between other projects. The fence is mostly t-posts, but there was a single cedar post and was on a section I was removing this morning. I already had my t-post puller and a chain with me, so hooked up to the cedar post and tried to pull it. Worked on it for a bit, and had it really loose in the ground, but was not making progress raising, so decided to grab the tractor and make short work of it.

Since it was already so loose, I just hooked to left side chain hook on bucket, sat down in seat, and lifted ----- my right rear tire about a foot in the air. Oops!

Backed up, centered, hooked across both hooks, and lifted no problem. Struck me as a funny reminder to pay attention and don't assume short cuts are a good idea.

Hooking up anything to a bucket hook on one side is a great way to bend the torque tube on your FEL and wind up with a costly repair when the arms aren't at the same height as one another....happens all the time.

 

[Wagtail]

... sat down in seat, and lifted ----- my right rear tire about a foot in the air. Oops!

:ashamed: I did a similar thing (the first AND last time) with my 4in1 and a small tree root. Of course I'd forgot the wee detail about roots getting larger towards the actual tree = right rear tyre a LOT off the ground before I had enough sense to drop the FEL.

 

[dickfoster]

Hooking up anything to a bucket hook on one side is a great way to bend the torque tube on your FEL and wind up with a costly repair when the arms aren't at the same height as one another....happens all the time.

I guess that's one of the reasons my dealer welded a single centered hook to my bucket. I also had him weld a shackle/clevis mount next to it instead of a D ring.

 

[CalG]

I've been pulling a cross fence a little bit at a time between other projects. The fence is mostly t-posts, but there was a single cedar post and was on a section I was removing this morning. I already had my t-post puller and a chain with me, so hooked up to the cedar post and tried to pull it. Worked on it for a bit, and had it really loose in the ground, but was not making progress raising, so decided to grab the tractor and make short work of it.

Since it was already so loose, I just hooked to left side chain hook on bucket, sat down in seat, and lifted ----- my right rear tire about a foot in the air. Oops!

Backed up, centered, hooked across both hooks, and lifted no problem. Struck me as a funny reminder to pay attention and don't assume short cuts are a good idea.

Are you saying you have a very handy way to jack the tractor when a rear wheel needs to come off?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You are NEVER suppose to pull T-post with a loader, you are suppose to use the 3 point.

SR

 

[dalroo]

Are you saying you have a very handy way to jack the tractor when a rear wheel needs to come off?

Exactly!

 

[sdef]

Yep. I have learned a similar lesson a few times while digging large rocks and stumps when the bucket teeth on one side will catch on an underground root while I am working hard and the tractor immediately responds... Have been on the ragged edge of a pending rollover with no warning a few times. I now try and remember these lessons and slow down when using the bucket.

 

[oosik]

I've been very fortunate. I've not had a rollover pulling T-posts or fruit trees nor have I sprung the FEL frame. Been close but learned my lesson. Even with the M6040, I dig around a fruit tree first before pulling. I run a side-side chain on my bucket hooks to pull any T-post. Use the 3-point to pull fruit trees.

 

[pat32rf]

I added a center hook shortly after getting my 4300 then learned not to try to unstick an ATV by pulling and lifting from that hook, especially in 4wd.
I have had a time when I was out on the job and had to remove and repair a rear tire. Hooked the loader under the float, then loaded the tire onto a trailer using muscle power.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

You are NEVER suppose to pull T-post with a loader, you are suppose to use the 3 point.

SR

Only pull T-posts with the loader, they come out every time no problem.

David

 

[DieselBound]

I can pull most T-posts out without any mechanical aid (myself only). To think that a tractor loader would struggle... And I even use the hydraulic arm/lift on my Polaris Brutus to pull T-posts.

Regarding grab hooks on FEL buckets, having multiple ones and using more than one at a time is better than using a single one in the middle (if messing with heavier loads). As a matter of fact, multiple hooks allow you to better balance something you're lifting: I recently used my pallet forks on my Kioti to lift out a newly acquired bush hog (weighing somewhere around 1,200 lbs).

I suppose that with larger tractors there's more concern with twisting the loader's torque tube. I know that I've thrown everything that could be thrown at my B7800's LA402 loader (even getting close to having only ONE wheel on the ground) and, now with over 1,700 hrs on it, it's a straight as the day it came from the factory. If one pays close attention to what one is doing then the chances of really messing something up is very low.