Adapting FEL to JD 755

[krzbwags]

I recently found what I thought was a good deal on a Bush Hog 1845 QT FEL. I am working on adapting/fabricating mounts to attach it to my JD 755. I have the C-channel front mount welded up and on the tractor. I put the subframe in place and everything looks good (to me at least) as far as spacing, front to rear. The problem I see is with the height of the subframe, it looks like it needs to be raised around 5-7". I'm basing that estimate on looking at other FEL's and seeing where the arms are in relation to the hood.

Is there a rule of thumb as far as height of the loader arms or subframe in relation to the hood? To me it just looks to low ( not very scientific I know). The other thing I noticed is that the stand to hold the loader arms when you detach them is around 6" to long as it sits now.

Hopefully someone can take a look at the pictures and let me know what they think.

Thanks,

 

[1savoy]

krzbwags,

I agree with you that it looks a little too low. I would like it with the top pins for the loader around the top of the hood. I would maybe try raising it up enough to get the bucket cylinder pins back in and see what it looks like. Will the parking stand work at that point? I would not worry too much about the parking stand as that should be an easy enough fix. You will want to make sure you leave enough down travel on the cylinders to be able to dig below ground level. I could not get the Bush Hog website to open, but here is a link to the Woods brochure and a link to a JD755 on TractorHouse with an aftermarket loader. You may have already looked at all this stuff, but I think you will agree most of them are mounted higher. You will also gain that much more lift heighth, the higher you mount it, just be careful to leave some down travel. Good luck and have fun.

http://www.woodsequipment.com/uploadedFiles/Products/literature/Loaders Full Line B11082.pdf

http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=6854837&

 

[art]

IT baffles me as to why the legs would be to long! That loader was used on smaller tractors yet then the 755. They (bush-hog) recommend the next larger frame loader.
Don't forget when building your mounts that you still can dig below ground level!

 

[krzbwags]

Hey guys thanks for the comments ( I was starting to get worried).

Bush hog produces a kit to mount this loader on a 755 so I know it will work, but it costs more than I paid for the loader and the Yanmar it was attached to. The main variation in the kits is the center bar of the subframe which dictates the height of the subframe arms. As I have the loader mocked up in the pictures I can only go up a few inches before the lift cylinders bottom out beyond which the bucket wouldn't sit level on the ground. I don't know if that means anything or not. You can see the remaining travel in the pic below

As is the bucket sits flat on the ground and the loader arms could still be lowered a little. That combined with the roll of the bucket ought to get me below ground level some.

I did find a picture of a Buhler/Allied 195 on a JD 955 and the top pins only come up to about the stripe on the hood, this is the lowest mounting position I've seen on all the ones I've looked at.

I guess in the end I'm just trying to make sure that there isn't some aspect of the loader frame/arms/cylinder geometry that I'm missing.

 

[1savoy]

krzbwags,

I see what you are saying about the Allied loader. You can always mock it up where it is at and run it through it's travel and see if you are happy. You are the only one that needs to be happy with the finished product. Depending on how much work you are up for, I think there are a few things you could do to help get the top of the loader higher. One thing, is that the bucket that would have come with the loader? You may be able to raise the mounts on the back of the bucket to get more rollback and down travel. May also want to incorporate in the newer style JD quick attack mounts if you go that route. If you also decide to raise the loader, you could change the lower mounting points on the loader masts. I will attach a picture of a JD 520 loader that came with two different mounting points. You would have to buy some DOM tubing to make new bushings to weld on the masts. Once you got the loader mounted where you are happy, decide where the lower mounts would need to be to get some down travel. You will not need much. Between changing these two things you should be able to move things a fair amount but still achieve the ability to dig below ground level and get the look you are after. Just a few thoughts. Good luck.