Bale spear problem; Quick attach easy with FEL/not with BS.

[DianneInVA]

If all else fails, take a die grinder and open up the window where the pins engage to gain some clearance. I have a feeling that you have some trash between the plate and lock pins. Real common occurrence

Thank you. I’ll investigate that

 

[DianneInVA]

Thank you all. Completely related, today my Kabota salesman/mentor/friend said he was planning to stop out here Monday or Tuesday. I didn’t ask him about this problem. Maybe he reads this forum to keep up with issues. Or maybe some kind of karma is at work. PTL I think. Thanks to all

 

[5030]

All pin lock windows aren't created equal which is why I suggested that. Had to do that with my pallet forks to get the pins to lock down (cam over) without resorting to a cheater pipe. Took my die grinder and opened the backside of the window a bit and that cured the issue.

 

[DianneInVA]

No, that is not a good idea. That amounts to forcing an issue that should not be there in the first place. FIND WHAT IS WRONG rather than reaching for a bigger battering ram !!!

I take your point. I’ve received a lot of good information. I’m not going to remove the balespear until I find out from an on-site visual inspection exactly what’s going on. I do know now that it didn’t happen while I was using the tractor. Disappointed by the whole situation, but I may not be able to do it all, but I take responsibility. And I thank everyone.

 

[dstig1]

Yeah something is warped/bent. Could be the bale spear or the loader frame. Plus these SSQA plates are not high precision items, so you do run into ones that don't cooperate at times. Grinding the window out a bit may help but don't go too crazy there. You need to get that pin started but you don't want it loose.

Try this to test it out. It sounds like the other side goes in fine, so snap that one in, and then put a clamp on the BS to the loader attachment to draw it tight. Then see if the pin slides in like it should. I'll bet that shows it to be the case. Then you chose how to fix. Probably the easiest way is to bend the BS plate, but you would really want a press to do that.

 

[CurtisC]

The pics of the Bucket and the BS with the level and the pic of the right-side latch pin trying to engage the backside of the BS slot with the large gap at the QA face (pic 4157-A) suggests something wrong with the alignment of BS where it receives the right QA at the top. Pic 4804-A then shows the pin engaged, the BS lower and snugged up to the QA fitting - what was done to make this happen?
Without seeing the whole process, the pics suggest when you first pick up the BS it doesn't sit square on the top of both Q/A fittings and hang flat against their front faces. Fix that issue and you won't have to stand on the pin levers.

 

[Smokeydog]

Bale spear is light weight and if the tractor side of the ssqa is out of time can cause an issue you are describing. Welding of the torque tube shows some past problem.
Two easy solutions. First weight on bale spear should help mate the attachment and ease securing the attachment levers. Second curl your attachment all the way back. The hydraulics will pull the tractor side ssqa inline and make securing the attachment levers easy.

As 5030 said there are many variations of ssqa mounting plates that sometimes need tweaking to fit right. Your photo shows the attachment plate not coming back at the bottom.

Mow without anything attached to the ssqa on the little tractor. Flimsy torque tube often gets the latch boxes out of time. Most of the time the two techniques work. Sometimes have to align the loader side by pushing on tree. Use to worry about bending but not anymore. If it eventually breaks I’ll fix it better. Have not had that problem with bigger older tractors.

 

[DianneInVA]

Yeah something is warped/bent. Could be the bale spear or the loader frame. Plus these SSQA plates are not high precision items, so you do run into ones that don't cooperate at times. Grinding the window out a bit may help but don't go too crazy there. You need to get that pin started but you don't want it loose.

Try this to test it out. It sounds like the other side goes in fine, so snap that one in, and then put a clamp on the BS to the loader attachment to draw it tight. Then see if the pin slides in like it should. I'll bet that shows it to be the case. Then you chose how to fix. Probably the easiest way is to bend the BS plate, but you would really want a press to do

The pics of the Bucket and the BS with the level and the pic of the right-side latch pin trying to engage the backside of the BS slot with the large gap at the QA face (pic 4157-A) suggests something wrong

The pics of the Bucket and the BS with the level and the pic of the right-side latch pin trying to engage the backside of the BS slot with the large gap at the QA face (pic 4157-A) suggests something wrong with the alignment of BS where it receives the right QA at the top. Pic 4804-A then shows the pin engaged, the BS lower and snugged up to the QA fitting - what was done to make this happen?
Without seeing the whole process, the pics suggest when you first pick up the BS it doesn't sit square on the top of both Q/A fittings and hang flat against their front faces. Fix that issue and you won't have to stand on the pin levers.

with the alignment of BS where it receives the right QA at the top. Pic 4804-A then shows the pin engaged, the BS lower and snugged up to the QA fitting - what was done to make this happen?
Without seeing the whole process, the pics suggest when you first pick up the BS it doesn't sit square on the top of both Q/A fittings and hang flat against their front faces. Fix that issue and you won't have to stand on the pin levers.

 

[5030]

Interesting thread. I have SSQA's on both my large frame M9 Kubota's, the cab unit has an aftermarket ATI 2 lever cam over SSQA and my open station M9 has the OEM (Kubota) 2 lever SSQA and I run various FEL attachments including a large repurposed power angle County snowplow welded to an aftermarket SSQA plate, pallet forks (ATI brand), bale spear (commercial forged spear on an aftermarket SSQA plate plus 3 different Kubota front end loader buckets (2) heavy duty buckets with grouser teeth and one light duty material bucket with a welded on set of hydraulic grapples and I've never had any issue with mis alignment of the loader arms and/or the SSQA themselves and I'm pretty sure the Kubota loaders on my M9's can produce a lot more lifting power than the OP's can.

Like I stated earlier, I did have an issue with the Pallet forks attaching properly and the cure was to enlarge the backside of the window so the SSQA attachment pins entered the cut out a bit farther so they were easier to cam over and lock.

Commenters are reading a lot more into the issue than really exists which is typical of most any internet forum anyway. The answer is simple, Observe what the issue is and correct it. SSQA's are very simple devices in the first place. Simple devices always require simple fixes.

 

[MHarryE]

Have you used spear without problem on something else? It looks like the spear was made out of tolerance - distance between the upper hooking surface and lower latching surface. I often find this on my spear because of being too low with my loader and pushing dirt onto the surface because the disconnected spear attached plate sits flat on the ground, so I sometimes need to take it off, clean the surfaces, and do it again. But yours looks like there is nothing holding it away. Need to be careful if you modify anything. I did have one attachment where the distance was too large and it unlatched too easily. That I needed to weld spacers to bring it to the proper dimension.