Bent Frame on FEL

[Gary Fowler]

Has any one had any experience with straightening an FEL frame that that is warped. My old Yanmar bucket is about 2" lower on one side that the other due to some major mistreatment.

 

[Fixemall]

I have only heard of it done once at a farm here, the guys old ford took a spill off a hill..he cut a notch in an old oak stump to hold one side of the bucket and used a ten ton floor Jack to "make adjustments" from there, the tractor is still in service at a local garden center.

 

[20 20]

If it's not too bad then you can probably straighten it out and it will be fine, just remember it as been weakened.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have tried to bend it back by pressing down on the low side and hanging the high side under a stump to try to bend it down, but nothing works. I suppose I will have to look at cutting and rewelding some attachment points if I want to get it level. Oddly enough, the high side is the side that had all the broken welds and bracing on it that I had repaired a couple of weeks ago. With all the broken parts, I would have thought that would be the low side.

 

[E/S]

When the repair was done did they square everything up before welding ?
If not you may ne in for a lot of work.

E/S

 

[Gary Fowler]

I did the repair myself. If was just a matter of welding up all the cracked welds except for the one diagonal brace which was broken completely. I simply matched it back up to original location and welded it in place. I am sure it warped from all the trees and rocks that I have hung up on over the last few years of use. I just cant readily see where it is bent at, therefore I dont really know where to start adjusting it. When I get some time this winter, I will take a closer look. This tractor I can get in my shop to work on, so it is good winter work. Right now I have to go pick up the remainder of my chain link fencing to start on erecting the 700 feet of that.

 

[blueriver]

I had that problem http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/parts-repairs/186059-anyone-ever-straighten-twisted-front.html

 

[Gary Fowler]

If I ever get my fuel tank fixed on my LS, I will try the way Blueriver fixed his by blocking up the low side, putting downward pressure on the low side with the tractor hydraulics and then push down on the high side with my other tractor.

 

[PILOON]

Check your geometry carefully as you might find a worn mounting bolt or bolt hole is really the cause.
1/8" back at the chassis could easily represent 1 1/2" up front at bucket cutting edge.
You need a flat level surface t, equal tire pressures, good 4 ft level and measuring tape.
You might just be surprised that one loose bolt is all you have with a nice oval hole worn out.

Been there, (cheated as I welded the offending bolt rather than reem and install oversized bolt, but it corrected the problem. NB I can always grind the weld off)

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well guys & gals, I finally got around to trying to straighten the FEL on my old Yanmar 4220. I tried blocking it up and raising the tractor off the ground and that didnt move anything. Finally I put it up on 2 - 8" CMU blocks, lifted the front wheel and took my other tractor and pushed down on the high side till the rear wheels came off the ground on the Yanmar. I bumped it a few times to really torque it and then backed off. Then I took it back to the shop and set the bucket down on the concrete. It was level within about 1/8". So if it will stay that way now, everything is lovely. I couldnt find anything loose or otherwise but the main lift arms were higher on one side than the other. After stressing it as mentioned, they now look almost level again but still cant find the point of bend or whatever. Anyway thank for the recommendation to push it down on one side while blocking up the low side. It worked but I really had to put the pressure on it.

 

[TripleR]

Actually it is a pretty simple fix. You simply need to hit the opposite side against a big Oak tree while traveling around a corner at a pretty good clip, I can't tell you exactly how fast as my son doesn't remember it...

 

[blueriver]

Well guys & gals, I finally got around to trying to straighten the FEL on my old Yanmar 4220. I tried blocking it up and raising the tractor off the ground and that didnt move anything. Finally I put it up on 2 - 8" CMU blocks, lifted the front wheel and took my other tractor and pushed down on the high side till the rear wheels came off the ground on the Yanmar. I bumped it a few times to really torque it and then backed off. Then I took it back to the shop and set the bucket down on the concrete. It was level within about 1/8". So if it will stay that way now, everything is lovely. I couldnt find anything loose or otherwise but the main lift arms were higher on one side than the other. After stressing it as mentioned, they now look almost level again but still cant find the point of bend or whatever. Anyway thank for the recommendation to push it down on one side while blocking up the low side. It worked but I really had to put the pressure on it.

Good job I'm glad its back to almost perfect. I never did find the point of bend on mine either ... I guess the thing just got twisted.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Something similar might be a contributor to the bend. I have hit some pine with mine right on the outer corner while mowing at a pretty good clip by misjudging the clearance a bit. Really fast stop when that happens. Also misused it digging out tree roots with the corner which I will try to avoid from now on. I have pretty much got my trees down to sapling size which I have been pulling with a chain and my Kubota RTV 900. Surprising how big a sapling I can pop out of the ground with that thing and it is so much easier to get on and off AND maneuver around in the thicket. Most of them are about 2" in diameter and they pop right out. All sweet gum and persimmon.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Thanks, Blue River for the fix. It worked like a charm even though I had to lift the Yanmar rear end off the ground on the oposite side to torque it enough. I could hear it popping in the frame but couldnt see anything bending. I guess I need to be more genteel with my equipment. It needs to be built like a dozer to keep me from wrecking it.
Now if Sears can find out which bolt fell out of my zero turn lawnmower that holds up the electric deck level adjustment, I will have all my stuff running proper again.
I was mowing some rough area (which is about all of my yard but this was more rough) and happened to notice a shiny spacer laying in the grass. It was then that I noticed that the mower deck was running on the anti-scalping wheels on both sides. I got it back to the shop, jacked it up and looked throughly for something loose but didnt see anything so I called the repair service. Glad I got the extended warranty on that thing. Hopefully bolts falling out are covered.

 

[TripleR]

Something similar might be a contributor to the bend. I have hit some pine with mine right on the outer corner while mowing at a pretty good clip by misjudging the clearance a bit. Really fast stop when that happens. Also misused it digging out tree roots with the corner which I will try to avoid from now on. I have pretty much got my trees down to sapling size which I have been pulling with a chain and my Kubota RTV 900. Surprising how big a sapling I can pop out of the ground with that thing and it is so much easier to get on and off AND maneuver around in the thicket. Most of them are about 2" in diameter and they pop right out. All sweet gum and persimmon.

Ours got bent when my son was helping a tractor less friend clear his property. The tractor was left there while my son had to do something else. His friend decided it looked pretty simple, so he figured he could do it. He had no idea how it got bent as he was doing the same things as my son...