3-Point Hitch Bent Telescopic Stabilizer using box blade

[RDrancher]

I cut drainage swales in reverse all the time. I take smaller "bites" and run the tractor in 2wd.

 

[s219]

Then I adjusted the top link so the box was level with the ground from front to back. This worked real well and I had no issues cutting dirt and moving it around the road to make it more level. I have another 3 days to get this done.

Tweaking the top link is the secret to using a box blade with dual cutting edges like you have. Shorten the top link to make the front cutter bite and dig in. Lengthen the top link to bring the front cutter up and feather the rear cutter for smoothing or distributing material. (all of this assumes you're going forward -- would be opposite for going in reverse). There are multiple settings for different jobs. Once you figure out how awesome that is, you will want a hydraulic top link, though on the 2650 you can probably reach the current top link and adjust by hand without too much trouble.

 

[Jay4200]

Yup - Turf tires. The wife convinced me to get those instead of R4. I have to drive through the yard to get to the back of our property. When you have the 4x4 engaged it can make a mess of grass even with turf tires. Also - the ground is not too wet and had some gravel on it. I had good traction most of the time. The road is also a little down hill when I had the box blade down. On the bent stabilizer - I'm almost convinced I did this going in reverse with the rippers down. No more of that. As a far as heat and strength on the steel - if I heat and quench it right, it can actually make it stronger. I'm not convince I want to do that (make it stronger). I suspect they are designed to bend. Better that than breaking an axle or something more expensive. Whether I do the steel conditioning correctly or not depends on how much I educate myself on that. Maybe a torch would be better than a bead of Mig Weld. I'll probably get a replacement anyway.

Personally, I'd just take off the stabilizer, slide it apart, then pound the bent piece flat with a hammer. If I saw any evidence of cracking, I'd buzz a low-penetration weld across it and grind it smooth. Piece o' cake.

 

[Porchfan]

@Jay4200 - that's essentially what I did. It's been fine all day today. The key for me was to align each on the same hole and not cut backwards. Today I made huge progress.. (the wife was at work - funny how you get more done without anyone around you that you have to deal with). I cut a high side swale & crowned the road a bit. It looks good. Tuesday, it's time to dig two or three culverts & lay drain pipe under the road at the low spots. Then rip rap and gravel. Hopefully I can get it done by Thursday when we expect rain. Below are few pics of the progress. Aside from the bend in the stabilizer on day 1, the tractor has been flawless. :thumbsup:

 

[Porchfan]

Update on this post: I've been using the stabilizer I repaired 8 months ago with no issues. The road and backside of our property has been transformed well by the B2650. Here's a pic of the road and new gate. Even so, I finally got around to buying a new stabilizer plate after I found one for only $30 at Messicks. I found the parts breakdown from them and ordered on the spot after seeing the price. $23 for the part and $6.95 for shipping. Here it is with corresponding part number. I'm impressed by Messicks. There's more info there than on any Kubota site I could find.. I'll probably just keep this in the shop and only use if I bend the original one again.

 

[CalG]

Late to the comment's section, but if I may add one comment regarding sway links.

The link you showed in the original post failed in compression. That is, a side load on the BB pushed the bottom arms off to one side. The Adjustment failing on your part was not setting the sway link on the other side to come under tension before the link that failed was called on to carry the load in compression.

Clear as Mud?

It really doesn't matter if there is "slop" in the side to side clearances of the sway links as long as the links are positioned to come in tension and not compression. This takes observation during mounting the implement. That's about all. Adjusting the links just snug as the lift passes through the tightest spot in it's arc will do the job. But tight in a slack position will fail the link pins in tension when moving through the tight spot. Does the BX have it's sway link pivots coincident with the lower arm pivots? IF so, then there are no tight or loose spots in the lift motion.

Boils down to "correct adjustment", as been advised in earlier post.

As mentioned also, the 3ph is not made for compression, this is especially true of the sway links. I'm brutal on the rest of the parts though. Pushing stuff all the time! Heck I use the scraper blade in reverse about 60% of the time. But I set the sway links with care! ;-)

 

[Porchfan]

The stabilizer bar bent when I was running backwards with the rippers all the way down and I hit a big poplar root. It's not a good idea to run the 3 pt backwards with that much load. As far as the adjustment holes on how they were set up, I may have had one in a slot. I'm not sure. There may have been some slop. Either way, I have run the tractor hard for 6 months or so with no issues in this area after fixing the bar and not running it backwards anymore unless I'm pushing a small amount of dirt or gravel and the rippers are up.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Late to the comment's section, but if I may add one comment regarding sway links.

The link you showed in the original post failed in compression. That is, a side load on the BB pushed the bottom arms off to one side. The Adjustment failing on your part was not setting the sway link on the other side to come under tension before the link that failed was called on to carry the load in compression.

Clear as Mud?

It really doesn't matter if there is "slop" in the side to side clearances of the sway links as long as the links are positioned to come in tension and not compression. This takes observation during mounting the implement. That's about all. Adjusting the links just snug as the lift passes through the tightest spot in it's arc will do the job. But tight in a slack position will fail the link pins in tension when moving through the tight spot. Does the BX have it's sway link pivots coincident with the lower arm pivots? IF so, then there are no tight or loose spots in the lift motion.

Boils down to "correct adjustment", as been advised in earlier post.

As mentioned also, the 3ph is not made for compression, this is especially true of the sway links. I'm brutal on the rest of the parts though. Pushing stuff all the time! Heck I use the scraper blade in reverse about 60% of the time. But I set the sway links with care! ;-)

The stabilizer bar bent when I was running backwards with the rippers all the way down and I hit a big poplar root. It's not a good idea to run the 3 pt backwards with that much load. As far as the adjustment holes on how they were set up, I may have had one in a slot. I'm not sure. There may have been some slop. Either way, I have run the tractor hard for 6 months or so with no issues in this area after fixing the bar and not running it backwards anymore unless I'm pushing a small amount of dirt or gravel and the rippers are up.

Backing up is not the key issue with the sway links, as it surely is with the lift arms which simply must take compressive load when pushing. OTOH , pulling or pushing, the telescopic links can be set up to limit sway when they are in tension, as CalG says, or by different adjustment, when they are in compression. Flat strap stock just isnt very resistant to compression.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Be lucky the brake housing where the three point arms attach did not break. Somebody did that pushing a load of logs with a box scraper.

David

 

[rScotty]

I disagree with some of the adjustment methods here. I cannot see how a pair of rigid stabilizer links can both be set so that both sides will be in tension rather than compression. It looks to me that when the implement is loaded from the side, the stabilizer link on that side will be in tension and if the other side will either be too loose or in compression....probably too loose so that the second side isn't in compression. But if that is so, what happens when the load is shifted to the other side? Then that first stabilizer bar has to be in serious compression.

I suppose one could very carefully set both stabilizers up for nearly zero side play of the implement. Then the inevitable compressive loads on a side wouldn't be enough to fail that stabilizer before the tension ability of the other side came into play.

The solution would seem to be to use sway-reducing chains instead of rigid bars.
luck, rScotty

 

[SPYDERLK]

Be lucky the brake housing where the three point arms attach did not break. Somebody did that pushing a load of logs with a box scraper.

David

That sounds like a failure secondary to a sway or lift link problem -- allowing the lift link to pry on the housing.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I disagree with some of the adjustment methods here. I cannot see how a pair of rigid stabilizer links can both be set so that both sides will be in tension rather than compression. It looks to me that when the implement is loaded from the side, the stabilizer link on that side will be in tension and if the other side will either be too loose or in compression....probably too loose so that the second side isn't in compression. But if that is so, what happens when the load is shifted to the other side? Then that first stabilizer bar has to be in serious compression.

I suppose one could very carefully set both stabilizers up for nearly zero side play of the implement. Then the inevitable compressive loads on a side wouldn't be enough to fail that stabilizer before the tension ability of the other side came into play.

The solution would seem to be to use sway-reducing chains instead of rigid bars.
luck, rScotty

Both sides, either in tension or compression are fighting each other. IOT not fight you must allow a little side sway. Depending on which side of the lift arm the telescopic sway links act on will determine the strategy.
... If, as on my 7520, they act on the outside, for tension you would set the arms a little wide so that the linch pin on one implement pin would come into play before the other lift arm hit the shoulder on the other implement pin.
... If, as on a BX, they act on the inside, for tension you would set the arms a little narrow so that the shoulders come into play alternately as the implement sways. The linch pins are never loaded in this case.
,,,larry

 

[bcp]

Does the BX have it's sway link pivots coincident with the lower arm pivots? IF so, then there are no tight or loose spots in the lift motion.

Sorta-kinda coincident. Photo below borrowed from another thread.



Hitch modification thread photo came from.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/243273-bx25-3pt-modifications-2.html

Bruce

 

[Porchfan]

When you have a tractor with a heavy implement that is digging deep in the soil like a box blade or a plow and moving forward, both telescopic or turnbuckle type stabilizers are in tension. One may have more than the other but both are going to be in tension 99% or more of the time. If the stabilizer are very ridged like a telescopic stabilizer with very little sway, one could get into compression periodically. However, that is not what happen to my tractor.

I believe I had some slack in the stabilizers. As a result there is no way they bent when I was moving forward. I know I moved backward very hard several times with the rippers and blade way down. I also tried to lift the hitch several times when I was stuck temporarily on that big root. It could be that I bent the stabilizer while lifting the implement. The tractor can lift quite a bit. Also, the stabilizer was bent downward and not upward. If it was upward, the lifting action on a stuck root would not have been the cause.

The bottom line in all this is telescopic stabilizers are fine if you run your tractor properly. I should never had moved hard backwards with the blade and rippers down. I also should have been more careful lifting the hitch while it was stuck.

 

[ovrszd]

The bottom line in all this is telescopic stabilizers are fine if you run your tractor properly. I should never had moved hard backwards with the blade and rippers down. I also should have been more careful lifting the hitch while it was stuck.

I would add, telescoping stabilizers are fine it they are pinned properly.

I do a LOT of wok backwards with my BB. If the stabilizers are properly pinned they will also take load off the 3pt arms.

In my case my rippers are hydraulic controlled and I would NEVER push backward with them lowered. So that might add some load to the operation. But if the stabilizers were properly pinned no damage should occur.

When using a BB I pin as tight as I can, allowing no side slop.

 

[CalG]

When you have a tractor with a heavy implement that is digging deep in the soil like a box blade or a plow and moving forward, both telescopic or turnbuckle type stabilizers are in tension. One may have more than the other but both are going to be in tension 99% or more of the time. If the stabilizer are very ridged like a telescopic stabilizer with very little sway, one could get into compression periodically. However, that is not what happen to my tractor.

I believe I had some slack in the stabilizers. As a result there is no way they bent when I was moving forward. I know I moved backward very hard several times with the rippers and blade way down. I also tried to lift the hitch several times when I was stuck temporarily on that big root. It could be that I bent the stabilizer while lifting the implement. The tractor can lift quite a bit. Also, the stabilizer was bent downward and not upward. If it was upward, the lifting action on a stuck root would not have been the cause.

The bottom line in all this is telescopic stabilizers are fine if you run your tractor properly. I should never had moved hard backwards with the blade and rippers down. I also should have been more careful lifting the hitch while it was stuck.

You are missing something, or the photos you attached in the OP do not display the full story.

The sway bar is bent. That means that it was subject to compression i.e. was forced to become "shorter". Sway arms should never see any of the loads that the lower links see, such as tension or compression. They only come to play when the lower arms are pushed or pulled SIDE WAYS. Pulling a deeply engaged attachment with no side loads would mean the sway links would experience NO loading.

In Tension, the sway links will rupture cleanly at failure. In compression, they will bend. Simple as that!

I urge you to look and observe . Simple adjustment is all it takes. Using the 3ph in reverse is not the end of the world. Just set up appropriately!

 

[ovrszd]

Using the 3ph in reverse is not the end of the world. Just set up appropriately!

True that!!!

 

[rScotty]

You are missing something, or the photos you attached in the OP do not display the full story.

The sway bar is bent. That means that it was subject to compression i.e. was forced to become "shorter". Sway arms should never see any of the loads that the lower links see, such as tension or compression. They only come to play when the lower arms are pushed or pulled SIDE WAYS. Pulling a deeply engaged attachment with no side loads would mean the sway links would experience NO loading.

In Tension, the sway links will rupture cleanly at failure. In compression, they will bend. Simple as that!

I urge you to look and observe . Simple adjustment is all it takes. Using the 3ph in reverse is not the end of the world. Just set up appropriately!

That's how I see it too. It makes no difference if the implement is being pulled or pushed, if there's no side loads there isn't any load on the sway links. Zero. Of course that's zero in theory rather than practice.....and only true with the perfect tractor running in a perfectly straight line in soil that never varies.

In practice, turning ever so slightly, a difference in traction or slope, uneven soil, a few rocks and the occasional buried stump are all out there just waiting to throw some mean side loads against our implements.

As CalG says, "....look and observe" - can't do better than that.

What I'm taking away from this thread is there's a benefit to designing an inexpensive part that will bend rather than break.....and in bending will also protect something else more expensive. Sorta like a fuse, but even better because this fuse can be bent back straight again.
That's clever.
luck, rScotty

 

[SPYDERLK]

What I'm taking away from this thread is there's a benefit to designing an inexpensive part that will bend rather than break.....and in bending will also protect something else more expensive. Sorta like a fuse, but even better because this fuse can be bent back straight again.
That's clever.
luck, rScotty

Nope. ... Just a part that is not strong enuf to use in compression - a design error that is as likely to endanger other components.

 

[CalG]

Nope.. just a part that failed in compression because the part that was supposed to carry the load in tension was not adjusted to do so.