Loader Converting 300cx loader to solid mount?

[600xc4me]

My 430 FEL on the 4300 works great.. not too loose. Comes off at least once a year for mounting the snow plow blade. Love the quick tach system.
Wouldn't want it difficult to remove if ever the time comes to have to work on the engine or thereabouts.

Not sure how I'd go about turning it into a solid mount, but a good fabricator/welder likely can do that without too much problem. After all, seems just weld it in place.

It sure is a nice system I agree. But I never use it, and I do some fairly heavy digging and lifting of unbalanced loads which creates a lot of flex from one side to the other. You could weld the front but the main post on the rear mount doesn't look weldable to me. Can anyone confirm what material it's made of?

On my 955 with a 420 loader I added shims to the square bars that the rear of the loader rotates onto. It worked but I wasn't totally satisfied. My 4410 is also loose but I haven't done anything about it. I've wonder though about the mounting holes for the rear bars where they attach to the tractor. Those holes are slotted and I've wondered if that wasn't a way to tighten up the mount. To me it looks like you could loosen up the four bolts and then rotate the mount to take up the slack. I haven't tried it yet though.

I would never weld my loader to the mounts. It's just too handy to be able to remove the loader when necessary.

Yeah I would prefer not the weld it totally solid either, but if you could fab up a few brackets on the loader and the mount, then you could at least bolt them together?

How long have you had this CX FEL? Are you sure it is set up right and tight. The big nut on the arm can be adjusted pretty tight to keep a lot of the play out of it. The loader seems to have a big spring on the bottom of the arm to make it flexible. If I was to the point of abusing the thing I would just adjust it as good as possible and call it a day. Maybe something won't break because of the forgiveness that is built in.

I have a CX and haul maximum capacity logs and rocks and fill and never had a problem with the looseness that tightening those two arm bolt won't take care of.

I'm not even 100% sure. I want to say I have under 500 hrs on it.
I have them quite snug yes, I will try tightening them more though. But to me it's still a bandaid. I hate the way it can bang up and down in the front when applying down pressure. That part looks like a fairly simple fix though with a few brackets to bolt it to the frame.

With my 300 (not 300x or 300cx, but I 'think' the mast to bracket connection is the same) I think the issue is wear on the 'pocket', be it the loader side or mount side. I keep the adjustment bolts and jam nuts/bolts tight. To get them tight, I lift the front wheels off the ground with the loader, then tighten the adjustment bolts out TIGHT, and the jam nut, and set screw bolt. That takes as much slack out as possible. However, having done that about once a year, I've notice the loader doesnt lower to the ground as far as it did when new. Which stands to reason if you study the geometry of the loader frame, mast, and how wear of the pocket and tightening the adjustment bolts to compensate, changes the final available down travel of the loader. A bolted solid connection and bolted brace from mast to loader frame/hoop that attaches to the front mount, may also be in order. Ive lost 2" of down travel, getting it back would be nice. Ive also thought of shims inside the pocket to compensate for wear, would allow loader more down travel.

I agree on this point! I can watch it move in the socket when I'm working. I'll have to pull the loader off and have a look at how it's built in there. Maybe a few shims would do the trick.

 

[beenthere]

and I do some fairly heavy digging and lifting of unbalanced loads

For a compact utility tractor, you may be working beyond its design limits. Which I do on occasion too, but realize there are limits that could prove costly.

Maybe a heavier duty tractor is what you should be looking at for a better future.

 

[600xc4me]

I'm sure I am! I don't like doing it but I'm never sure what else to do lol if I can manage it then I make do with what I have. Which results in some hard use. The majority isn't to bad, but we have a fully treed property which can be hard on equipment. Im in a bad spot, my 3320 is to big for the developed area of my yard and to small for the undeveloped areas.

 

[art]

When I look at fit and finish on tractors part of it is for the loader fit! Many of the after-markets are really loose at connecting points as well as where the cylinders attach instead of being within a 1/4" of tightness which still gives some room for slop. It is not a problem when new but they often open up depending on use. Some use shims on the frame for tighter fit as well as even spacers often over an inch long which will loosen up sometimes breaking the bolts off that support and carry the loader. Would I ever think to not have a quick attach loader? Why would I want to go back 30 years on design and knowingly add to a future labor bill for removal and installation?

 

[tomd999]

Has anyone done this? I would love if my 300cx was a solid mount loader. I hate how loose it feels and how much flex it has. I ran a 3032 e with a 300x solid mount loader, and it's a joke compared to the cx loader, but I sure love how solid it is. Has anyone built brackets or done anything of this sort?

Hiya,

The 300CX loaders are designed with a coil spring suspension to lessen shock loads to the chassis. The amount of "jounce" can be adjusted quite easily. Refer to the manual for the loader in the "Checking Parking Stand/Weight Bracket Engagement" section, at the bottom of the section there is the mast locking bolt adjustment procedure. It goes as follows, the more clearance the big stop bolt has against the mast pad, the greater the movement of the loader on the spring suspension system, if you run them up solid against the mast, there will be almost no movement.

I keep mine very close but far enough to have a slight bit of movement to lessen any shock loads.

Hope it helps
Tom