Did I bust something on the loader hydraulics?

[Zebrafive]

I am waiting to see the results of loosening all the loader mount bolts, leveling the boom arms (side to side) or torque tube, then tightening the mount bolts to torque spec.
OP said he did one side, then the other, but not both loosened at the same time.

 

[RancherGuy]

The pipe has to be twisted back to the original position by an over-compensating reverse-twist to overcome the spring-back of the steel

As mentioned in another thread in regard to a twisted torque tube between the two SSQA ends, an option is to cut the tube and then weld back together with the loader arms aligned. Alignment could be achieved several ways with one of them being setting the bucket down flat with it and the tractor on a flat concrete slab. A portable band saw, if available, might be a choice for cutting as it would leave a narrow kerf to weld back together.

npalen: it appears that you don't understand what I wrote. I am NOT referring to the bucket attachments. I am referring to the main connection between the two ARMS, commonly a large diameter pipe.

 

[dcarman]

There is always some play in the hydraulic system when there is no pressure. That looks normal to me. What I see is a week loader mount design. That large round tube that bolts the loader to the tractor frame probably torqued a little and a very little twist in it and your loader is no longer level when raised. It will seem straight with no load when the bucket is on the ground but something is bent there. I don't know if there are any reference points to measure to. You could measure from your upper loader pivots in back top to the lower front of the frame on each side to maybe find the bend.

 

[JCoastie]

I had that happen on my LS. Apparently it had something to do with compressing the one cylinder and it didn't bounce back. My dealer said to try raising and lowering the loader all the way up and down into the float position. After 5 times, it was right again.

That was certainly an interesting tid bit. I tried it 20+ times this morning, unfortunately no change.

 

[RancherGuy]

This is what it looks like on a flat surface

Yes, yes, yes. This is exactly what happened to me. See my long post to understand what I had to do to fix the problem. You will not see anything wrong that can be measured, other than how the bucket sits on the floor - no angles that are off, no measurements between pins that are off, etc. The damage is the big blue pipe between that arms that you put your square against. THAT pipe has a very slight longitudinal twist, much like you see a twisted candy cane.

The required correction is to twist the whole FEL in a counter-clockwise direction as you stand looking at the front of the tractor. You can do this by keeping the arms low and using horizontal leverage to create a twisting action on the arms. A practical problem may be to keep the tractor from moving. With the leverage I had, the front tires were planted on the ground and the back of my tractor was sliding sideways. With your tractor size, you may be able to utilize a strong long pole or fence post with a truck/vehicle pulling on the tip. The longer the better and easier the pull will be.

 

[npalen]

npalen: it appears that you don't understand what I wrote. I am NOT referring to the bucket attachments. I am referring to the main connection between the two ARMS, commonly a large diameter pipe.

I understand what you wrote. I was just making reference to the similarity of the previous thread that involved the smaller connection at the SSQA. The "main connection" is much larger than the SSQA connection.

 

[RancherGuy]

Yes, yes, yes. This is exactly what happened to me. See my long post to understand what I had to do to fix the problem. You will not see anything wrong that can be measured, other than how the bucket sits on the floor - no angles that are off, no measurements between pins that are off, etc. The damage is the big blue pipe between that arms that you put your square against. THAT pipe has a very slight longitudinal twist, much like you see a twisted candy cane.

The required correction is to twist the whole FEL in a counter-clockwise direction as you stand looking at the front of the tractor. You can do this by keeping the arms low and using horizontal leverage to create a twisting action on the arms. A practical problem may be to keep the tractor from moving. With the leverage I had, the front tires were planted on the ground and the back of my tractor was sliding sideways. With your tractor size, you may be able to utilize a strong long pole or fence post with a truck/vehicle pulling on the tip.

Another comment to this: if the damage was to the FEL mounting brackets, then the FEL would not be centered with respect to the tractor hood. The picture shows that it is centered, therefore it is not the FEL mounts.

 

[Tx Jim]

To make that bucket level to ground I'd add a pound or 2 of air pressure to tractor LH rear tire.

 

[rScotty]

I like that approach, Jim. It might even work.
Before I read your reply my question to Rancher Guy and the Twisters was this:

Assuming that you Twisters are right and the problem is a longitudinal twist in that large diameter tube..... how else might one level the loader besides using massive leverage to "untwist" the tube.
rScotty

 

[RancherGuy]

This is what it looks like on a flat surface

Thinking about this more, there is an alternative corrective action.

For option 1, I previously described a horizontal action with a long pole/post (or tree).
For option 2, you can use a long pole/post/tree grasped in your grapple. Hang it far out on the right side of the tractor to create a counter-twist action. The longer the pole the better. Lift the bucket/grapple high enough to be at the same level as the FEL mounting pins. If the pole is long enough, you might even be able to get by with your body weight hanging on the end, which makes it easy to measure change when you take your weight off. If you and a friend's weight (politically, a wife is not suggested) is not enough, chain the tip of the pole to a tree and use the arm lift hydraulics to force the arms to twist to the right because the pole tip is stationary and the grapple is lifting. Check your results often to see if there is change. You may have to repeat many times until all is correct.

You are likely to have the left rear tractor tire lift. You'll have to figure a way to keep it planted - maybe weights, maybe tying your ROPS or 3 point to the base of a tree or a big fat fence post.