Front Grill Brush Guard

[Hunter8282]

Hi all,
Finally ordered an NS4710H Cab. Should be here in a couple weeks. I know I want to get a brush grill guard as I cut firewood and want to use the tractor to clean up brush.

Thinking Broken Anvil but I am completely new to tractor accessories. I was thinking the diamond pattern would provide the best protection, but also like the small coyote face with slots but a little concerned with sticking poking through the slots. Thoughts?

Any recommendations are greatly welcomed.

 

[Robin Veerman]

Heck yah….get the Coyote face

 

[Torvy]

I had a local welder do mine. It cost me $50 vs $250+ to order one. He happens to be my neighbor, so it may cost more, but still much less than online.

Different make, but the same concept..

 

[yanmars]

I wish I had the protector this week. Had my hydraulic steel line and "rubber" hose tangled with a fallen tree I was pushing out of the way with my front end loader. Line so out of joint it was leaking. Straightened everything the best I could in place and tightened the steel line connector and fortunately the leak was eliminated. The brush guard may well have helped but this came in from the side so perhaps not.
Good insurance though. A nice post

 

[J&K]

Have a 5Eleven Designz on My Rx and Love it. Great quality and very stout. He has several for the Kioti tractors. Web site 5elevendesignz.com

 

[tacticalturnip]

You can't go wrong with BrokenAnvil or 5Eleven Designz, they're both of excellent quality.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Last fall my buddy, Mark, was eager to pull an oak log from a slash pile to help heat his home over winter. He and I have done piles of work together working on hand signals (installing hi-lift conveyor systems, building red steel sheds, moving containers, et cetra). Anyway, Mark directed me to crush in and wreck the front grill of my tractor.

Whoops. Bad buddy, no dinner! Smile.

So this spring I removed all the broken grill bits and ordered in $400 of new, not-broken grill bits, and pulled out the hood's grill bits cross member support. To avoid future not-paying-attention-episodes, I welded in some heavy expanded steel into my grill guard in the hopes to avoid another $400 in parts repair.

Now I'm waiting on warmer weather to finish rattle-canning my brush guard Chevy engine block orange before putting it back on my tractor.

If you do this tips:

1) Do what I did and get a larger-than-what-you-need-chunk of expanded metal so you can trim it and make it symmetrical.
2) I used 1/2" angle iron around the edges, but if I was to do it again I'd go with 3/4" angle iron as the heavier the expanded steel, the harder it is to work with getting it even so it looks symmetrical.

 

[Kiowner]

Nice job, and I'm sure Mark is glad you have a solution for the next incident

 

[Rexb]

That's a heavy duty grill MinnesotaEric, nice welding job. ​

I welded a lighter expanded-metal sheet onto the stock frontguard and it's been stopping the brush and branches too.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Here is the end result:

In the past, I've also laminated in a 1" thick mounting plate since the factory brush guard is a bit weak.

 

[Blue Mule]

I had a local welder build mine also. It's steel plate mesh, not wire mesh.. VERY strong. He designed it so that I can pull a pin on the frame and tilt the brush gaurd forward for better hood opening and engine work access. Cost me a fraction of what aftermarket brush gaurds cost.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I had a local welder build mine also. It's steel plate mesh, not wire mesh.. VERY strong. He designed it so that I can pull a pin on the frame and tilt the brush gaurd forward for better hood opening and engine work access. Cost me a fraction of what aftermarket brush gaurds cost.

A foldable brush guard is a good idea. a few years ago I purchased the spring-loaded pins I would need to make my guard foldable, but decided that with the loader right there, I can use my own tractor's loader to pop on and off the brush guard for service work.

Expanded steel wise, I wanted to get the kind of stuff used on stairs, but this was the heaviest stuff Westside Steel had in stock in Fargo when I went there to have an operation.

 

[sandman2234]

Father-in-law pulled some expanded metal out of an oven at his job and got a pass to bring it home to me. It was stainless before it went into the oven but heat got to it and it has lightly rusted. Where they welded it into the ovens, there are holes, but all in all he pulled 11 sheets (4x8) and brought them home to me.
Making a grill guard might be a good place to use up a small piece. This is the flattened expanded metal as opposed to the expanded metal that has ridges. It has smaller openings than what MinnesotaEric used.
David from jax