home building a frontloader

[Renze]

I think it's my turn to share some project photos:
My brother had an old Deutz, a D50 built in 1964 somewhere, no powersteering, no 4wd, with a classic front loader that once started its life on a Ford Major.
After having rebuilt a manure spreader 3 years ago, and using the old Deutz to load her up, i realised that this hard work was not a hobby anymore, it was serious physical labor to turn that Deutz without hydro assist.
My fathers Zetor 5245 did have the MFWD, power assisted steering and the guts to work with a loader.

I went searching on the internet and found a used Veto FX 12 frontloader, it was cracked but the cylinders were o.k. It didnt have an implement carrier frame, tractor mounting frame nor hydraulics.
I bought it for 425 Euro and picked it on a saturday morning, with a friend of mine and my Volvo.

Following photos show the loader right after we took it off the trailer, the loader hung in front of the 5245 just for looks, and a picture showing the old Deutz with loader, just to compare.

 

[Renze]

I had about 10 meters of UNP 180 beams around, i scavenged those from a scrapbin of the company i worked and had them in the barn for a year, just in case i might need them... well, i needed them when i started the front loader..

I started thinking and measuring, making an autocad drawing of the rear axle trumpets, fuel tank, cab support bar, and the mounting bolts on the front end. I also checked if it would clear the hydro assist steerign cylinder and front wheels.

Then i started bending the beams, i needed 30 mm offset because the rear axle housing is wider than the front end. It also needed an extra bend to clear the fuel tank which is mounted under the cab.

I decided to bend it Redneck style, by just driving over it with a tractor...

Photos show the drawing, and the axle bars for lateral stability

 

[Renze]

Next photos show the axle bars near completion, they rise 4 centimeter to clear thecab suppoort bar, which is a 78 mm round bar. I welded cups underneath them and put a clamp over them, tightened with 2 M14 bolts on each side.
Then the main consoles, torched out of 25 mm (1 inch) steel sheet, this was done on the cutting table of the same former employer who donated the steel beams.

 

[Renze]

The next photos show the half finished result: I didnt allways have time to work on it, but i did need the loader to take wrapped haylage bales off the stack with the spikes.

First photo is the loader mounted on the 5245, the tractor has no sheetmetal on, i overhauled the cylinder heads that winter and didnt want to put the sheetmetal back on untill it had a lick of fresh paint..
The downforce of it was tested here, wrapping up an old rotten manure tanker we've cut to pieces.
second photo shows it spreading manure, i have added an extra bracket on top of the console here, for the future parallel linkage.

Second photo shows partly finished loader, you can see i added an axtra bracket on top of the loader consoles, to mount the future parallel linkage.

third photo shows it with the parallel linkage finished, and the loader painted black. The home built bale clamp is attached, to stack wrapped haylage on the wagon.

4th picture is a side view of the repainted tractor and partly painted front loader, holding a bale in the clamp.

5th picture is another photo of my brother on the 1965 Zetor 2011 pulling my 3 ton Schuitemaker spreader, also from the late 60's, which i rebuilt 3 years ago and put new oak wood floor and sides on.

 

[Renze]

Some more info:

I bought a used valve block off an old TMR wagon, with Bowden cable control so i can keep the hot hydraulics out of the cab. I equipped it with Euro standard quick connect, the plates were laser cut at a company i worked at that time.

I calculated the strength, for variable load, a safety factor of 3 is advised to keep head of fatigue problems.

This project took me more than a year, and its still not finished. I have loaded heaps of manure with it in the mean time, and after 3 days of horse muck spreading, i still enjoy it and feel like doing neighbor's heap as well... Other years, one day of manure loading with the Deutz without power steering and my shoulders were all beaten up...

At the moment i am working on an improved latch lock for the quick connect loader consoles, i mean to disconnect the loader as a whole, not just the bucket. The old bolt system had way too much play and was just sloppin'up and down on the road.

 

[bones1]

Excellent fabrication work,you should be proud of that.

 

[PineRidge]

Looks to me like you know your way around tools. Nice job mating the loader to the tractor. How do you like the self-leveling feature?

 

[Ductape]

Renze, Nice job ! That is the type of thread that keeps me reading here ! I'm somewhat surprised to know you have rednecks in Holland too !!! I thought it was a USA thing !!

 

[Renze]

I was just making a rough calculation of the total cost, untill my Iexplorer window closed all of a sudden, before i had the chance to post it...... I wont be elaborating a second time.

Total cost for parts, hydraulics, laser cut and lathed work, paint etcetera is about 1600 Euro. It is still less than half the price of a used loader. IF !! you can find one that matches your tractor... A good self levelling loader like a quicke 540 with Valtra subframe, sells for 3500 Euro.

I reinforced the cracked loader booms by 71%, by welding two strips of 50x10 m flatbar on top and bottom of them. The ugly reinforcement the previous owner made, was removed because of aesthetics.

In the mean time i put a brand new oil pump on the tractor, which makes a great deal of difference when working with the loader.

The self levelling works perfect with the bucket, bale spikes and bale grab. I still need to roll the mountings of the pallet forks more forward, to get the correct hydr. cylinder length when the forks are flat on the ground. Otherwise it tips it over in the first meter you lift, because the geometry isnt correct yet. Anyways, i needed to redo the pallet forks attach anyways because it was a quick job because we needed the pallet forks the day after, on a construction site.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Renze,
Nice job ! Really enjoyed the pics of the farm

Where you are located, is that local below sea level ? Very nice property!