How do you break a FEL?

[Sniggle]

Serious question...I have been working hard with my new to me tractor doing finish grading after a contractor and tracked CAT did the clearing. I am new to FEL's, so occasionally I will move the joystick the wrong way and lift the front end or take the bucket in at a too steep angle. I am just trying to understand the worst possible mistakes to make so I can avoid them.

 

[gordon21]

Don't ram at something on just one side. You can twist all kinds of things.

Don't tip the bucket all the way as though you are dumping it and then trying to use the vertical surface as a bulldozer with the cutting edge perpendicular to the ground and moving forward. Bad/expensive for hydraulic arms.


Backdragging is OK with less than a 30 degree angle. Front edge of blade on the ground and the rear edge of the bucket elevated 5-10" and moving in reverse only.

If you feel the tractor straining, stop what you are trying to do with the FEL. Back up a few inches and resume trying to lift/dig.

If you are digging, a toothbar will make your life easy and it will be easier on your tractor too.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Serious question...I have been working hard with my new to me tractor doing finish grading after a contractor and tracked CAT did the clearing. I am new to FEL's, so occasionally I will move the joystick the wrong way and lift the front end or take the bucket in at a too steep angle. I am just trying to understand the worst possible mistakes to make so I can avoid them.

If its a Kubota FEL on a Kubota you will probably not be able to break it without trying. Here are some trys that will probably be effective; #] push hard on a steep bucket angle with the control valve centered, #] ram a tree at 4 or 5 mph [like going down a trail in the woods and catching the bucket on a turn, #] backdragging at 90degree or more bucket angle with the front wheels off the ground -you might get away with that one, #] run it with loose mounting bolts - that would be more likely to break the tractor tho, #] lower extremely heavy loads fast and stop them suddenly. A good FEL sized for the tractor is tough. You must be creative.
larry

 

[Soundguy]

?How? to break it.. treat it like it is a bull dozer... which it ain't.

As the other poster said. don't take running starts and ram into piles.. and don't try to use the lit to pop stumps.. try to keep the bucket load even and not all on one side.. like leveraging large boulders / stumps.. otherwise your loader may make a 'frown' or be droopy on one side.. Treat it like a hydraulically powered hand shovel and wheel barrow.

soundguy

Serious question...I have been working hard with my new to me tractor doing finish grading after a contractor and tracked CAT did the clearing. I am new to FEL's, so occasionally I will move the joystick the wrong way and lift the front end or take the bucket in at a too steep angle. I am just trying to understand the worst possible mistakes to make so I can avoid them.

 

[RalphVa]

What works the best going into a pile is to use a combo of slow forward and slow upcurl on the bucket, to load it.

Helps a lot to have a bucket level indicator. Hope they provided you one. Mine didn't come with one initially. Mentioned it to my dealer, and he got me one for nothing. Said I should have had one.

Ralph

 

[Sniggle]

OK, I have done some no-nos. I did a fair amount of back blading today, and I did sometimes 'rake' the material forward with my wheels a bit of the ground (used it to rake a large boulder out of a muddy quagmire so I could get a handle on it also).

I still occasionally will mess up going into a pile and jack the front of the tractor up...although I am much better now after 6 or so hours using the FEL.

I came close to a big mistake today, almost putting the tractor on its side. I had a bucket full of rocks and I approached the dump point at a bit of an angle to the slope. I started to raise the bucket as I approached the point and the tractor got unstable for a momemt. Cheaply learned a valuable lesson..don't raise a heavy load to dump until you are stopped and stable at your dump point.

Hopefully the bota can survive my learning curve without requiring repair parts.

 

[daTeacha]

Keep your load as low as possible, especially when moving on sidehills, or you'll break more than the loader. Your arm or neck comes to mind.

Try to avoid raising it any higher than the minumum needed to dump it if the tractor is not square up and down any hillside. The tractor is narrow and relatively high centered to begin with. Lifting a good load high when the thing is already tipped due to the hill is asking for a serious hurt, not to mention major embarrassment when you tell the wife you rolled the tractor and hurt yourself in the process, so would she please call a wrecker and an ambulance, in that order.

I used the loader on my Kubota B7100 in all kinds of ways that the guys here now say were wrong and didn't hurt it any. I didn't ram trees or stuff, but I did use it steeply angled for both forward and backward digging at ice on the driveway with no apparent harm. I backed down the hill with the front wheels up and the weight of the tractor on the loader quite a lot. I had bolted foot long homemade teeth on the bucket which I sometimes bent, so maybe they took the abuse instead of the loader frame. I also used it for digging out the occasional rock or stump with one corner or the other, again no harm noticed. This was with the 1630 loader, which only had about a 42" bucket and limited lift capabilities, so maybe that saved me from my ignorance.

 

[Egon]

Sniggle; I've got more ways to break a loader than one can write about. Bring it over and I'll show you most of them in a couple of hours or so!

Now that aside when learning run at reduced throttle and go slow. Do everything slowly til it feels like your not moving. Then it's time to speed up a bit. Nothing like seat time.

 

[irwin]

when learning run at reduced throttle and go slow. Do everything slowly til it feels like your not moving. Then it's time to speed up a bit. Nothing like seat time.

I like reading safety related items here, reminds me to slow up and enjoy what I'm doing, I doubt I'd enjoy rolling it over! Get work done and stay safe, ;lots of stories of whacking the barn/garage/____ with the FEL while trying to miss something else.
I agree with the guys, it's hard to damage the loader esp if it's got a toothbar on it. Not to say it can't be done, ask yourself what are the forces involved in whatever you're doing, if they're really high, maybe you'd better try another way. More than one bent hydraulic rod story on this forum.

 

[john_bud]

Best way to break the FEL is to learn "the secret" of filling buckets. Guy told me that the secret was to charge in on the spoils pile full speed and full RPM. You can expect that to crack the mounts, the FEL frame, and bend the bucket. I've wondered if it was a buddy from a welding shop that taught that "secret"?

jb

 

[Egon]

John; there are many other methods that will break loader welds.

My Little B7100 loader has had most of the factory welds redone. But there was no damage to hydraulic cylinders.

Its also had the bucket cutting edge wore out and replaced. The bottom wore thin and was built up. Added support was added to the side edges of the bucket also.

 

[Surewhynot]

The main thing I learned from this site is to use the FEL with care. This was reinforced when I read about a farmer here in Iowa who died from rolling his tractor using the FEL. What was he doing you ask? He and his son were using the FEL as a sledge to drive fence posts! The news story had his son saying that they did that all the time, just this time they were on an incline. I read my manual again to find that feature for the FEL and using it as a huge hammer wasn't mentioned It is always sad to hear of someone who gets killed using their equipment for something other than it was designed for.

I am fairly new to FEL's but from what I have learned here from the good folks who are more than willing to part with their knowledge and also through the seat time I have gotten, reading the manual thoroughly and taking your time with what your doing will protect both you and your FEL.

 

[Surewhynot]

Trash cans to curb? That is allowed

If Trash = Load, then a Front End Loader can be used! But I know what you are saying and also know you can use tools other then for the intended use, i.e. screwdriver as a jack handle, ratchet wrench handle as a hammer etc..

I was only saying that perhaps using the FEL for a inexperienced user (yes I put myself in that category) is best limited to its designed use for a while before trying to get creative. After some seat time and familiarity with the equipment, well, use it as a diving board for the above ground pool if you feel like it and are willing to accept the consequences.

 

[SkunkWerX]

I came close to a big mistake today, almost putting the tractor on its side. I had a bucket full of rocks and I approached the dump point at a bit of an angle to the slope. I started to raise the bucket as I approached the point and the tractor got unstable for a momemt. Cheaply learned a valuable lesson..don't raise a heavy load to dump until you are stopped and stable at your dump point.

Sniggles,

For your first question, avoid racking the FEL , as others have described.

I learned a technique to help when lifting a heavy load for a FEL dump.
As long as you are not loading a trailer, pick-up truck, or filling a farm bin, there is not a big need to lift high up off the ground to dump. ONLY lift as high as necessary, given your situation.

Begin your dump with the bucket at the height you were carrying. Don't make your first motion raising, as is the natural habit. Start by uncurling (dumping). Then as the front lip of the bucket is ready to touch the ground, start raising and keep uncurling so that your load is exiting the bucket very close to the ground as you raise the FEL.

If you are trying to make a pile, you can unload the first few heavy loads using this method, but, then, you will just have to take smaller/lighter (reasonable) bites as you build your pile.

Another caution: Since you mentioned rocks....Beware of shifting loads!!
Rocks, gravel, dry sand can shift in your bucket. if you are on facing a slope they can shift forward, if your are angled they can shift sideways.
A shifting load can cause a machine to go over sideways in a Split Second.

Ballast. Do you have some? if you are moving rocks you really need some. You can rig it onto your 3PH, can even be a heavy attachment like a box blade with some bags of sand on it, when you are ready to raise the load for dumping, you can lower the 3PH so the weight is as far back, and as low as possible. When I am using weight on my 3PH I try to set as low as possible, without scuffing the ground while in transport.

Wheel weights and filled tires help. So would a dedicated ballast Box on your 3PH.

Going over sideways may not break the FEL, but it can sure injure your body and cause havoc with the rest of the machine.
Going over Sideways=Not Fun.

 

[john_bud]

John; there are many other methods that will break loader welds.

Oh, I'm sure there are!


But some things are best learned on your own....

jb

 

[daTeacha]

Other tips --

Don't raise the load while moving.
Don't drive around with the bucket raised above the axle.
Don't lower a full bucket quickly and then suddenly stop it part way down.

Remember that a hill will affect the COG of the tractor. Going uphill you can comfortably carry more of a load than going down the same hill. Picking up a load that's on a hill should be done from straight downhill if at all possible.

Sidehills can be especially tricky. Go straight up or straight down, or as close to that as possible. Crossing a slope at 45 degrees is never a good idea, worse going down than up.

A "hill" can be something as small as the side of a ditch, depending on the size of your tractor.

 

[Egon]

Picking up a load that's on a hill should be done from straight downhill if at all possible.

I like doing that going downhill. Makes for a lot easier loading.

 

[N80]

I have not been able to break the loader on my L4400 and I've applied a considerable amount of determination and stupidity.

 

[Egon]

Let me have a go at it!