JD 630 3PH lift capacity

[LD1]

Anyone know what the 3ph on the 630 is rated to lift. Cant seem to find any info online.

Got pallet forks for the 3PH for shuttling totes of maple sap around and for collecting sap. Past few years we have used my MX and without the loader on the front, I can handle about 210 gallons in the tote before the front end goes light and I gotta steer with the brakes.

Dad recently got a 630 and was considering using it with the forks but wondered how the rear lift capacity would compare. Cant seem to find a spec anywhere online other than the hydraulics run a pretty low 1200psi. Its a signifyingly longer and heavier tractor so stability it would handle more than my MX if the hydraulics are strong enough.

Probably gonna start filling a tote of water and testing what its capacity truly is, but wondered if anyone had an old brochure or if they ever listed a spec for it?

 

[beenthere]

Your water load test should give the best answer.
3 ph linkage and extended forks will enter into the equation so "book specs' likely would not match your application.
Go direct to your expected load and hope you feed back the answer you get.

Pics would be great too .

 

[rScotty]

I have a 530, so it's a bit smaller than your 630. With the wide front I have it weighs about 5250 lbs and I think the 630 must be a five hundred to a thousand pounds heavier. Both models have the cat I/II 3pt hitch that looks externally the same. Very beefy. In fact, the whole tractor is very heavily built compared to today's tractors.

And I think I have most of the manuals for the tractor including the original owners manual and the power trol hydraulic system - repair manual. BTW, that is a great repair manual.

Anyway, I cannot find the 3 point specs anywhere in those manuals. They don't mention anything at all.
I know that I use the heaviest made old 3-way Big Rhino 8 foot grader blade behind mine... I think the blade is 1000 or 1200 lbs with end caps and replaceable cutting edge. That big blade is really too much for it to pull except on the level, but the 3pt does lift it easily. Lifted up, the tractor carries that blade around like it wasn't there, in fact.

I will say that the 530 will lift far more than it should. Not that it will break - they don't break. But ours can easily lift enough to make the front end light. I added a few hundred pounds to the front end just so it would not get light when the 3pt lifted heavy implements. The problem isn't how much it can lift, but how stable it is.

I have the extra wide axles and power adjust cast wheels & run them about half way out.

Please do NOT use heavy loads on the 3pt if you are running a tricycle or rollOmatic front end. With that light of a front end the tractor can spin 90 degrees left or right before you can blink. All it takes is a rock or a rut..... It will also rear up and spin.
I've done both several times and sure scared me a few times until I got a heavy wide front end and some weight up front.
Be careful. Those old JD tractors were built for power, not safety. We sure like ours, though.
rScotty

 

[LD1]

I have a 530, so it's a bit smaller than your 630. With the wide front I have it weighs about 5250 lbs and I think the 630 must be a five hundred to a thousand pounds heavier. Both models have the cat I/II 3pt hitch that looks externally the same. Very beefy. In fact, the whole tractor is very heavily built compared to today's tractors.

And I think I have most of the manuals for the tractor including the original owners manual and the power trol hydraulic system - repair manual. BTW, that is a great repair manual.

Anyway, I cannot find the 3 point specs anywhere in those manuals. They don't mention anything at all.
I know that I use the heaviest made old 3-way Big Rhino 8 foot grader blade behind mine... I think the blade is 1000 or 1200 lbs with end caps and replaceable cutting edge. That big blade is really too much for it to pull except on the level, but the 3pt does lift it easily. Lifted up, the tractor carries that blade around like it wasn't there, in fact.

I will say that the 530 will lift far more than it should. Not that it will break - they don't break. But ours can easily lift enough to make the front end light. I added a few hundred pounds to the front end just so it would not get light when the 3pt lifted heavy implements. The problem isn't how much it can lift, but how stable it is.

I have the extra wide axles and power adjust cast wheels & run them about half way out.

Please do NOT use heavy loads on the 3pt if you are running a tricycle or rollOmatic front end. With that light of a front end the tractor can spin 90 degrees left or right before you can blink. All it takes is a rock or a rut..... It will also rear up and spin.
I've done both several times and sure scared me a few times until I got a heavy wide front end and some weight up front.
Be careful. Those old JD tractors were built for power, not safety. We sure like ours, though.
rScotty

Well if it will lift enough to make the front light that is encouraging.

My 1250# rear blade makes the front of my bota feel light....bout equally comparable to 200gallon in a tote.

So if the smaller 530 can lift a blade like that the 630 should handle a full tote on forks which would be about 2000# but in close.

And yes it's a wide front

 

[rScotty]

Your wide front will help. The extra weight on the front of the 530 is an old JD FEL modified to QA onto the 530. Nice that the 30 series have serious power steering and the sprung and damped comfort seat. Gasoline engine is an easy starter. No cab, but it does have an umbrella.

 

[beenthere]

No need to fear the tricycle front ends as rScotty suggests. Easily can steer using the individual wheel brakes. Grew up on narrow front ends and used often in the woods with tow loads that needed front wheel weights. And as well, on hills in the woods.
The wide fronts will add weight for the situation, but when not enough weight and the front end is light, brakes are still needed to steer. Just my opinion and experience. Sorry to counter rScotty's take on this.

 

[Sonny580]

Narrow fronts are just as safe as wide fronts!--in fact safer! lol! wide fronts have ONLY 1 little center pin holding the whole front of the tractor up and it makes them more tippy than narrow ones! On narrow fronts you have heavy pedestal with 2 wheels together and a much wider footprint making them more stable! I find wide front ends a PITA! Grew up on narrow's and NEVER rolled one on our massive hills in the timber.
Wide fronts only give a false sence of safety, so operator ignores the dangers at hand!

 

[rScotty]

Narrow fronts are just as safe as wide fronts!--in fact safer! lol! wide fronts have ONLY 1 little center pin holding the whole front of the tractor up and it makes them more tippy than narrow ones! On narrow fronts you have heavy pedestal with 2 wheels together and a much wider footprint making them more stable! I find wide front ends a PITA! Grew up on narrow's and NEVER rolled one on our massive hills in the timber.
Wide fronts only give a false sence of safety, so operator ignores the dangers at hand!

Alll right you guys.... you almost have me convinced my pogo stick is intrensically more stable than my little red wagon. Or my tricycle....
rScotty

 

[LD1]

Just to come back and update

It will lift a full 260 gallon tote of water. Not sure how much more it "could" lift. But you could tell the pump was working

But at 260gal in the tote, the front is too light to be usable. I can grab hold and lift the front off the ground with my hands.

So gonna keep it at or under 200 of so gallons for hauling

 

[rScotty]

OK. That's interesting. I bet it will lift even more, but that's enough. We could figure how much more it could lift if we put a gauge in a pressure line, but obviously front end being light is the limit.

So now you can maybe get someone to drive the tractor & loaded tote hrough the woods just using the wheel brakes - like several have offered to do. As we say down South, "That might just be a rodeo worth watching".

Or we could back off and check to see if LD1s experiment makes sense for Dad's tractor.

It sounds like the JD630 is just about perfectly balanced around the rear axle with 260 gallons of water in a tote.
So the question is this :
When he removes 60 gallons from the tote, that is like adding how much weight to the front axle??

rScotty