Kioti loader actual lift capacity

PEJ5 · May 21, 2020

I am very very happy with my Kioti but there are a couple of areas where Kioti (the company) is disappointing. First, they will not post their manuals and documentation as PDFs. It's 2020 already. Second, is the subject of this post...Kioti does not share useful loader lift specs such as a graph of lift capacity 500mm beyond pins. The only thing they quote is at the pins. Who lifts at the pins? How much can my 2660lb capacity loader actually lift?
For Kioti owners it becomes a trial and error thing. Will I actually be able to unload that delivery that is coming this afternoon?!? In my case the answer was no. I was receiving a load of sheetrock and each "lift" was 40 sheets@1800lbs, well below the quoted 2660 at the pins at max height. The truck bed was about 4' high and the top lift was 2' above that (6'/1.8m). I could raise the 1800lbs at 6 feet (and rear tires stayed on the ground), but could not curl the forks to keep the load level. We had to reduce the number of sheets.
To be fair, I will admit and agree that most of the time I have no idea how much the load weighs so it is a case of "let's just try it". With my tractor and forks, I am excited to now be able to rank firewood on pallets so I can move it around and reduce the number of times firewood heats me up

. How big a pile can I lift? The IBC tote full of very green maple was not problem. I calculated the load to be 1/3 of a cord and with a useful shared chart (Kioti, if you are reading, it was a PDF ;-), I estimate the load to be 1500lbs. I thought about raising it to 6' and trying to curl, but I did not want firewood on my hood and lap!!
Beyond my rant, is 1800lbs a reasonable maximum at 6 feet for a 2660lb capacity loader. Does anyone else have good examples of hitting the maximum? Here is a photo of my 30 sheets and firewood seasoning in the sun.

Roadworthy · May 21, 2020

I do not know much about Kioti. I do not know how much your forks weigh but you need to subtract their weight from the stated 2660 lb lift capacity. Additionally I believe your drywall load would be figured at two feet (or about 61 cm) beyond the back of your fork assembly. Additionally the lift capacity stated is probably assuming your hydraulic system is putting out full pressure. Is it? If you're just a bit low on pressure your lift power will be reduced. I doubt the pressure is adjusted at the factory on each individual tractor.

Industrial Toys · May 21, 2020

I think such specs were always at the pins, for everyone. Gives a much more accurate number, for comparison, when different buckets and forks are being used.

oosik · May 21, 2020

My M6040 came with very nice lift graphs. One for the high lift setting - one for the heavy lift setting. I can easily determine the lift capacity out to about 36" in front of the pivot pins and up to full lift height. Either in the high lift setting or heavy lift setting.

These graphs are in my Owners Manual for my front loader.

Everhard · May 22, 2020

It's really the only useful number actually. Consider that depending on what you're lifting the weight might anywhere from right up close to the pins to many feet away. And that weight spread depending on what you're lifting might not even be an even spread from close to the pins to far away.

Next keep in mind a loader is designed to lift what's in the bucket, which you can curl back with a full load which will help get more of the load close to the pins. So it makes sense when you spec what the loader can lift it's based on the bucket not any other thing we decide to put on the end of the arms!

Basically yes it's a trial and error game - you learn as you go (as you've been doing) what you can lift. The one trick to always keep in mind is if you can curl the load safely especially if it's something that's far away from the pins - curling will quickly bring the load closer to the pins quickly increasing what you can lift and how high you can lift it. Sometimes even curling the load just a little will move the weight the necessary inches closer to the pins making the lift possible.
Trust me, when you've a smaller tractor you get pretty creative when it comes to maxing out what you can lift!

E.

deezler · May 22, 2020

Interesting report, PEJ5 / Peter.

Your fork frame probably weighs around 400-500 lbs, right? and the forks themselves carry half their weight out front of the pins, too. So to get 1800 lbs of sheet (center of mass at least 2' out front) lifted to 6 ft sounds pretty acceptable to me.

I'm a bit surprised you couldn't curl it up at all, though. Curl break-out force is usually higher than straight loader lift capacity, but, I guess my tractor kind of does that too. A lot of the time I need to calibrate my desired curl down at ground level, and pre-curl the loader with part of the load weight on the ground, then lift it up to drive around in a more level state. You probably could have done this also. So inside the limited amount of pallet opening for your forks, get as much curl as you can before you are actually lifting the whole load.

The other sketchy thing you can do is to bounce the load in the air with a little jab of loader lift and then tweak the curl while it's partially unloaded. Probably not a good idea with drywall sheets though, lol.

s219 · May 22, 2020

It's almost always given at the pins or some fixed distance from the pins. You can often do some basic calculation to compensate for distance from the pins, but it will involve a couple assumptions. I do appreciate that Kubota publishes full curves in their manuals, as it helps a lot in determining how the loader behaves at various heights, and it also underscores how ratings can compare as some loaders go higher than others and that needs to be taken into account.

I had an experience unloading some wood from a truck earlier this year. It was a big bundle of pine siding. I knew it was going to be close. I was able to lift it about 3 inches off the bed of the truck but then the loader said "nope" to going any higher or curling. Rather than play games backing away from the truck, we just drove the truck out from under the load, then I was able to drop the load down to where the loader had much more grunt. From there I was able to lift and curl without problems in order to place the bundle of wood on some blocks.

cjoffutt · May 22, 2020

With regards to a PDF manual, try these places. They have a few DK series shown, I'm just not sure if yours uses the same manual.

Kioti Tractor User Manuals Download | ManualsLib

Kioti Paul · May 22, 2020

Seems like you could have lifted the sheetrock a few inches, then backed away about 3 feet, then SLOWLY lowered the load until the outermost 1 foot of the load was supported by the edge of the truck (or the lower bundles of sheetrock), then curl as you lower further. Of course, I was not there, so there is a lot of speculation on my part!

I am very thankful for my loader being self leveling!

Not to high jack this thread, but is there an advantage to a "non-leveling" loader? It seems counter-intuitive to me why a newer, larger, tractor than my 2008 DK45 wouldn't have self leveling.