- Joined
- Feb 21, 2003
- Messages
- 26,656
- Location
- SE Michigan in the middle of nowhere
- Tractor
- Kubota M9000 HDCC3 M9000 HDC
You have access to a welder however I have no idea of your skill level, not that it requires a lot of skill to run a glue (MIG) gun. What I'd suggest you doing is add a grapple to the bucket which is what I did in asmuch as I have a couple buckets. I added a Green Machine Shop grapple to one of my FEL buckets. I also added a set of Vevor clamp on debris forks (Amazon with free delivery). They are light weight debris forks but Ideal for me to gather brush and small logs for the burn pile (as I don't heat with wood though I have a large woodlot adjacent to the farm). The Green Machine Shop grapples come complete with a hydraulic cylinder and you can remove them if neceassary by pulling 2 pins and hitch clips. You would need to weld on a carrier plate to the top of the bucket and their carrier bolster screws to the carrier plate. Real straight forward welding. I wanted the grapple to be easily removed when I didn't require it and same with the debris forks. Besides, their grapple is a ton cheaper than a dedicated grapple and it works fine for my use. Goggle up Green Machine Shop. They have a very informative website. Located in Indiana and made in the USA btw.So if we get this tractor, it needs a grapple and the hydraulic lines to the front added to operated it. Plus have the front axle grease changed and those suspect bearings tested. With only one hydraulic circuit to the rear, does another need to be added? Also watching for a 4 series JD but many of those don't have a belly pto added.
You will still need to buy hydraulic hoses and add a FEL mounted '3rd function'. What I did, because I habe multiple sets of Pioneer remotes on both my tractors (3 sets on each unit, 6 total, 3 in and 3 out), I went to discount hydraulic hose after I measured the distance between the rear remotes and where I needed them on the lower cross tube on the FEL frame and ran the hoses from the back to the loader and terminated them with another set of Pioneer couplers. Because I remove my FEL's from the tractors on ocassion, I added a set of Pioneer couplers (male and female) where the hoses entered the loader frame so I can disconnect them completely if I want to remover the loaders. Works like a charm and I use my 10 foot power angle snowplow as well so I need FEL mounted hydraulics. The Green Grapple comes in black powder coat as well. Once you mount the bolster to the top of the bucket and add their fixture, it comes on and off in maybe 30 seconds.
I used my top set of rear remotes and the hoses on the back end terminate in Pioneer males so it's plug and play and I can uncouple them if I need to like when I'm running my new round bailer as it requires 3 sets of remotes to operate plus the lines to interface the computer controls. I just use one of my in cab remote control levers to run the grapple or the power angle plow. Sounds comples but in reality it's not at all. In fact, it's simple. Here is the remotes and the bracket I fabbed up and welded to the loader cross tube... If you have more questions you can message me at sales@flipmeisters.com That is my machine shop site.