ML112 FEL Issues???

[MtnViewRanch]

Heckuva good price with the loader and only 300 hours... and right down the road in New Jersey.

I could practically drive it home... as long as I didn't get another nosebleed!!!

Awfully dang tempting Brian... awfully dang tempting!!!

Dougster

But could you actually use it for work? Yes that is a very, very good price. My bare tractor was 23k, then the loader and so on. And you get used to the altitude.

 

[Dougster]

But could you actually use it for work?

Short answer: Yes and No.

Longer answer: Remember my long-term plan...which involves my GF and me selling our homes in and around Boston within 2 years and moving to a much larger piece of property (potentially as much as 100 acres) way up North in the land of "Live Free or Die" and (hopefully) continuing this struggling little tractor & backhoe business up there with a whole different cliental with very different needs. The 4110 w/509 is actually a fairly big machine for private property tractor & backhoe work around here... but would be marginal at best way up North (i.e., well beyond the Boston suburban belt) in New Hampshire. On the other hand, a 7520 w/611 could do just about anything I needed of it... plus I intend to have a decent sized barn, etc... no zoning or storage issues at all. This is far from a done deal... and it may still be that I buy a used commercial machine or two instead of just a larger aggie-style tractor... but it is not all as crazy as it might sound at first from a currently dirt-poor, laid-off Boston boy without enough land to even park a 7520 at this time!

Yes that is a very, very good price. My bare tractor was 23k, then the loader and so on.

Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? I may not need it all that badly this very minute... but one must strike while the opportunity is there. I am actively looking for a complementary/backup machine as we speak... although the main focus right now is on a used rubber-tracked skid steer or possibly a compact rubber-tracked excavator.

And you get used to the altitude.

Would an oxygen pack and a parachute help???

Dougster

 

[MtnViewRanch]

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Would an oxygen pack and a parachute help???

Dougster

Well, you have 2-3 years on me, it might.

 

[rback33]

The pins should lock in place perpendicular. I am not sure yours are locking all the way in. On some of the older style QA's it WAS possible to get the pins to roll over center when back dragging and cause the bucket to unhook. This was corrected quite some time back.

 

[Dougster]

The pins should lock in place perpendicular. I am not sure yours are locking all the way in.

Hi Jeremy - The right pin itself is buried in place quite nicely... even a little deeper in than the left pin (perhaps due to that right foot "gap" issue). I guess the real question is: Is the pin actually locked? Since it's inserted quite far in... but the bucket keeps falling off anyway... I'm guessing it's not.

Sounds like the first step is to take the right side completely apart and see if I can tell what's broken or missing. Any chance you could send me a parts diagram of those QA lever/spring/pin devices? They do not appear in my ML112 owner's manual. I can send you my real e-mail address off-line if you don't still have it. Alternatively, if it's proper protocol, I'll get one from one of the local Mahindra dealers... just may take a while as they are both brand new to Mahindra. They are not yet quite up to speed on parts other than normal consumables.

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

Update: The bucket dropping mystery is solved. I've got a badly deformed pivot assembly body on the right hand side. It also destroyed the pivot pin and stop assembly from being so crazy out of whack. Must have been this way since brand new. Funny I didn't lose a bucket even more often than I did.

Many thanks to all who posted here and to Jeremy who sent me the instructions and parts list so I could figure it all out ASAP! I have made some temporary mods (think: serious bending & grinding) to the malformed parts so that the right side QA pin assembly is straight and locking now for the first time in 2-1/2 years! Tomorrow, I'll order the replacement parts. I might even have them in time for this Saturday's work!

Dougster

 

[Dougster]

The Epilogue...

It turned out there was another problem... perhaps even a worse problem... causing me to keep dropping my buckets. These are the compression springs taken from my tool carrier:

The one on the right is from my left side and vice versa. Yes, it turned out that my problems weren't all on the right side after all. The good news is that my right side spring was at least straight and intact even if I couldn't latch the right side into place (or perhaps because of that fact). The bad news is that the left side compression spring was weak and distorted... and not even making contact with the stop assembly. Exactly why this left side spring got ruined is not clear. It could have even been ruined BY the buckets as they fell off by putting extreme pressure on the one correctly latched-in-place spring!

New, temporary parts are in there now while all new parts get ordered from Mahindra. The moral of the story: If your bucket ever falls off, look for potential problems or resulting damage on BOTH sides.

Dougster