New Mods to Loretta's 284 Jinma

[valley]

Rob, You said fill the tires, with what. I know some use calcium and others use water. Richard

 

[Diamondpilot]

Miss Loretta has a dump trailer with 4 sides so keep at it, you are not done yet.

Chris

 

[3RRL]

Hi Chris,
I'm not gonna get that carried away. lol
Her trailer sides fold down. But it's an idea for attaching a shovel?

 

[rtdiggr]

Hey Rob i was thinking about those hydraulic side links. They would be nice to have on my tractor, if our plans work out maybe i will put you to work. so much for a relaxing vacation


Shane

 

[3RRL]

Hi Richard,
Glad you asked. Most guys are using either windshield wiper fluid or Rimgaurd, which is a beet juice.
Those are environmentally friendly filling agents. Since our tires are tubed tires it doesn't hurt to use calcium like it might with tubeless tires. I think, depending on the concentrate, calcium would give the the heaviest per gallon.

We used anti-freeze...one gallon in each rear and a half in each front.
Since it doesn't get super cold here too often, we could probably use straight water. Loretta did this herself in about an hour for all for tires. Then she helped me fill the fronts on my Kama which I never did yet since putting on the new tires.

We got a filling tool at Napa and also a plastic connector which fits on the end of a gallon jug.
The other end screws into the hose connector. After jacking up the tractor, below, you can see her removing the Schraeder valve and screwing the Napa filling adapter onto her valve stem. Be sure to let all the air out or hold on firmly otherwise the valve will go flying. The last 2 photos shows her pouring the anti-freeze in using that plastic adapter. It makes it easier and there's less spilling.
Here are some pictures.



The last two photos shows hooking up the hose and filling the rest of the tire with water.
That Napa adapter has a bleeder valve to let the air out when pressure starts to build up. The last photo shows her siphoning off the fluid until it's at the top of the rim. When air starts coming out instead of fluid, you know it's below the top of the rim. She did that to have an equal amount in each tire. Then you reinstall the Schraeder valve and inflate the tire to your preferred psi.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Hey Rob i was thinking about those hydraulic side links. They would be nice to have on my tractor, if our plans work out maybe i will put you to work. so much for a relaxing vacation


Shane

Hi Shane,
See now, that's what I figured.
Promise me a relaxing vacation and then work my butt off. lol
No really, that would be just as much fun for me (maybe more)? If that's what you want to do, you'll need to order all the components so they are there, ready to install. Do you have tools so we can make and weld brackets and all that? Some plate steel? Maybe a drill press, cut-off wheel, a saw and a welder? If you do, and have all the components, we can install it all easy. Even make our own hoses right in your garage with those re-usable hose ends.

 

[3RRL]

Here's the list now:
DONE-Add a Filter Minder gauge for the air filter.
DONE-Reposition grapple on the bucket so it will shut better & also move it forward to the tooth bar tips.
DONE-Replace all the Chinese hydraulic valves with a new 4 spool Prince SV.
DONE-Add 2 new rear remotes (replacing one that doesn't work)
DONE-Add FEL stabilizers from the uprights to the rear end.
DONE-Add tool box(es) (including the ones Larry gave me a couple years ago).
DONE-Fill tires
STARTED-Add Fire Extinguisher
ON HOLD-Add Top and Tilt with 2 hydraulic side links and DPOCV's on all cylinders.
ON HOLD-Add Cup Holder

Today I also started working on a mounting bracket for a fire extinguisher.
I busted the ones that came with it so I'm making one from scratch. I doubt I'll get that done before we leave for Rancho tomorrow. Today is Wes's 13th birthday and tomorrow is his party. So we are leaving kind of early. I'm still waiting for those hydraulic fittings anyway. I don't know when the cup holder is coming either.
What else should I add while I'm at it? Anybody have any "must have" items that need to be on the tractor? Otherwise I'll be ending this thread pretty soon?
Rob-

 

[rtdiggr]

Hi Shane,
See now, that's what I figured.
Promise me a relaxing vacation and then work my butt off. lol
No really, that would be just as much fun for me (maybe more)? If that's what you want to do, you'll need to order all the components so they are there, ready to install. Do you have tools so we can make and weld brackets and all that? Some plate steel? Maybe a drill press, cut-off wheel, a saw and a welder? If you do, and have all the components, we can install it all easy. Even make our own hoses right in your garage with those re-usable hose ends.

Well lets just say i better pour my floor in the garage soon. I just need to find $8000 somewhere. Maybe i should ask our government
Yes i have everything [i think] a couple of parts here and they. That would be one way to show you the area doing parts runs. When people say what did you think of Niagara Fall you can just say what Falls we were to busy getting parts
I haven't looked into the reusable hose ends but i will.

Shane

 

[rtdiggr]

Okay, maybe we can fill the tires too.

Shane

 

[3RRL]

lol Shane,
Looking forward to it.
Season is changing here so as soon as I get Loretta's tractor running again, we will have lots of Ranch chores and some planting.

 

[3RRL]

Well, I finished the Fire Extiguisher mount today. It turned out pretty nice.
You know I always save my junk and scrap hoping to turn it into something useful later on. I found the seat mount from when I changed my Kama seat plus some scrap steel from when I added my backhoe sub frame. I also found one of those lever clasps that I had bought for something about 10 years ago. You can't believe the little pieces of scrap I save for projects just like this one.



My idea was to use the holes in the round tube.
The inside of the tube fit the fire extinguisher perfectly. I just needed something that would pinch the OD of the extinguisher so it wouldn't fall out. I wanted a quick release lever of course. I used a piece of aluminum and a socket head cap screw and adjusting nut to make this mounting bracket. I made a little hinge using a dowel pin that presses into the bottom hole of the fixed hinge. So the hinge itself swings freely. I will line the inside of the tube with felt later. The mounting bracket holds the extinguisher firmly.
This is how it turned out.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Below shows the mounting bracket installed on the tractor.
A close up of the latching mechanism reveals how the extinguisher is held in it. A quick flip of the lever and the extinguisher is free to use. The other photos show where it's located on the tractor.
I can take that project off the list now too.
Rob-

 

[rtdiggr]

Another great idea. Maybe you should patent your fire extinguisher, and start producing them. Of course you can do this in your spare time.

Shane

 

[denmansoft]

Looking at your shot of the seat area, I think HoneyBee gets the prize for the most hydraulics on a small tractor!

 

[3RRL]

Thanks guys,
The quick release mount really came out nice!
I got the last of the list done (except the cup holder) Friday night after the UPS came at 4:30pm.
Loretta has been itching to get her tractor back so I stayed late to plumb it all up. After refilling the hydraulic reservoir, I started the tractor. It ran for a minute and then started to bog down? I quickly looked at the hydraulic psi guage and saw it at 2,100 psi so I shut the tractor down. I figured I might have screwed up somewhere ... perhaps plumbing an "in" line to an "out or something? After all, I've been waiting 4 weeks for those fittings now, so it's possible I got the hoses mixed up. I left it and went inside to go to bed.

But during the night, running the connections through my mind, it came to me.
The last SV section on the valve has detents. Could it be that I clicked it up or down while attaching the hoses? I was hoping that was it. So early the next morning I got to the barn and saw that particular lever was not in the same place as the other spring loaded lever. It was down more. I checked to see if it would go down further but NO. I moved it up one click and then up another. Turns out that was the problem. I had it clicked down so one of the rear remote port was being fed and the fluid was bypassing. WHAT A RELIEF.

I started the tractor and it ran fine.
That was the problem after all. I tried the hydraulics and they all worked GREAT! No leaks at all. Below are some photos of the finished installation. I used the hose protector that came with the original valve and wrapped each set of hoses in them.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Below are some photos that show the articulation of the side links.
You can see how easy it is to tilt the implement now. She has the rake on but this will work for the box blade and whatever else too, of course. Hooking up implements is super easy because she has two hydraulic side links. Notice the extreme amount of side tilt she gets because she has two adjustable side links instead of just one.
No more having to get off the tractor to adjust the side links for angled or level work. It's all done with the flick of a lever from the operator's seat.



These below are of the top link.
Shown level, fully extended and then retracted. Again, for ease of adjustment to increase or decrease the angle of the tines or cutting blade on the box blade. Hooking up the top link is easy now by moving in or out to match where the top link connection hole is on the implement too.
Rob-

 

[dfkrug]

But during the night, running the connections through my mind, it came to me.

I do that too. Came out really nice, Rob. I am going to have to try some
of those reusable hose ends....

 

[3RRL]

Loretta was pretty excited and so was I.
She immediately tried it out where she will plant her garden. She purposely tried the side tilt just to see how easy it was to angle and then level it out again.
Looks like she likes the improvements a lot.



Loretta wanted to rake the area where she will plant her garden.
She wanted to remove all the rocks and logs before she hooks up her rototiller. Next week she will till it all up and mix in the mulch.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

I do that too. Came out really nice, Rob. I am going to have to try some
of those reusable hose ends....

Thanks Dave,
Yeah, I was very pleased with the results.
The re-usable hose ends are really great.
It's funny how you can't stop thinking about it and then figure it out later...
One thing I want to emphasize is how nice and clean the JIC fittings make it. They all seal 100% with no leaks at all. I used a Teflon sealer paste for the few NPT fitting I had and it was slow drying but sealed 100% too.
Rob-

 

[3RRL]

The other mods worked great too.
Loretta had a chance to use her tool box when she wanted to get some low branches off the tree trunks around her garden. She got her hatchet out and cut a few off. She used her loader to move some of the bigger rocks she pooped out and also the grapple to move them. No creaking anymore thanks to the FEL stabilizer connection to the rear end. The tractor was solid and stable thanks to the loaded tires.
She had more traction as well.

I wanted her to test out the bucket reinforcement and the new location of the grapple.
And I was worried the interior support idea might not be enough? But to my delight, the supports worked great. I wanted to see how much easier it was to grapple an object when she drove straight into it and also "clam shell" style. Below are a few photos of her using the grapple. With the grapple located out front more, she could now grab stuff either way with a lot more ease than before. The forward location of the grapple works perfectly with her tooth bar now.



In that second photo above, I was particularly looking for flex in the bucket top lip so I asked her to grab that big stump with one tooth only ... no flex at all!!! then I had her grab it normal with both jaws to see if there was flex that way.
I took a close up trying to show the top of the bucket lip and it is very straight ... as straight as it was when I welded it up. So for those of you who asked about doing the bucket reinforcement from the inside, it does work good.
Rob-