Possible suggestion for 3ph clearance dilemna on 2520

GordNovo · Jan 22, 2008

I was talking to my sales guy at the JD dealer today regarding the poor spacing on the 3ph with the R4s. Besides pushing JD to create a hub spacer product for customers who need chains on R4s (which I'm still planning to do), his personal thought was tht maybe I could put the universal pivot joint at the end of the 3ph arms on the inside of the i-match frame, instead of the middle of it.

Has anyone tried this with any success? I'm wondering if some reinforcement on the i-match may be necessary. You need a longer 4" pin on both ends for starters.

GN

jdbower · Jan 22, 2008

Mine has pretty decent clearance with the iMatch installed (tight, but they don't rub), some things you can check:

Are the tires the right size?
Are the arms installed on the right side? They should flare out and up I think.
Are the arms installed properly? Mine are installed with the turnbuckle closest to the wheel, then a spacer, and finally the arm ball joint.
Are they really the 2520 arms or just something close?

Then again, maybe my dealer did something special to make it work.

GordNovo · Jan 22, 2008

I'm in the same boat.. mine's real close if the buckles are tight. tire chains look like they would rub though.

I picked up two 5" X 7/8" diameter bolts and some nylon lock nuts. I'm going to try the suggestion from the dealer and see what happens.

GN

GordNovo · Jan 22, 2008

Well the 5" bolt seems to do the trick. With the imatch installed and the 3ph all the way up, I now have about 2" of spacing between the link arms and the tires. The vinyl lock nut does a good job of tightenning onto the bolt and still leaving some wiggle room between the u-joint on the link arms and the frame of the i-match. I'll try it like this for a couple of months and see how it works out.

GN

Runner · Jan 23, 2008

Good idea. I see no reason why this shouldn't work, lots of attachments have the pins cantilevered. Might want to keep an eye on it if you put something really heavy back there like a weight box or big box blade.

Even if you just use it like that for the winter to get tire chain clearance, it would be a good trick to have up your sleeve.