Stabilizer Bars?

[Fitzwaryn]

I broke one stabilizer bar this weekend when the bushhog snagged a tree trunk and bent the other one.

I took the bent one off and planning to carry it to the dealer at lunch time today to get replacements.

Am I correct in assuming that stabilizer bars are fairly generic?

That it's not a case of only being able to replace the ones on the LS 3040 with ones specifically made for an LS 3040?

From looking at them it appears to be a fairly generic device. Basically just an adjustable bar that as long as it matches the mounting connectors should work the same.

 

[Short Game]

I think that the LS stabilizers are likely to be fairly unique. My old tractor just had turnbuckles with a locking nut. One end had a captive eyebolt that bolted through the arm, and the other just a shackle to the frame. My LS's attach with pins at both ends. The fact that these seem a bit lightweight, I'm pretty sure they sell a lot of them. When you mount any implement, try to get as much of the side play out of the 3PH as you can, especially with heavier implements. It's the pounding that takes its toll on the stabilizers when the implement can get a swing going. Of course, turning the implement into an obstruction will put a huge load on the stabilizers, and is how I bent one of mine. I straightened it, but I know it is weakened now and will break more easily.

 

[Pa Pa Jack]

I have a question about the stabilizer bars. I have been told by several people that they like to take all the side movement out of the 3ph and others have said I should have a little "slop" in the linkage. what do you pros recommend? It would seem to me that a tight fit-up would be best for control and for the sake of any implement.

 

[Short Game]

What I said was just from my experience with two tractors and having broken a few stabilizers.

My box blade has reinforced (doubled) sides, a strong receiver hitch in it, and a big winch on top of it, and often, my wood splitter on one end (a very lot of weight). When I'm towing a cart full of cordwood behind it over my bumpy ground, the side to side pounding is a lot. I don't want to give it any more room to swing.

I am trying to think of a time when I'd want an implement to swing. I could see it to protect the implement, but it would necessarily be at the expense of pounding the stabilizers.

So, bring on the experts. Is there something I'm missing here?

 

[Fitzwaryn]

Quick update... The parts guy at White Tractor said that none of the stabilizer bars he had looked like they would fit so he's ordering replacements. Says they should be in by the end of the week.

I'll check back with him in a day or two and see. From looking at it, I think I can make some functional replacement stabilizer bars with some iron bars and some judicious work on the drill press and with a ball peen hammer.

 

[joemd11]

Fitz, I noticed one of my stabilizers ( where it attachs to the axle) is bent inward. Don't know when or how it happened. My flail mower is the heaviest thing I use ( 700lbs). I try to adjust as much of the swing out as I can, but it still dose more than I like. Don't know what the answer is.

 

[Fitzwaryn]

Fitz, I noticed one of my stabilizers ( where it attachs to the axle) is bent inward. Don't know when or how it happened. My flail mower is the heaviest thing I use ( 700lbs). I try to adjust as much of the swing out as I can, but it still dose more than I like. Don't know what the answer is.

Just speculation but from looking at the arrangement of the hitch assembly, the weight of a mower or bushhog weighting 600-700 lbs on the end of a 3 ft long hitch and then extending 5 ft or more beyond that... when that starts moving from side to side from turning or banging a tree or hitting an obstruction or whatever...

that 500-600 lbs is essentially at the end of a long level something like 5-8 feet BEYOND where the stabilizar bars attach.

I don't have my calculator handy and don't remember the formula right off hand (been 30+ years since my last engineering or physics course) but I would imagine that's putting a massive amount of force on those stabilizers.

In my case, I'm going to snug them up as much as possible to minimize the left-right sway as much as i can and just be a little more careful about situations that put lateral force on the bushhog.

When I've got the tiller of boxblade attached, they only extend back from the end hitch a couple feet, whereas the bushhog is a good 5-6 ft beyond the end of the hitch. So any lateral force applied to it is magnified significantly.

Think of holding a 5 lb weight in your hand with your arm extended. Then think of that same weight taped to a 4 ft long stick held in your hand.

Actually when I think about it I'm surprised the stabilizers lasted as long as they did. Going to have to be more careful in the future.

 

[joemd11]

The hitch on my tractor is rated to lift much more than 700lbs. I just can't believe that mower should be able to max out the stabilizer. I do try to be careful and use my equipment properly but maybe I bumped something while turning or backing-up.

 

[Fitzwaryn]

The hitch on my tractor is rated to lift much more than 700lbs. I just can't believe that mower should be able to max out the stabilizer. I do try to be careful and use my equipment properly but maybe I bumped something while turning or backing-up.

I'm sure that under normal circumstances the stabilizer would be fine and are matched to the capacity of the hitch.

In my case I snagged the bushhog on a tree trunk and didn't realize it until too late. So I imposed a load on the right stabilizer far in excess of what it was designed for.

It's not simply the weight though. I was just pointing out that a 700 lb implement that's long and extends far back from the hitch puts a different and much larger lateral load on the hitch than the same weight close to the hitch. a 5 ft long bushhog vs a 2 ft long box blade. Weight is the same.

The lateral loads are quite different even if the vertical loads are identical.

Hold a 4 ft stick in your hand.
Tape a 5 lb weight onto the stick 6 inches from your hand.
Then take the weight off and tape it to the end of the stick.

Total weight is the same. The angular force is dramatically different.

 

[Short Game]

When your rear tires each go into separate dips, alternately, the three-point's load is literally thrown from one side to the other. I think the stabilizers should be built strong enough for that possibility. Few of us are operating on airport tarmacs or soccer fields.

 

[Fitzwaryn]

When your rear tires each go into separate dips, alternately, the three-point's load is literally thrown from one side to the other. I think the stabilizers should be built strong enough for that possibility. Few of us are operating on airport tarmacs or soccer fields.

LOL Tell me about it!

My front yard is an area that burned in a forest fire about 25 years ago. While they were fighting the fire they ran some seriously heavy equipment across the sandy soil cutting a firebreak about where the middle of my front yard is. There are some 2.5 ft deep trenches you can still see faint tread marks in from the dozers.

When I was bushhogging the front yard the brush was of course so thick that they were totally invisible. I KNEW they were there from walking the yard before but you could not see them from the tractor.

So the whole process was creeping along at the lowest speed with a foot poised by the brake and the clutch for when a front wheels started to drop.

And unfortunately, none of them were perpendicular to the yard sides they all ran at odd angles. lol

 

[Guesseral]

It just so happens that I asked these questions to my dealer about 2 weeks ago, because I was missing one of the spring snaps on the pin in one arm and I figured they will break sometime anyways. It seems I was doing it all wrong because I usually keep mine a little loose and not too snug. Wrong he told me that they were suppose to be tight. Oops! He also told me that when they break yea thats when they break he does not get the same ones for replacement. He gets the ones with the turn buckles because they are easier to get tight and easier to get because the newer models use that kind. I think he said they were about $50.00 per side which I thought was to high but he said that the ones for IH were more like $200.00 per side so I decided maybe 50 bucks wasn't all that bad! But still for what they are I think I could go to the hardware and make a reasonable facsimally for less that was just as stout or more.

 

[soulasphil]

In fact I think we are speaking about what my manual calls "sway links", stabilizer bars (red arrows) are what you use together with the normal three points to help handle cumbersome or top-heavy implements. I try to have them rather tight but they keep getting a little loose, which can be unpleasant with heavy equipment swinging from side to side, rocking the tractor.

 

[Short Game]

I broke the turnbuckle link on my Cub Cadet more times than I could count. I just kept welding the eye back onto the long turnbuckle screw until it was too short to work any more. Thankfully, it was the screw with the right hand threads. I chopped the end off the turnbuckle tube and welded a 1/2" N.C. coupling nut where the female metric threads had been. I welded the eye with the eyebolt onto a long N.C. 1/2" bolt and I never broke it again.

I have been spoiled by how easy the LS's links are to set, so when I break one of them, I'm going to build my own, and build them stronger. I have to go to the steel supply this week and I'll look to see what they have. I have some 1"X1" bar. I figure it will fit nicely into some 1 1/2" square tube. I'll drill it on the same pattern as the light ones and put some strong clevises on the ends.

 

[Fitzwaryn]

I spent some time looking at the stabilizer attachment points last night before pulling some stumps and it does look like it would be fairly simple to make some turnbuckle links or some adjustable chain ones.

Or even a couple of steel bars. Attach one to the arm, one to the chassis connector. A series of even holes drilled in them would allow a couple bolts to be put in to lock it's length.

Or the turnbuckle type. Have to go browse the hardware store and see what combination of pieces could be put together to make one.

 

[Short Game]

I change implements so often that I can't see myself going back to turnbuckles that I have to set and lock with wrenches. I have a bad lower back and the awkward positions I have to get into to access the stabilizer links and manipulate wrenches is a real pain in the... well, let's say, the sciatic nerve. The time I'll stand erect at the drill press will be worth it, when it comes to that. Until then, I'll try to make the original equipment links last as long as I can.

One note on the turnbuckle type stabilizer links: they are of the tube type, to keep from having the threads exposed inside the turnbuckle and to keep the threads clean and lubricated. While I was considering making my own when my old tractor's links were a problem, I noticed that the turnbuckles sold at hardware stores (as were the many I had gotten from garage sales and thrift stores) were open sided. My plan was to cut plates to cover the open sides of the turnbuckles and braze them on, making them into tube type units. Also, a locking nut has to be added to the right hand thread screw.

 

[Short Game]

In fact I think we are speaking about what my manual calls "sway links", stabilizer bars (red arrows) are what you use together with the normal three points to help handle cumbersome or top-heavy implements. I try to have them rather tight but they keep getting a little loose, which can be unpleasant with heavy equipment swinging from side to side, rocking the tractor.

Our LS manuals call them "stabilizers." The manual for my R4010 calls for a "swinging clearance" of "20~40mm (0.79~1.57 in.) left and right."

 

[kpbeddin]

I broke one of mine a few weeks ago. My dealer replaced both with a larger more heavy duty pair under warranty. As far as I know I had not hit anything, but had been using a 5 ft. bush hog. I think there may be an issue with undersizing on some models.

 

[204saskman]

I broke them both on my Montana/LS and i just built some new sways out of Harrow chain. I know the abuse this type of chain is made for. I called my dealer but they havent even paid me back for the last warranty item i sent in that i paid for. Kinda makes me mad but o well. Thats life

 

[Fitzwaryn]

I broke one of mine a few weeks ago. My dealer replaced both with a larger more heavy duty pair under warranty. As far as I know I had not hit anything, but had been using a 5 ft. bush hog. I think there may be an issue with undersizing on some models.

When I look at them vs the size and weight of the attachments hanging on the hitch it's easy to see that they are undersized in one sense. They are simply not capable of preventing hundreds of lbs of steel hanging 6 ft out in the air of swaying if you bump a tree or push too hard against brush.

On the other hand, I don't think they're intended for that but simply to prevent normal sway in the course of turns or other minor movement.