Using a front end loader effectively

[sros990]

I'm a new tractor owner and I'm not very good at using a loader. For example, if I try to scoop soil or rocks from a large pile I'm not always able to get a full scoop. I also can't pick up a large rock out in a field. (I don't have a problem with a pile of fluffy stuff like compost).

Anyway, what is the proper technique for using the FEL--at what angle should I set the loader when I approach the pile; do I scoop from the top or bottom of the pile, etc.

Thanks
Steve

 

[RoyJackson]

Two things you'll probably need, if you don't have them...

A Tooth bar will dig into a clumpy pile of dried out dirt or other materials. Without a tooth bar, your buckets cutting edge just spreads the digging force too much.

A Ballast Box or heavy implement on the 3 point Hitch to help with traction. I'll wager you're spinning at least one of your rear tires when digging into something other then light fluffy stuff (new mulch, for example).

Digging into rocks? Well, I'm not so good at that either...not if they have any size to them. I normally drop the bucket to ground level and roll any rocks into it...again, if they're of any size. Gravel...different story. Gravel or crushed run works pretty good. But before I had a ballast box (with ~600 lbs of sand), I'd set there spinning my tires.

 

[Doc_Bob]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Two things you'll probably need, if you don't have them...

A Tooth bar will dig into a clumpy pile of dried out dirt or other materials. Without a tooth bar, your buckets cutting edge just spreads the digging force too much.

A Ballast Box or heavy implement on the 3 point Hitch to help with traction. I'll wager you're spinning at least one of your rear tires when digging into something other then light fluffy stuff (new mulch, for example).

Digging into rocks? Well, I'm not so good at that either...not if they have any size to them. I normally drop the bucket to ground level and roll any rocks into it...again, if they're of any size. Gravel...different story. Gravel or crushed run works pretty good. But before I had a ballast box (with ~600 lbs of sand), I'd set there spinning my tires. )</font>

What kind of tires? R1? R4?
Bob

 

[BobG_in_VA]

When I was 18, I worked in a limestone rock quarry, supplying the stone to I 64 between Richmond and Charlottesville, VA. I wasn't born on a D8 Cat or a wheeled loader (3 yard bucket on that sucka'). Took a lot of practice and work but about 2 months into working there the Cat Man (the Cat Customer Service Rep), flagged me down in the pit jumped up on that D7's track and handed me the most precious thing an operator could get back then: My own black/yellow Cat Hat!! (back then you couldn't buy them like now, Cat had to give you one...). Point is this: Practice, Practice, PRACTICE. It'll come to you...Good luck! BobG in VA

 

[Farwell]

Bob,
How right you are. Practice, practice, practice. Most of us are looking for the short way to learn. Many times I have had all the information or have books that give me the information but the information is only as good the time I am willing to spend putting the information into practice.
Wish I would take this advice more often than I do.
Farwell

 

[Ford960]

I always started with the bucket level at the bottom of the pile. As I drive into it come up and curl the bucket back to scoop up as much material as possible.
Can't say if this is the proper way but it sure works for me.

 

[MadDog]

I've been excavating a medium sized pond with my FEL since last summer, so I've gotten a lot of practice with numerous different conditions. I have a B7800 (30 engine hp).

If a pile of dirt and/or rocks is loose enough and not too steep, you can start from the bottom. As said by others, a toothbar and some heavy ballast on the 3ph help with digging effectiveness and stability. With tractor in 4WD and bucket level and at grade level I drive slowly into the pile until the bucket is as full as possible; then curl max back and lift slightly. Keep the load as low as your terrain will permit, particularly if you are going to be moving over uneven ground (you want to keep the center of gravity as low as possible for max stability).

If you can't curl the bucket or lift it, it is probably because the matterial is too packed or the pile so steep that there is too much weight above. This is almost certain to be the case if you have been excavating undisturbed earth and are attempting to cut into the vertical side of the excavation. In this case, you will probably have to raise the bucket so that it cuts into the side not more than 1 1/2 bucket depths below the top of the grade; you should be able to curl and lift the bucket fairly easily but lower it as soon as you have backed out enough to be able to do so.

I have been able to remove even fairly large (up to about 8-9 cubic feet) boulders with my FEL. It helps to nudge the boulder into either a slight rise or other obstruction that will offer some resistance while you drive the bucket blade under it as far as you can. Even with a fairly deep boulder, if you can get the blade and bottom of the bucket under well more than 1/2 of the boulder's bottom surface, you should be able to get it all the way in the bucket when you curl it back.

With big boulders, you may want to give some advance thought to the direction you load it from, so that you will be able to get the boulder as deep into the bucket as possible. If it is not in the best position for loading, roll it by nuding it with the FEL into a better position.

Last but not least, I have been able to move even boulders that are so large that my FEL cannot curl or lift them (over about 1000#) by running the FEL in as close to them as possible and then running chains from the hooks on the top of my bucket around the bottom front of the boulder and back to the other hook and then dragging the boulder where I want to put it by backing up. It is also possible to push/roll a boulder forward if you can either curl its bottom up with the FEL as you are pushing it or place the blade in an irregularity near the top of the boulder and then push it. I have used these methods for removing some humongous boulders from my pond excavation that my FEL couldn't curl or lift at all, including a couple that were close to, or perhaps a bit more than, a cubic yard.

I hope that some of this helps; a lot of the fun of using a FEL is experimenting to learn what works to solve particular problems.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Toothbar is a must to me.
I never go in level, but with the bucket slightly below level. As I push into the pile, that sends the bucket down into it some and I'm curling back the whole time I'm moving in. Occasionally then, I'll back just a bit while at the same time dumping the bucket a little again and repeat the forward procedure.
This breaks up the mound somewhat, and gets a full bucket every time. I don't go for the bottom of the pile but from 1/2 to 3/4 up on it as the weight is usually too much for the curl.

I will then put the bucket in full dump, raise it up and over the pile, and pull the top of the pile back and let it come down the front side which will make it easier to load up. This is very effective if you have a packed mound and need to break it up a bit before loading.

As for the rocks, I love the HST simplicity of F/R just for operations such as this. I put the teeth up under an edge, curl and lift the bucket quickly and move the tractor in under it before it can fall back down. It will then fall into the bucket as I move forward. If I have gotten it right, over half the rock inside, the teeth will help to curl it up into the bucket.
Sometimes I have to push it up against something else to get it in enough, but mostly I get it in the first time by flipping it this way.

John

 

[PineRidge]

Don't think anyone has mentioned it but as you go into a pile hit your differential lock to give yourself more traction.

 

[bncsauve]

One good trick for rocks is to hang a chain from the top of one side of your bucket to the top of the other side. Ideally using welded on bucket hooks. The length of the hanging loop takes practice, but the idea is to approach the rock with the bucket dumped with the chain loop hanging out in front. Move in until the loop hangs behind the rock. Lower and curl the bucket at the same time and the chain will grab the back of the rock and pull it into the bucket. (Works good with practice)

 

[century3045]

Another thing that might help is a bucket level indicator rod if you don't have one. If you do you can mark the rod with a piece of tape to let you know when you are level with the ground. Especially handy when loading a pile of mulch or something that has been dumped in your yard, it will keep you from digging up your grass or dirt that you don't want in your bucket. The rod comes in handy when you can't see your bucket real good.

 

[RalphVa]

You can generate a lot more force with the curl than just by pushing. To fill your bucket, you have to do a little push combined with a little curl. Do it right, and you'll have a full bucket. If you end up with a part bucket, you can shake it back by raising and full curling it about 3/4 height, not so high that you risk having stuff tumble back onto the hood of the tractor but near that high. Then lower and finish filling. I moved more than 20 tons of gravel this way.

Ideally, you need almost as much weight on the back as what you put in the bucket. I've a carryall now that I can load with a little bit more than a bucket's worth of stuff (by hand, unfortunately). Then I scoop up a bucket of stuff and carry the combo down my back hill. It's pretty stable then.

I haven't really gotten the hang of using my bucket forks; so they stay stored in the basement of my carriage house most of the time. Used them once to get up some paving that got lapped over the property line by my paver. Would never have been able to get it up without a lot of damage to the rest without the forks.

Ralph

 

[jrepp]

This is my technique for densely packed material (damp/wet) that is in a pile (4' to 5' high). Put the bucket in the dumped position, that is with the cutting edge straight down. Drive as close as possible to the pile with the bucket just above the top of the pile. Lower the bucket down into the pile. Drive backwards while lowering the bucket into the pile, dragging loose material down in front of the tractor. Drive forward with the bucket in the normal load position and you can usually get a full bucket of loose material.

 

[KentT]

Sometimes the FEL will not have the breakout force to curl or lift the full bucket while it is still in the large pile of dirt or gravel... it will bypass instead of moving.

So, begin backing up slowly and curl the bucket as you back out away from the pile... you'll reach a point where it stops bypassing and successfully curls the bucket. Then, lift it to slightly above ground level for transporting...

FELs typically will curl more than they can lift.

 

[BobG_in_VA]

"Don't think anyone has mentioned it but as you go into a pile hit your differential lock to give yourself more traction. "

Don't mean to intrude here but I remember reading about someone here that "broke" their diff. lock by hitting it while they were moving. I think they said that you have to stop, hit the lock and then let out on the clutch....Not too sure about this but worth a search. Personnaly, I've never had to use mine, lucky I guess. BobG in VA

 

[PineRidge]

Bob I didn't mean to imply that everyone should be hitting their diff. locks on the fly.

In the case of Class III Boomer's New Holland recommends that the diff lock be applied while moving slowly to prevent shock loads to the drive-line. They don't want it engaged if ground speed is over 5 MPH or if in a turn.

Everyone should check their own operators manual, but diff lock will increase your traction significantly.

 

[3RRL]

I try to "slice" off from a pile. Like the others said, drive into the pile slightly and start curling the bucket and I start raising it up at the same time. this method works good if the pile is sort of compacted and too hard to just drive into and stab it. Think of it as slicing a piece of cheese off a block on the upward movement of the bucket. It takes a little practice to know how much to drive in while doing this but pays great dividends in huge bucket fulls without being "trapped" at the bottom of the cut.

 

[MossRoad]

As others have stated, move into the pile with the bucket almost level. As you move forward, curl the bucket backwards while lifting. What this does is undercut the material that is above the bucket. The material will have nothing under it to support it and gravity will help fill your bucket. This is sometimes referred to as "crowding" the bucket. Practice for a while and it soon becomes natural. You will have to adjust your curl and lift speeds for the material that you are loading. Also, again, as others have mentioned, a tooth bar really helps with material like rock and large grade mulch.

 

[century3045]

I have always hit my diff. lock while moving. Thats when i hit it, when the tires start spinning. Been doing it for years and haven't broke anything yet. May just be lucky. 4WD In a pile of dirt don't really need diff. lock anyhow. As far as the toothbar goes, it is very nice in dirt but for gravel I like the smooth cutting edge without the teeth. You can scoop it up nicely and even spread it with the bucket using it like a box scrape. Thats just my opinion.

 

[daTeacha]

I've been having to remove extra gravel from a driveway lately. I use the back blade to move the excess to the center, then set the bucket at level or slightly downward. I drive up the driveway slowly, very slowly lifting the bucket to compensate for the weight being added in front as it fills. I've manged to load the 60" bucket with enough limestone that I could see it over the top of the unrolled bucket.

I then roll it back, lift it a bit, proceed up the hill, and slowly dump it forward, spreading a pretty nice even layer of gravel on the upper part of the drive.

If I don't get the lift part just right, it tends to dig too deep and leave a bare patch in the middle of the drive, but I can usually fill that with a couple passes from the back blade or back drag the bucket.

On the back dragging topic -- my Case loader seems to almost float with respect to it's angle when back dragging unless I keep working the valve a little. The 'bota didn't do that, it was just solidly in position. Any else notice anything like it? It can move toward the rolled back position, but not toward the dump position.