What did you do on or to your LS Tractor today?

LouNY · Jun 28, 2021

Mine with the SSQA isn't an LS but more then once when I've gone to change out the fel attachment I've had to raise it up in the air and use a large hammer ( 3 pound or bigger) on the bottom of the pins to get them loosened up and moveable.
So the handle could unlatch the bucket, mine has one handle with a linkage to retract both pins.

Avenger · Jun 28, 2021

I've had some issues with my FEL QA levers in the past. They were very tight lifting up, pulling the pins up. I've used a hammer and banged on them, putting dents and dings into the handles. Then I realized what was actually wrong: 1) They were too tight. There is an adjustment nylock nut that can be too tight, not allowing the cam to rotate on the top of the spring very well. and 2) the entire system was bone dry. No lube anywhere. I loosened the nut, and hosed down the entire assembly with WD-40 (only thing I had with me at the time). The levers moved freely and worked like a champ. I feel like an idiot banging on that metal lever, putting all those dings and dents into it. Now, I smear a bit of grease on the pins, spring, etc from time to time. Never had an issue since.

The levers do appear to be some odd alloy on my loader. Its almost gold in color and has large grains, almost as if they were cast. I'm sure they are some odd Chinesium alloy, but for what they do, they dont really need to be rock solid. I doubt the designers ever thought of someone not doing their maintenance, putting a large pipe over them, and breaking them with little effort if the pins got stuck.

If mine ever break, I'll probably remake them with solid steel bar. But so far, that's a BIG if.

neilkingent · Jun 28, 2021

Impact force is usually better than leverage for things that are stuck. If you want to bend something, use leverage.

JCoastie · Jun 28, 2021

Avenger said:
Then I realized what was actually wrong: 1) They were too tight. There is an adjustment nylock nut that can be too tight, not allowing the cam to rotate on the top of the spring very well.

The levers do appear to be some odd alloy on my loader. Its almost gold in color and has large grains, almost as if they were cast. I'm sure they are some odd Chinesium alloy

I forgot about that adjustment, and you are correct. When I first took delivery, I had to tighten one side of mine, as it would not stay OPEN on it's own, so it was a pain to put on a new attachment. Tightening that nut allowed it to stay in the open position.

Also, my levers are black, seems that changed them for the MT2 series, and all the ones I have seen at the dealership since mid 2020 (all current models (I've seen 2/3/6 series)) have all had black bar type levers.

LS Tractor Owner · Jun 28, 2021

sheamus said:
Dumb question, but why WWF and not water +antifreeze?

Basically what Avenger said..... less toxic (contains methanol which evaporates), costs far less (would need 15-20 gallons of antifreeze per tire to make a 50/50 mix).

sodamo · Jun 28, 2021

xBBx said:
So, ironically enough...I had my first experience with an LS tractor over the weekend. It's been bugging me since. I saw this post and thought "what timing!". Plus I need to get my experience off my chest. First off, my experience was very limited. An in-law has a pretty much new LS 7 series. Nice big tractor that looks pretty sitting there. Doesn't get used all that much, basically carrying occasional round bales and some FEL work, very little brush hogging. The thing probably has less than 50 hours on it and it's shy of 2 years old.

They needed to remove the bucket and put on a bale spear. The quick attach pins were stuck pretty good down in the bottom slot area. A bit of a lack of maintenance and cleaning contributed to this, but I've seen worse. So, he grabbed a pipe for leverage and put it over the QA pull handle. One side came out with a lot of coaxing. The other side, not so much. First the handle bent pretty easily. Like, surprisingly easy. Then a bang. The top of the pin where the handle connects snapped. There went the spring and some other parts. Turned out that the materials used on those quick attach handles, springs, etc. is something more like nickel or alloy, not steel. After looking at this, I noticed other similar items were made with the same stuff. Now on my machines (kubota, gehl, takeuchi CTL) that stuff is strong and made with steel. Like real steel. I would have taken a heck of a lot more to bend it or snap it off. Not like the cheap material that was installed on the LS. I also didn't see grease zerks for them, but it was getting dark so maybe I just missed them? Regardless, it was pretty disappointing. Right when that all happened the owners says "aw this thing is a piece of crap!". Turns out the A/C quite working after about 5 hours and he's had no luck w/ service or repair. Partially somewhat due to lack of follow up, but still.

I don't mean to be harsh on the LS, but has anyone else experienced this sort of thing w/ this brand? For my first time around this machine I was pretty unimpressed. Just felt like they cheaped-out on things. Hopefully you (all) have had better experiences with yours.

Oh, and yes we did (after much pounding and cursing) get the remainder of the pin out and the bucket off.

Sorry, but I read this as more an operator issue than LS deficiency. If the QA didn’t release, then should have determined why, not just apply brute force.

Have I ever damaged a QA, yup and it wasn’t an LS. Was it avoidable? Yup. Did I learn from it? Hope so.

Bearsixty7 · Jun 29, 2021

Mine seem to have been adjusted properly before delivery either by dealer, distributor or manufacturer and they operate smoothly and stay in place.. so far. I have since day one sprayed the pins and pivots with some Amsoil MP (Amsoil replacement for WD-40) and have never had an issue.
I do seem to swap between bucket/grapple and pallet forks once a week or every other so that probably helps keeps them working well also.
I would agree with the handle steel not being very sturdy, I have bent mine over ever so slightly when not pulling straight up on them but I bent it right back and have just been more careful since.

rawright54 · Jun 30, 2021

Wow! Nothing newer than 2018? How sad...

I've spent the past several weeks clearing and levelling 20 acres of open desert. Once in a while, the temperature gauge gets a little excited, but I have a Ryobi leaf blower to clear the dust from the radiator. Works great!

Avenger · Jul 1, 2021

rawright54 said:
Wow! Nothing newer than 2018? How sad...

What do you mean?

I use a Radiator Genie for cleaning out the radiator.

Amazon.com: Radiator Genie - Water & Air Cleaning Wands for High Efficiency Cooling Systems and Radiators - Blow Out / Wash Out Kit : Automotive

www.amazon.com

The leaf blower sounds like a very good idea, especially if your away from an air compressor.

Bearsixty7 · Jul 1, 2021

Avenger said:
I use a Radiator Genie for cleaning out the radiator.

Amazon.com: Radiator Genie - Water & Air Cleaning Wands for High Efficiency Cooling Systems and Radiators - Blow Out / Wash Out Kit : Automotive

Amazon.com: Radiator Genie - Water & Air Cleaning Wands for High Efficiency Cooling Systems and Radiators - Blow Out / Wash Out Kit : Automotive

www.amazon.com

The leaf blower sounds like a very good idea, especially if your away from an air compressor.

Exactly!

I have the Radiator Genie and last year brush hogging I took a small 3-5 gal air compressor and was only able to blow out the screen and radiator 2 or 3 times.

I now have a 20V leaf blower and have just test used it around the house and it does work well and should last for many more cleanings while using the tractor remotely.

Sort of a funny story; We hauled the Tractor and Bush hog up to some property in MO. early June and I packed the leaf blower and had the battery fully charged. After brush hogging an hour, I grabbed the leaf blower all excited to test it out cleaning out the tractor, Well that battery that was fully charged and removed from the charger, it didn't make it to the truck! It was still on the counter when we got back to Texas!