Post by Rich Waugh on Jun 3, 2010 7:33:19 GMT -5
Bruce,
Nope,you want to leave the bucket on the loader. Wouldn't hurt to put a couple heavy rocks in it, either. The bucket is what counter-balances the rest of the loader assembly on the support legs. Here's how it is supposed to (and actually does) work:
Find a level spot of firm ground (or concrete) and raise the loader arms enough to attach the support legs that came with the loader. If you have any doubt about the ground being really solid, place plywood pads under the legs. Then put the loader arms down until the support legs are resting on the ground. Tip the bucket until it is touching the ground as well. Now pull the pins that secure the front loader cross tubes in the receiver at the front of the tractor (I forgot to do that and it caused me a lot of problems until I figured it out). Next, loosen the tensioning nuts that tighten the loader in the towers and pull the pins that secure the loader arms to the tower bases. The loader is now free to come off. The next part is a bit tricky and counter-intuitive but it does work.
Tilt (curl) the bucket just a bit while you watch the loader bases - you'll soon see them shift a bit in the tower bases. Now you can slowly, very slowly, back the tractor away from the loader. Be damn sure you are in low range in the transmission so you have a LOT of control on the slow backing away! As you back away, you may need to curl the bucket back a little more to cause the weight to shift and raise the loader up from the tower bases enough to clear the front wheels. Once everything looks okay, you should be able to fully curl the bucket and the loader will tilt forward on the support legs until the loader arm bases are about head high. Now comes the critical part.
Shut off the tractor. Repeat, shut off the tractor. When it is off, you can undo the hydraulic quick disconnects from the pump to the loader and hook them together. Hook up both sets. That keeps crap out of the loader lines (and fluid in) and the ones on the tractor must be hooked together or you dead head the pump and blow it up. Make damn sure the QDs are properly coupled - check them twice. Now you can re-start the tractor and back it out from under the loader.
The whole arrangement is not designed to inspire confidence, believe me. It just doesn't look like those supports are in a position that will hold the damn thing up, but they do work. Just barely. I'm going to make different ones for my loader that I think will make me feel better about it, and when/if I get that done I'll post details. I was sufficiently nervous about the whole arrangement that I used my cherry picker engine hoist to help hold the loader arms up while I did all this. Those wimpy little pieces of angle iron they use for the supports are a joke, in my opinion. Some 2" square tube would be much better, but they couldn't store inside the loader cross tube that way. So what? I don't plan to take the loader off out in the woods anyway. They need much bigger foot pads on them if you're going to do this on dirt, too. So I'm going to make a set like that to keep in the shop, or possibly mount on the sides of the loader arms. I may change the balance point by making new sockets for them on the loader arms, too. The OEM location is derived from the length of support that will fit in the cross tube, I think, rather than what is optimal for safe and easy R&R. The whole arrangement is scary and can be improved, is what I'm saying. I have no idea why Rob or Larry hasn't already done this, except possibly that Koykers have a better system than the Chinese ZL-series of loaders. Oh well, back to the task at hand:
After you've got the loader off you then remove the loader towers from the bell housing and away you go, off into the rewards of splitting your tractor. Piece of cake, right? :-) Believe me, if I can do it single-handed, you can accomplish it, too. It actually turned out to be easier than I feared - by far. I honestly think I'd rather split a tractor than have to drop a truck transmission on my chest and crawl out from under it to replace a clutch like I did in my younger days. No heavy lifting required when splitting the tractor.
At this point, a few of here have already split our tractors, some more than once (Hi, Rob!), so you should have no shortage of helpful advisers if you need. Tommy at Affordable Tractor Sales and Ronald at RanchHand Supply both gave me a lot of good advice without which I'd have been lost in the woods. My hat is off to those guys.
If there's anything I can do to help, just ask.
Rich
Nope,you want to leave the bucket on the loader. Wouldn't hurt to put a couple heavy rocks in it, either. The bucket is what counter-balances the rest of the loader assembly on the support legs. Here's how it is supposed to (and actually does) work:
Find a level spot of firm ground (or concrete) and raise the loader arms enough to attach the support legs that came with the loader. If you have any doubt about the ground being really solid, place plywood pads under the legs. Then put the loader arms down until the support legs are resting on the ground. Tip the bucket until it is touching the ground as well. Now pull the pins that secure the front loader cross tubes in the receiver at the front of the tractor (I forgot to do that and it caused me a lot of problems until I figured it out). Next, loosen the tensioning nuts that tighten the loader in the towers and pull the pins that secure the loader arms to the tower bases. The loader is now free to come off. The next part is a bit tricky and counter-intuitive but it does work.
Tilt (curl) the bucket just a bit while you watch the loader bases - you'll soon see them shift a bit in the tower bases. Now you can slowly, very slowly, back the tractor away from the loader. Be damn sure you are in low range in the transmission so you have a LOT of control on the slow backing away! As you back away, you may need to curl the bucket back a little more to cause the weight to shift and raise the loader up from the tower bases enough to clear the front wheels. Once everything looks okay, you should be able to fully curl the bucket and the loader will tilt forward on the support legs until the loader arm bases are about head high. Now comes the critical part.
Shut off the tractor. Repeat, shut off the tractor. When it is off, you can undo the hydraulic quick disconnects from the pump to the loader and hook them together. Hook up both sets. That keeps crap out of the loader lines (and fluid in) and the ones on the tractor must be hooked together or you dead head the pump and blow it up. Make damn sure the QDs are properly coupled - check them twice. Now you can re-start the tractor and back it out from under the loader.
The whole arrangement is not designed to inspire confidence, believe me. It just doesn't look like those supports are in a position that will hold the damn thing up, but they do work. Just barely. I'm going to make different ones for my loader that I think will make me feel better about it, and when/if I get that done I'll post details. I was sufficiently nervous about the whole arrangement that I used my cherry picker engine hoist to help hold the loader arms up while I did all this. Those wimpy little pieces of angle iron they use for the supports are a joke, in my opinion. Some 2" square tube would be much better, but they couldn't store inside the loader cross tube that way. So what? I don't plan to take the loader off out in the woods anyway. They need much bigger foot pads on them if you're going to do this on dirt, too. So I'm going to make a set like that to keep in the shop, or possibly mount on the sides of the loader arms. I may change the balance point by making new sockets for them on the loader arms, too. The OEM location is derived from the length of support that will fit in the cross tube, I think, rather than what is optimal for safe and easy R&R. The whole arrangement is scary and can be improved, is what I'm saying. I have no idea why Rob or Larry hasn't already done this, except possibly that Koykers have a better system than the Chinese ZL-series of loaders. Oh well, back to the task at hand:
After you've got the loader off you then remove the loader towers from the bell housing and away you go, off into the rewards of splitting your tractor. Piece of cake, right? :-) Believe me, if I can do it single-handed, you can accomplish it, too. It actually turned out to be easier than I feared - by far. I honestly think I'd rather split a tractor than have to drop a truck transmission on my chest and crawl out from under it to replace a clutch like I did in my younger days. No heavy lifting required when splitting the tractor.
At this point, a few of here have already split our tractors, some more than once (Hi, Rob!), so you should have no shortage of helpful advisers if you need. Tommy at Affordable Tractor Sales and Ronald at RanchHand Supply both gave me a lot of good advice without which I'd have been lost in the woods. My hat is off to those guys.
If there's anything I can do to help, just ask.
Rich