Loader arm length (was Re: [AT] My New Toy

[Larry D. Goss]

Bob Cats and other skid steer loaders are short-coupled and have plenty
of dumping height, but you are restricted as to the position of the
bucket when you want to get on or off the equipment.  When I adapted the
Workhorse 10 to my Power King tractor, I made it as short-coupled as I
could get it.  The back of the bucket only clears the front wheels by a
couple of inches, but since the arms are tilted down considerably at the
ground position, there is plenty of clearance between the bucket and the
front of the tractor for me to reach the center of a five foot trailer
for loading.  It does OK on loading a pickup truck, too, but there is no
way I could ever load into a dump truck.  For that sort of thing
something like the rig my uncle had out in Colorado would be much
better.  He had a loader on a John Deere A with a monster set of arms on
it that pivoted back behind the rear axle and at about the height of the
driver's head.  He could lift that bucket nine or ten feet into the air.
Since the tractor was a row-crop model, it was a little unstable with a
load of fresh manure in a bucket that far off the ground.  He never
would let his sons run the loader because he was fearful of them
"playing cowboy" with the rig and turning it over.

More than once, I've been very glad that my rig is close-coupled when
I'm working in tight quarters.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Mike Sloane
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2006 11:46 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Loader arm length (was Re: [AT] My New Toy

I suspect that the reason for the long arms is often a trade off between

  traction and lift height. When I sold compact tractor for a living, 
the first things a landscaping contractor asked was how much weight 
could the loader lift and would it be able to load over the side of his 
truck. The manufacturer can only put the loader rear supports back just 
so far before they interfere with getting on and off the machine, and 
the support height is limited by engineering. So if he wants, for 
example, a 7' dump height, then the arms are are going to have to be 
long enough to get that height, wherever that puts the bucket. At the 
same time it is also critical that when the bucket dumps from full 
height that the load clear the front of the tractor and go into the 
truck or manure spreader, not come down on the hood!

Mike

Larry D. Goss wrote:
> OK, H. L. and all you other experts; I have a question -- why do
> manufacturers place the bucket of their FEL so far out in front of the
> front wheels?  Kioti isn't alone in doing this, and I am curious about
> it.  Placing the bucket that far forward makes the mechanical
advantage
> "wrong" for good traction with a loaded bucket, so you have to have
more
> counterbalance weight than if the whole thing was close-coupled.
> Obviously, you can get a higher dump height and more reach with the
> bucket to get a load over the middle of a pickup truck bed, but is
there
> some other reason for designing them the way they do?
> 
> Larry
> 

-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
<mikesloane at verizon.net>
Website: <www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>

The further one grows spiritually, the more and more people
one loves and the fewer and fewer people one likes.
  -Gale D. Webbe, clergyman and author (1909-2000)


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