1980's B7100 HST-D project

[dusty-t]

Nice work Greg. I agree with you on that blue fugly. I can't wait till you have it done. I think that color scheme might look okay. I also agree this is a tractor you want to look good and work really good not the other way around. You are doing a great job. thanks for the pics. Keep us posted. Dusty

 

[Wildfire]

This is pretty cool. I get to sit back and watch someone else work. Oh well at least I now know I'm not the only crazy one around putting all the hours into a project.

I like that new color. Way ahead of the blue for sure. You take good photo's as well there my friend. As they say here in Newfoundland "there's no flies on you". Nice to watch the progress and your sure moving right along. I can see this is going to be one sweet machine when it's all done.

 

[ipz2222]

I'm impressed. I love to see old machinery come back to life.
I have one piece of advise. That round bar that goes from the front to the main support frame, I think its too small. Stand back off to the side with the bucket raised and imagine 400 lbs of dirt in the bucket plus all that metal. Now start following the load transfer thru the parts that hold all that up and you'lll see that most of that load gets back to that bar. That tube needs to be at least 1/4 thick wall or larger tube.
This opinion is offered free and with no strings attached. I won't be offended if you disagree.

 

[Greg]

Thanks for the kind words

ipz, thank for advice. I'm not dismissing it. I have left the door open to replacing those bars if need be. If I had the right materials at the time I might have made them out of 3/8" x 2.5" bar stock, but Home Depot doesn't carry anything like that.

So i will feel it out. If it seems to flex too much, I will replace them. The should be fine for the winter and snow removal though.

 

[Greg]

So on the they FEL hydraulics.

In order to test out my mechanical installation of the FEL, I needed to get the hydraulics hooked up. The Control that came with the loader is not a Power Beyond equipped valve. If you look at the pic, the BYD port is not drilled drilled out. So, I will be buying a new valve in the near future.

In the mean time I need to hook up the hydraulics. So I drilled and tapped a 1/4" NPT port into my hydraulic block. I ran a hose from the block to the IN port on my control valve. For the return line, I ran a piece of garden hose (all i had) (and temporary) back to the transmission by putting a Tee into the transmission fluid fill plug.

I knew ahead of time that sharing the fluid in parallel with the 3pt hitch would be a problem. But i figured I had 2 choices to force fluid to the loader control. My initial thought was to turn my Aux. valve under my seat to the Aux. port which is plugged up. My thinking was that this would turn the flow off to the 3 pt hitch. It did not work. But when I put the lever for the 3 pt hitch up, the loader moved. It seemed to move kinda slow, and I am not sure if and where a problem exists.

a. could be the way i am hooked up is simply not allowing full flow to the valve.
b. could be that I have a flow issue with my hydraulic pump.
c. could be that I have no idea how fast is should move.

I guess all i need is to know my pumps GMP rate (anyone?) and then determine the volume of either the boom or bucket cylinders and figure out how long it should take the to move the cylinder it's full stroke, then time it. But in the mean time, I got to test the loader and all works well so far, despite having all my under frame brackets made. Here's a few pics.

 

[dusty-t]

Hi Greg. according to tractordata the pump is 3.6 gpm.

 

[ipz2222]

"home depot does't carry that metal"\

I understand. I'm fortunate. My neighbor works at a steel yard. I just call him up at work and tell him what I need and he brings it home.

 

[Greg]

Thanks Dusty! Could that be a slow flow rate to run a loader? Or should it be just fine. I'd hate to add another pump at this point. But i guess function over form for tractors.

ipz, your lucky. My business used to be across the street from an Iron Worker who i was very good friends with. I was allowed to walk around and take anything I needed. I mold an hour north and now I have nothng. The 2 local iron workes both tried to rip me off when i walked in to talk to them about bying some simple pcs they keep in stock. One of the greedy bastards asked me for a $100 US for a length of 1" x 1/2" x 1/8" channel.

 

[Greg]

A little more fabricating.

I'm still working on bracing my loader to the tractor. Another bracket I just made, will connect the bottom of the uprights to the frame under the transmission. Once again I turned the heat on in the garage, and then looked around to see what I can make the bracket out of. The answer: Nothing. So heat off, 20 minute ride to Home Depot. If anyone is interested, Home Depot added 1/4" angle iron and 1/4" bar stock to their arsenal of metal supplies. Okay, still meager, but 1/4" bars stock was just what I needed. I bout 2 pieces 4' long for $18.00. I also used a piece of 1/4" x 2" angle iron which I had. It was a bit rusty, and grinding all the rust off was not worth the effort and money i saved not buying it from Home Depot.

Laying out the new bar stock

I cut all of my steel at home with .040" cut off wheel. It cuts in seconds with these wheels. I used to have a home iron worker that would cut up to 3/8" x 4" steel. But, i brought it to work one day and it never come home.

 

[dusty-t]

Hi Greg. My b7200 put out 4 gpm and had no problem as far as flow rate. At an idle it was really slow but once you brought the revs up it was plenty quick. Kubotas seem to bereal pernikity about power beyond. You should be able to use tph and fel at the same time. It is just a matter of finding the right way to hook it up. Your brace looks good. You got raped on the steel but at least you got the steel. That is a real nice project. Dusty P.S. Check out posts by Topgear he added a fel to a b6000 and had it figured out pretty good.

 

[Greg]

Hi Greg. My b7200 put out 4 gpm and had no problem as far as flow rate. At an idle it was really slow but once you brought the revs up it was plenty quick. Kubotas seem to bereal pernikity about power beyond. You should be able to use tph and fel at the same time. It is just a matter of finding the right way to hook it up. Your brace looks good. You got raped on the steel but at least you got the steel. That is a real nice project. Dusty P.S. Check out posts by Topgear he added a fel to a b6000 and had it figured out pretty good.

Thanks Dusty. I was actually happy to spend the 18 bucks for the steel. I'm glad Home Depot is increasing their steel stock. Was much better than having nothing and trying to make that bracket out of a spool of welding wire. LOL

Thanks also for your flow rate info. 3.6 gpm vs. your 4 gpm can't make too much of a difference. I'm just curious what diameter your FEL cylinders are. Thanks also for the heads up on Topgear's thread, I will search for it.

Link to TopGear's FEL build. Well with the read http://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136

 

[dusty-t]

Hi greg. I will measure the cylinders in the morning. I guess I am pretty spoiled with what I pay for steel. If I pick it off of the shorts rack I pay scrap price. I could get it for free from another guy I know really well, but he won't take my money, and I do get the odd piece from him. But to get all my steel from him would just be taking advantage of his generosity. Spoiled is putting it mildly. Keep us posted. Dusty

 

[dusty-t]

Hey Greg, boom cyl 1&7/8 x 1&1/8 x 21 in. Dusty

 

[Greg]

Thanks Dusty! Mine are close, 2" x 1+1.8" So your mine will be just a little slower. But lift more