Front loader for a B7200

[Hugo Habicht]

Thanks Hugo. Were you thinking the top, bottom or both ?

I think the bottom point closer to the tractor (when bucket is up, start of your video). This way you get a better angle when the bucket is fully tilted forward. Not too much though so that it does not affect the bucket up angle too much.

 

[mdhughes]

Here you go.

Just before it is fill dump

At full dump

 

[Paul Allwood]

Here you go.

Just before it is fill dump

View attachment 165224

At full dump

View attachment 165225

Interesting idea. Thank you for the photos.

 

[mdhughes]

Interesting idea. Thank you for the photos.

No problems. These are on both sides.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Thanks - all suggestions, and photos, gratefully received.

Just spit-balling here, but maybe the four-link arrangement bears consideration. You'd have to provide a support for the bottom pivot, but you could keep the single cylinder.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Just spit-balling here, but maybe the four-link arrangement bears consideration. You'd have to provide a support for the bottom pivot, but you could keep the single cylinder.
View attachment 165257

Thanks for the suggestion. More food for thought.

I've never seen that done with a single curl/dump cylinder - maybe it's possible ???

 

[torch]

A little time modelling with paper and pencil or CAD software can save a lot of grinding. And there are a number of online calculator websites that can help calculate the hydraulic forces and pressures required. When I built mine I had the geometry pretty much worked out in advance:

B7100 FEL bucket size

I'm working on designing (actually, adapting an existing design) a FEL for my B7100. Does a 5 cu ft. capacity bucket sound about right? The owner's manual indicates a limit of 500lbs capacity for a FEL. The same manual indicates a 42" bucket width, but the tractor is wider than that. I'd like...

www.orangetractortalks.com

NOTE: you will see I played with the link idea and had that geometry worked out but in the end abandoned the plan due to the added weight. The extra steel doesn't seem like much at first blush, but really does start eating into the meager 500# lift capacity envelope I was aiming for.

 

[Paul Allwood]

A little time modelling with paper and pencil or CAD software can save a lot of grinding. And there are a number of online calculator websites that can help calculate the hydraulic forces and pressures required. When I built mine I had the geometry pretty much worked out in advance:

B7100 FEL bucket size

I'm working on designing (actually, adapting an existing design) a FEL for my B7100. Does a 5 cu ft. capacity bucket sound about right? The owner's manual indicates a limit of 500lbs capacity for a FEL. The same manual indicates a 42" bucket width, but the tractor is wider than that. I'd like...

www.orangetractortalks.com

NOTE: you will see I played with the link idea and had that geometry worked out but in the end abandoned the plan due to the added weight. The extra steel doesn't seem like much at first blush, but really does start eating into the meager 500# lift capacity envelope I was aiming for.

Thanks for all of this. A better drawing before I start grinding is probably a good idea.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Thanks for all of this. A better drawing before I start grinding is probably a good idea.

Pieces of cardboard and thumb tacks worked for me to play with the geometry of a hydraulic actuator.

 

[Paul Allwood]

Pieces of cardboard and thumb tacks worked for me to play with the geometry of a hydraulic actuator.

That's counts as a version of CAD....cardboard aided design.

 

[Paul Allwood]

I've been thinking about how to modify my loader to fix the "won't curl back" problem described above. Since I'm going to be modifying it anyway, I'm considering going back to my original plan of making it mechanically self levelling. At the moment I'm mocking up a version that was designed by @torch that he included in a comment above (see his pic below). Also thinking about a mod to the top levelling arm so that I can pin it to either the normal spot or directly to the top loader arm to allow the self levelling to be easily enabled or disabled.

From what I've read, the main advantage I can see with self levelling is when being used with forks, and the main disadvantages are added weight and reduced curl when raising the loader arms.

I'm interested in your thoughts.

If you have self levelling, do you like it, or do you wish you didn't have it ?

If you don't, is it something that you wish you had ?

Is hydraulic self levelling worth looking at ? I started looking and can find descriptions of valves, but not much luck finding a self levelling valve for sale anywhere.

 

[torch]

Also thinking about a mod to the top levelling arm so that I can pin it to either the normal spot or directly to the top loader arm to allow the self levelling to be easily enabled or disabled. From what I've read, the main advantage I can see with self levelling is when being used with forks, and the main disadvantages are added weight and reduced curl when raising the loader arms.

It would have to be more than a pin. The pivot is one side of a parallelogram. At least one other side has to be disconnected first or something will bend/break/fail.

I don't see any advantage to disabling it. One issue with a simple, lightweight, fixed, non-levelling design is that when hoisting dirt in a bucket, at max height the bucket can spill out the back and dump some material onto the hood of your tractor. The self-levelling capability would maintain the bucket orientation through the arm's range of motion.

 

[mdhughes]

I don't know about all self-leveling FEL, but "Tractor Time with Tim" has shown that you can't curl the bucket back as far on the John Deere 120R and 220R.

Don't know if all self-leveling FEL are like that.

 

[Paul Allwood]

I don't know about all self-leveling FEL, but "Tractor Time with Tim" has shown that you can't curl the bucket back as far on the John Deere 120R and 220R.

Don't know if all self-leveling FEL are like that.

Thanks - some good videos. In one he mentions a JD 520M that is mechanical self leveling and seems to curl and dump a lot further than the 120 or 220R.