What is this........?

[Flintknapper]

Have never known what this is.

Looks factory installed to me.

It's only function (that I can tell) is to prevent me from curling or dumping the bucket when in the down position. I can still lift or lower the FEL arms.

 

[Vigo]

is the other loader hardware SAE like those bolts? My Kubota BF 300 does have some kind of weird lockout thing on it which I ignore but I’m not 100% convinced that piece is factory on yours. Given the ‘adjustable stops’ and sliding nature of the ‘gate’ it may be there to keep you from over-travelling the bucket curl valve while in lower/float on the lift cylinders. Why? No idea. It does look like the stick has been hitting the sides of the square hole, but i imagine that’s intentionally designed to hit before anything bad happens at the linkage or valves. Maybe there is a regen function of the bucket that gets messed with if you push it too far while lowering/floating.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I had one on a old tractor that came with a bale spear. no curl adjustment allowed.
when lower near ground spear was parallel to ground and when lifted bale got the enough curl on it to not slide forward. I guess stops op. error of curling down and loosing the bale when transporting.

 

[D2Cat]

It's a safety lock for your joystick. So it's not moved by accident.

 

[Flintknapper]

It's a safety lock for your joystick. So it's not moved by accident.

It won't allow movement of the bucket curl....but does not impede the lifting or lowering of the FEL arm.

 

[hope to float]

It won't allow movement of the bucket curl....but does not impede the lifting or lowering of the FEL arm.

I suspect it was put there as a safety feature so that you cannot dump the bucket if someone is working from a raised platform, such as a pallet on forks

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Looks like it needs some Fluid Film.

 

[GeoHorn]

Looks like it needs some Fluid Film.

It needs wire-wheel and cold-galvanize or Orange Paint.

 

[Flintknapper]

It needs wire-wheel and cold-galvanize or Orange Paint.

Agreed....need to tend to that.

Probably bead-blast it and paint it.

 

[Flintknapper]

I suspect it was put there as a safety feature so that you cannot dump the bucket if someone is working from a raised platform, such as a pallet on forks

That was pretty much my assessment as well. Not sure the application...but it seems the idea was/is to prevent the bucket functions from occurring.

 

[Vigo]

Is everyone understanding that the notched plate slides side to side?

 

[Flintknapper]

Is everyone understanding that the notched plate sides side to side?

It does...but not enough to allow activation of the bucket curl functions and doesn't allow compound function (lift and curl simultaneously, or dump and lower) either.

It will allow for raising or lowering the FEL arms only (in its current position).

 

[Old_Paint]

A bit different from the joystick lock on my LX. But my LX loader valve is under the seat, and the stick is beside the seat. The lock on mine stops ALL movement of the joystick. That looks a bit like what it's supposed to be. Does your FEL use the John Deer pattern where side to side is the boom? That's completely different from mine. Fore and aft motion on the stick is for the boom, left to right is for the curl. It may have been intended to prevent fast lowering, assuming yours has the same loader valve pattern. Might be time to find the instruction book for your loader.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Mine looks like this. It prevents dropping the arms. Maybe a travelling safety? Dropping the bucket while tooling along in high gear could be exciting.

 

[Flintknapper]

A bit different from the joystick lock on my LX. But my LX loader valve is under the seat, and the stick is beside the seat. The lock on mine stops ALL movement of the joystick. That looks a bit like what it's supposed to be. Does your FEL use the John Deer pattern where side to side is the boom? That's completely different from mine. Fore and aft motion on the stick is for the boom, left to right is for the curl. It may have been intended to prevent fast lowering, assuming yours has the same loader valve pattern. Might be time to find the instruction book for your loader.

Forward: Lowers the FEL/Boom.
Back: Raises FEL/Boom.
Left: (sideways) Curls the bucket.
Right: (sideways) Dumps the bucket.

Also has compound functions of Lift and Curl, Lower and Dump simultaneously.

 

[Vigo]

If the plate didnt have the notch in it, would it let the stick be in neutral position or force it to ‘raise’ position? Im wondering if the groove was always there or not.

 

[fried1765]

It needs wire-wheel and cold-galvanize or Orange Paint.

OSPHO....... then paint!

 

[Flintknapper]

If the plate didnt have the notch in it, would it let the stick be in neutral position or force it to ‘raise’ position? Im wondering if the groove was always there or not.

That thought occurred to me as well. The notch (if added) was very well done. It looks to be a factory stamping...and I believe it was always there, but can't say for certain.

To answer your question, if there were no notch the flap would contact the lever enough to apply pressure...but would not raise the the boom because the valve spool is not that sensitive. There is a little movement in the lever (in all directions) before the spool reacts.

With the flap down....I can raise the boom unimpeded and lower it at a fairly brisk pace but not as quickly as if the flap were up. I can not curl or dump the bucket at all... despite there being some side to side movement of the flap.

In essence....I understand 'what' it does, but I don't know 'why' it is needed/wanted. A safety feature of some sort I guess?

 

[Flintknapper]

OSPHO....... then paint!

I'll remove it, bead blast it, prime it and paint it. Replace the fasteners.

 

[Freeheeler]

I'm still trying to figure out why your turtle is white and your rabbit is yellow