Help needed to figure out a thought of mine

[Donavon1 17]

What would be the best model all out to convert into a compact tractor loader I’ve got 4” thick cast iron wheel weights for the back that fit my craftsman and b-80 and I can cobble together tire chains (although it took me 4 days for the last two pairs to put together  it took some skin with it, key thing is wear gloves GOOD GLOVES make sure they have a cut resistant rating.) but I’m thinking of putting a compact loader together to dig up some clay shale or move lawn mowers around my buddies shop.

[JCM 10,227]

C- 195 , 520, 417, 418  would work. Weight box would also be a requirement. Still not much would match a true sub compact tractor.  IMHO

[Donavon1 17]

You got more snow than us

[ebinmaine 72,766]

1 hour ago, Donavon1 said:

move lawn mowers around my buddies shop.

 

As a highly trained professional crane and forklift operator,  here's my big concern. 

 

A loader on a garden tractor is only made to pick up 300 to 500 lbs. 

 

What's the STATIC weight of the heaviest thing you'll move?

 

Extremely important: 

Do you have a FULL AND TOTAL understanding of the difference between STATIC weight and DYNAMIC weight? 

 

You pick up a static weight of 300 lbs and try driving. That 300 turns to a swinging pendulum.  

You now have a much larger number of dynamic weight. 

 

Please be extremely cautious and understand your true expectations.  

 

IMHO and experience you should not pick up a lawn mower of even a mediocre size with a garden tractor. 

 

[JCM 10,227]

54 minutes ago, Donavon1 said:

You got more snow than us

That is an older picture. Only have had roughly 4'' of the white stuff this Winter which is fine with me. The only WH tractor that performed half way decent IMO was the 91 520 with forward swept axle AND gear reduction steering. The 400 series , not so well in the steering department with a load.

[Donavon1 17]

24 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

As a highly trained professional crane and forklift operator,  here's my big concern. 

 

A loader on a garden tractor is only made to pick up 300 to 500 lbs. 

 

What's the STATIC weight of the heaviest thing you'll move?

 

Extremely important: 

Do you have a FULL AND TOTAL understanding of the difference between STATIC weight and DYNAMIC weight? 

 

You pick up a static weight of 300 lbs and try driving. That 300 turns to a swinging pendulum.  

You now have a much larger number of dynamic weight. 

 

Please be extremely cautious and understand your true expectations.  

 

IMHO and experience you should not pick up a lawn mower of even a mediocre size with a garden tractor. 

 

Pull them around or just lift up the front end should be good right?

[Donavon1 17]

2 minutes ago, JCM said:

That is an older picture. Only have had roughly 4'' of the white stuff this Winter which is fine with me. The only WH tractor that performed half way decent IMO was the 91 520 with forward swept axle AND gear reduction steering. The 400 series , not so well in the steering department with a load.

We only had rain

[ebinmaine 72,766]

Just now, Donavon1 said:

Pull them around or just lift up the front end should be good right?

 

I can't answer that fully without seeing every situation...

But I'd say this:

 

To move a tractor with a tractor you might be better off building a mini tow/recovery vehicle of sorts that keep that ballast on the ground where it should be.  

 

 

 

[Donavon1 17]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

I can't answer that fully without seeing every situation...

But I'd say this:

 

To move a tractor with a tractor you might be better off building a mini tow/recovery vehicle of sorts that keep that ballast on the ground where it should be.  

 

 

 

I get that, we have a engine hoist we use, I was thinking about doing it with a Ford 8n but that's probably way out of the budget right now 

[Donavon1 17]

Right now I'm converting 2 old wheelchair lifts into a FEL for my Craftsman because both my wheel horse tractors are down 

[ebinmaine 72,766]

1 minute ago, Donavon1 said:

I get that, we have a engine hoist we use, I was thinking about doing it with a Ford 8n but that's probably way out of the budget right now 

 

If the 8N has a 3 point lift you could build a mechanism for that FAR less expensively than constructing a Front End Loader for a Garden tractor. 

The 8N would already have all the hydraulics and controls. 

[Donavon1 17]

Just now, ebinmaine said:

 

If the 8N has a 3 point lift you could build a mechanism for that FAR less expensively than constructing a Front End Loader for a Garden tractor. 

The 8N would already have all the hydraulics and controls. 

But getting one is my problem currently I can't afford to get one

[Maxwell-8 4,367]

12 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

If the 8N has a 3 point lift you could build a mechanism for that FAR less expensively than constructing a Front End Loader for a Garden tractor. 

The 8N would already have all the hydraulics and controls. 

Completely correct. I made me a small crane for the 3point from metal I got for free.

Using the 3th point as the start of the boom, and the to bottom point lift up the crane a feet further on the boom. 

I can lift stuff of the ground up to 11 feet high just using the hydraulic lift of the 3point.

 

Would love the make a post about it but currently my Paypal is down. In the meantime I cant renew my membership. Its going to take 5 days they say.

[953 nut 60,105]

3 hours ago, Donavon1 said:

I’m thinking of putting a compact loader together to dig up some clay shale

Loaders are good at moving loose material from one place to another. To dig up material you would want a back-hoe.

[Donavon1 17]

8 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

Loaders are good at moving loose material from one place to another. To dig up material you would want a back-hoe.

My buddy needs his hill side dug out I was going to put forks on it and poke at the hill side

[Donavon1 17]

4 minutes ago, Donavon1 said:

My buddy needs his hill side dug out I was going to put forks on it and poke at the hill side

It's easy to dig to I can take a shovel and dig some

[953 nut 60,105]

           Get lots of good exercise this way.

[Pullstart 66,878]

31 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

           Get lots of good exercise this way.

One of my favorite tools there.  And a pick axe 

[ri702bill 9,455]

One of the weak points on a WH is the formed metal plate at the rear of the frame where the Unidrive bolts on. Repeated linear force and twist will damage and break it.

This is a severely damaged frame from a 854 that was used to plow snow for about all its life. Three of the four mounting areas are cracked out - two almost touch. Only one acceptable mounting area. Notice how the right upper corner is lower than the left . .  the frame has a 1/4" twist in the rails too... Fixable??? Yes, but time consuming and expensive. These are Garden tractors, not day to day earth movers..... 

 

 

[RED-Z06 2,580]

I use a Deere 425 for my loader, id love to use a WH but, power steering is an absolute must..and very few models had that, i also prefer to use the tractor hydraulics instead of an external pump/resevoir/spool valve.  The tractor is about 1100lbs, 26x12x12 tires loaded are about another 300, 3pt/bracket 4 weights another 320lbs. Loader is about 300lbs.  75lbs on each rear wheel..it tips the scales with an operator around 2500lbs, it picks up 500lbs with the hydro shimmed to 1200psi, very stable if you can keep the bucket pin height around 4ft or under.  I can lift small riders, i lift generators and move them around.  I dug a hole and buried my neighbors German Shepherd about 3ft down, you're limited on depth so you have to ramp down into the hole, ive dug a hole deep enough that the operators head cant be seen, that took a couple hours.

 

So they definitely can be very handy, you have to keep in mind that lifting 500lbs at break out height isnt any indication of what it can lift at higher levels, the higher you go, the less leverage the rams have, and always keep the bucket as low as possible.

[Achto 29,406]

A D-series makes a pretty good loader tractor - D160, D-180, or D200.  Beastly tractors that had a 3 point option, handy for adding a weight box to the rear.

[RJC1965 171]

Also a 522XI 0r 523XI power steering and both are around 1100lbs I have a 522XI and it’s a nice tractor.