I thought I'd post up my tractor build that I did last winter. I copy and pasted from another site I'm on. Did some wheelin' and dealin' over the last couple weeks and ended up with this loader setup off of an old economy tractor. I believe it was home made at some point in time... It was a complete setup with hydraulics, hyd tank, pump, cylinders, spool valves and hoses. The bucket is 42" wide and seems like a perfect match for the little beaver. even got a set of hayforks with it. I'll eventually make a grapple for this so I can use it to move brush and trees around. instead of trying to modify what was there....I just started over.... I did resuse the sleeved bushings off of the old loader frame.... Here are my sophisticated set of Freakin' plans...lol here is the start of the mockup....I used some 2x4's to get the propper angles...(no pics, sorry) easier and cheaper trial and error with free 2x4's... I ordered the new cylinders, and was able to fab up my new boom arm mount/reinforcements. This was very time consuming as the motor on my ancient drill press died, so with a 1/2" milwaukee hand drill....
I also made some modifications to a piece of 2" angle iron that was 1/2" thick. I notched it for the driveshaft and the bellhousing nuts. This will get welded to the main cross beam for additional support. I also found a piece of 1 1/2" angle iron (1/4") that will slide between the two uprights and underneath the battery/fuel tank. I'm going to drill and tap the uprights and then weld some small tabs on the upper cross brace, again so everything is 100% removable. Once I get that done, I'll use some 1 1/4" box tubing from the uprights forward to the front frame crossover. Was able to get some work done the last couple days. I rebuilt the bucket. I added new pivot mounts and a new curl/dump mount. I didn't have thR tractor at work so I haven't welded in the cross tube yet. I ground down all the rust, rewelded most of the bucket welds and added a new 1/4"x3" cutting edge. I even made a tooth for the one missing on the tooth bar. Then it was wire wheel time, followed by POR-15 metal ready. (spray on bare and rusted steel and turns white. It gives POR-15 a zinc phosphorous coating to adhere to). I used POR 15 chassis black then misted on some true blue while it was still tacky. Another coat followed by some clear and she'll be good forever! All i have left to do on the fab Is install the dump cylinder crossmember, then it will be ready for hydraulics! I'm redoing the whole tractor that color. It's darker than the ford/new holland blue.
Quite the compilation of pictures, nice looking build! So what do you do for a living when your not building font end loader setups for your tractor?
Before.... I shortened the lift cylinders (removed extra material from the shaft when it was fully retracted), added the boom crossmember, made up a removable front hoop, and welded in the center tie support, as well as the rear subframe. All that is left is running some hydraulic lines and hoses and ordering a joystick valve. I don't know if Im going to tap intothe tractor hydraulics or mount my aux pump setup yet. this is the rear subframe arms. they mount to the rear, right where the three point pivot shaft is. you can't tell from the pics, but the 1 1/2" cross tube bolts on, and then the front of the arms bolt into the main crossmember This is the front hoop. It ties the uprights into the front frame crossmember. I still have to drill two holes to boltor pin the removable hoop section into the upright (reciever)
Welcome to FHC Freakingstang . Nice job you've done with your bucket. I've "ridden" a big drill like that many times pokin' big holes thru steel... fun isn't it when it bites coming thru the back and the drill flips outa your hand and bounces you off a wall... How much cap does the bucket have?
ordered hoses, fittings, a compact loader valve from surpluscenter.com I got all the hydraulics plumbed, other than tying in the adapter because I need to get three longer bolts. I mounted the valve to a plate that bolts on the upright. Everything is tucked out of the way from heat, any moving parts, and high vibration areas. I used about 2 1/2' of Parker hose wrap on the hoses going along the boom arms. I originally laid out the hoses to tee them at the center of the boom cross member, but I didn't like the way it looked or the way the lift cylinder hoses laid. I ended up running down to a napa truck store and had a 1' hose made up with a jic 90 on the valve end for clearance issues. From there it's tee'd for both the boom up and boom down. I made sure the short hose came into the center of the tee, and same length hoses so both cylinders (hopefully) lift equally. All the other hoses are 3/8 NPT 4000psi hoses from Surpluscenter.com. I used swivels on both ends for ease of installation. The bucket curl/dump circuit is just two hoses because I only have one cylinder for now. The feed to the joystick valve follows the factory routing along the floorboard up to the Hyd tap on the side of the case. The pressurized return follows My fabricated crossmember then run along the rear subframe and comes up in a hole at the rear of the driver side floorboard. I flushed the system and filled with fresh Hyd fluid and am ready to put her in some dirt! I just need to install some rubber coated hose clamps and some wire ties to finish up the hose installation. The muffler cover is getting coated... Plenty of clearance from heat.. Clearance on the hood is tight, but no rubbing anywhere. Hoses are succeptable to chaffing, so you should pay attention to any areas where a hose is contacting a metal surface.
Got all the supports and subframe bolted in and buttoned up. She is ready to work! Picked up my 6' landscape rake. Not sure what it weighs, but she didnt grunt even at idle. Cylinder speed isn't that fastest, but IT WORKS!!
Here's my rear weight... 4- 57lb wieghts, 2-40 lb weights, 2-25 lbs weights plus the hitch plate weighs 55lbs. I have 120lbs of wheel weights on each wheel, as well as calcium filled tires... I think I'm good on weight... lol I kick myself for not plumbing in the aux pump for faster cycle times. But, it might be perfectly normal. I'm used to running bobcats, trackhoes, etc....so its a little slow compared to what I'm used to. I'd just rather not run around with the engine screaming... A hydrostat would be nice too... Of coarse, its six million times better than a shovel and a wheel barrow! here's some dirty pics after moving some fill dirt and rock into my "lake" hole. also, that orange front tray slides in my front reciever. I have a 50lb weight and two 44 square weights that I can slide in the rear hitch if I need more weight. It makes a good chain carrier on the front. Guess I should paint it blue instead of the kubota orange since I won't be plowing with it anymore (was a counterweight plate for the little bota) And here is some size comparison pictures. People dont realize how small the beaver is and what a capable machine it really is. I think it has come a long way from the airport looking tug when I got it....
I started on my forks today. I went to one of the local scrap yards that sells scrap. Most steel is 25 cents a pound.... The tubing and angle cost me 23 bucks. The 39" forks were 40 bucks a piece. About two hours, cutting, grinding and fitting. Then about an hour welding. I have not made the mounts yet, as I want to swing by the John Deere dealer and get some measurements on their quick attach system.
Started on my quick attach front end. I have hay forks (with grapple soon), pallet forks , bucket and a top secret front attachment in the works.... I got to try out my rock/brush/hay rake today. I got this with the old loader setup that I cut apart and re-engineered to fit my tractor. I believe it was a hay fork. I added some 1/4" angle reinforcement at the top of the 1" tines. I'm going to weld in some supports on the bottom of the tines and and a grapple for moving brush and rocks. I also added a quick attach similar to john deeres QA
The Angry Beaver saves starving children in africa! Not really, but I really put her to work this weekend! I'm quite impressed with MY BUILD!' got the quick attach welded on the fork cage so I could use them today. how about a thousand plus pound all 1/4" steel work bench, loaded with tons of stuff? three sets of SBF cast iron heads on the middle shelf one more parts shelf...why unload? lol Before my big lift, I thought I would try it out on a parts Kubota B6000 I had sitting out back... a good 1200lbs... she suceeded! so I moved on to my big project for the day... MY 21' Heavy duty trailer with my 10K chippewa 2 post lift. I've had this sitting in the back garage for about 6 months now... haven't had time to rearrange the garage to install it with all the time I've spent working out of town.
I remember this build from some other site, you are very talented! We have a 1982 Bolens at work about the same size. It's a great little tractor, but it's getting hard to find parts.
stood the lift up using a 5/8" certified lifting chain from work... Love my little forklift! It's been so handy getting moved in to the new house/shop
cleaned up some horrible apple trees on my fence line since the neighbor wont take care of them... the forks sure make brush clean up so easy!
