Bent my FEL support arms

[dlundblad]

It’s my own fault. Not blaming the tractor whatsoever.

Thought it’d be interesting to remove the FEL for mowing. Raised the FEL and lowered the arms. 2 mistakes. I didn’t have the bucket tilted forward enough so the arms touched the ground before the bucket did and I put the weight of the tractor on the arms to remove the 2 pins. I realized what I had done and quickly corrected the issue.

I wanted to leave the bucket off for now, but I just don’t trust the arms anymore.. One was so bent I couldn’t get it pinned back onto the FEL. No idea on what replacements would cost, but I’ll probably bend them back and have some angle iron welded to them for additional support.

 

[D2Cat]

It’s my own fault. Not blaming the tractor whatsoever.

Thought it’d be interesting to remove the FEL for mowing. Raised the FEL and lowered the arms. 2 mistakes. I didn’t have the bucket tilted forward enough so the arms touched the ground before the bucket did and I put the weight of the tractor on the arms to remove the 2 pins. I realized what I had done and quickly corrected the issue.

I wanted to leave the bucket off for now, but I just don’t trust the arms anymore.. One was so bent I couldn’t get it pinned back onto the FEL. No idea on what replacements would cost, but I’ll probably bend them back and have some angle iron welded to them for additional support.

That's a good, economical solution. Paint the correct color and who's going to notice?

 

[SidecarFlip]

Never heard of that. I remove my loaders sans bucket all the time with no ill effect.

 

[michigander]

stand arms look to be $36.00 each surprisingly inexpensive

 

[dlundblad]

stand arms look to be $36.00 each surprisingly inexpensive

Nice! Do you have a p/n? I couldn***8217;t find anything.

The pair would probably be cheaper than having them welded up and buying the paint.

 

[Missouribound]

The supports actually look flimsy in my opinion. But they aren't designed to hold up the front end of the tractor, just balance the weight of the bucket and the arms.
That balance point, at least on my tractor seems to be less than 100# as I have easily lifted the loader arms to put a block of wood under the supports.

But they do what they are supposed to. If you straighten the arms they would most likely be strong enough to do their job. Additional reinforcement wouldn't hurt but just may not be necessary.

 

[shootem604]

stand arms look to be $36.00 each surprisingly inexpensive

Economy of scale? Perhaps there are enough others making the same mistake, keeping the price of production down.

 

[michigander]

Nice! Do you have a p/n? I couldn***8217;t find anything.

The pair would probably be cheaper than having them welded up and buying the paint.

make sure I looked up the right loader

https://www.messicks.com/part/7j285-57550/stand

 

[TripleR]

I have 2 BXs, L5740HSTC and M8540HDC. My advice for wht it's worth, save your money, straighten your old ones and don't "reinforce". They are the way they are for a reason, if defective design they would have been modified by now.

Personally if I bend something I want to do it to the least expensive, easiest to fix or replace.

I've used tractors for over sixty years and bending or breaking something tht happens to all of us given time and really working equipment as designed.

I'm not averse to welding, reinforcing when needed, this just ain't one of those times.