Lifting bar on FEL, instead of bucket or QA frame

[flyidaho]

After completing this solar pumped spring project this summer (https://www.orangetractortalks.com/...ipe-with-a-subsoiler.58689/page-2#post-575746) it occurred to me that the 1040 watt solar array would be doing nothing, once cold weather hit and the system was drained for the winter. So I decided to make the array transportable, about 1000' up the hill, that has a sideslope to content with, to where my main grid tied solar array is located, meaning I can keep it working year round. The process will be reversed in the spring, I figure in about an hour or so once I get the bugs out. It'd drive me nuts on a sunny winter day to have those panels NOT doing anything!

The array is 7' tall, weighs about 350-400 pounds, and will be carried hanging vertical, so the all up weight is not the issue, it's the high height of the FEL combined with the sideslope. Besides paring off any extra dead weight, I also will counterbalance a bit with scrap iron, on the uphill side of my 6' mower deck, and I also have the option of moving the bar's pick points off center, to the uphill side. As a certified crane operator of over 20 years experience, and also a long time Kubota tractor operator on this mountainside property, I have a handle on the issues I believe, at least better then a flatlander/non crane guy. That's the theory anyway, I'll post on how it goes!

 

[GeoHorn]

video pls

 

[GreensvilleJay]

How much current does the array put out ?
Might be cheaper, easie, safer to just run 1000' of wire ??

 

[flyidaho]

How much current does the array put out ?
Might be cheaper, easie, safer to just run 1000' of wire ??

About 9 amps, DC. It'd be about 12-1400' to where my power panel is. No way would it be cheaper, moving it will cost only a bit of diesel, call it 15 minutes run time. Safer? Easier? That's not how I roll! It will be safe, my built in anal tilt meter will give me plenty of warning if things start to get hinky, worse case I can lower the load and regroup. I also land on a lot of mountain slopes in my bushplane, another attribute for this job, or not, we shall see!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

jes thinking of options to reduce risk to life and limb....as you'll be doing this twice a year. probably when the grass is damp/wet....slipppppppery.......
i still have a few 1000' spools of 18/2 collecting dust from my remote energy system 'trials' that I could communicate for 15 miles in the 'real World'. Keep moving them here,there, everywhere trying to find them a 'good home'...
probably the real challenge will be getting the array onto the loader, transport 'should' be the easy part ??

 

[flyidaho]

I just bought 160' of 2 conductor stranded 10 gauge, in a direct burial outer cable (well protected/good stuff) and it cost, with shipping just a bit over a buck a foot. So for a half pint of diesel or so, I'll take the small risk. Damage to the array is the only real risk in my estimation at least. First sign of below freezing temps it'll happen, any day now.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

As long as you strap array to keep from swinging AND the ground is dry, you should be 'ok'.
I just hate having to move stuff several times...again and again..... and again...
Other 'minor detail' is to have good forward vision. It's always a challenge hauling things with my forklift as the mast cross braces ALWAYS are at eye level for some reason.......

 

[flyidaho]

As long as you strap array to keep from swinging AND the ground is dry, you should be 'ok'.
I just hate having to move stuff several times...again and again..... and again...
Other 'minor detail' is to have good forward vision. It's always a challenge hauling things with my forklift as the mast cross braces ALWAYS are at eye level for some reason.......

Once late fall, again in late spring, and I'll combine it with some other seasonal chore like window screens! I can live with that, better then "wasting" the power available from late October to mid April, the freeze dates pretty much here. I really don't have to do anything, as I have a surplus of electricity anyway with my utility, doing this will just give me more but I'm sure I can find a useful way to use more power.

I'll short rig the array, only a few inches of chain, so swaying shouldn't be a big factor, and go slow of course. Vision forward will be blocked by the array, but I know the route. IF it was a factor, I'd rig a currently unused backup camera up I have to provide forward vision, but don't feel the need really.

 

[flyidaho]

I made the big move today, right before a short lived blizzard hit. It went exactly as planned, though the plan changed at the last minute! I just didn't have the height needed to rig and carry it while vertical, I had failed to take into account the down sloping ground in front of the array, which made the crucial difference. While cogitating over what to do next, I happened to notice that the FEl had enough reach horizontally to reach to the solar rack's center pipe, not only is the schedule 40 2.5" pipe the center of gravity, it's also way strong.

Once I had this brainstorm, it turned out I had the hardware with me to secure the chain round the pipe, saving me the 1/2 mile uphill walk up to the shop. With no drama at all, the pick was made, the 1/4 mile shuttle up to it's winter location was done at a brisk walking speed (no top heavy CG, like I would have had to dealt with if carried vertical) and the setdown went also easy/peasy. The only thing I'll change for the spring transport, will be to move some dirt around so the tractor is sitting level side to side, at both the winter and the summer locations.

I overthunk this project, next time I'll just leave the bucket on, (it's extra weight on the sideslope is tolerable, with the array carried low)

and just run two chains down from my grab hook, it will be, as hoped, about a 30 minute bi-annual task, with no excitement.

 

[Chanceywd]

Only an observation, I would be concerned about is lifting something with the quick attach only. A lot of threads about them getting bent out of sync from a lever getting loose while using. If one side pulls harder than the other yours could get bent. Using forks or the bucket would eliminate that risk.

If something I were doing all the time it might be worth buying a SSQA plate like on ebay to make a picking point and that would keep your pick point closer and prevent the damage. Some are light and would need some channel or tubing to reinforce.

Bill

 

[flyidaho]

Another couple picks with the lift bar. Moving old implements out of the "new" 30 acres I bought recently, I guess they are mine now..., I plan on scrapping everything but the iron wheels and the two seats, I will have 4 pairs of them and will try peddling them as yard art on my local craigs list.

Working on slick snow, on a sidehill. Not much weight in these old implements, maybe 3-500 pounds at most, but rather then use my forks (75 pounds each/150 pounds) and the QA frame they mount to (another 100 approx) I just used the rectangular tubing bar, which weighs about 10

or 15 pounds. I don't plan on making a habit of this, but I wanted to cheat all I could, working crooked like I was.

 

[Vigo]

Wish some old yard art implements would just show up on my property! Looks like you are quite used to dealing with the various ground conditions out there (slope, traction, etc), so i can save my breath on cautionary statements. Instead... Nice backdrop!!

Im running my whole house off of 10kw of solar panels. Right now the ground is my mount.. I need to build something. It's about 900 sq ft of panels.. Once they get actually 'installed', they are never moving again unless a tornado or major hailstorm wrecks them. I already lost 4 to a dust devil.

Still, my tractors will be involved in lifting them in small stacks, to the height of their new rack once i've built it. A day messing around with tractors and solar panels is a pretty good day.

 

[flyidaho]

Once I got a couple of the old implements in the shop and was getting them loaded up in the truck with the shops chainfall, I noticed they were indeed (no surprise I guess) heavier then I thought. One example shown here: the cast iron lid for the tool box. I couldn't help but compare it to the little plastic one on my L3301!

 

[Vigo]

Heck, it's only a couple snips on the cotter pins and one nail on the wall to turn that into a display piece. Be silly to melt it in my opinion.

 

[flyidaho]

Heck, it's only a couple snips on the cotter pins and one nail on the wall to turn that into a display piece. Be silly to melt it in my opinion.

I'm not the type to putup random stuff on my shop walls, as this pic shows. Actually I am, thanks for the suggestion, it's now on the wall, to the left of the door.

I did a little research, these implements date from AT LEAST 1918, after that McCormick had merged with other companies:

Not long ago, someone asked: “Whatever happened to McCormick-Deering?”

As most of you know, McCormick-Deering was never a “company” itself, but the trademark name of a line of tractors and farm machinery manufactured by the International Harvester Co.

Between the mid-1880s and 1902, a vicious battle known as “the Harvester Wars” was waged on America’s grain fields. The farm equipment manufacturer’s capacity to build harvesting machines far exceeded demand, so sales representatives of the two giants, McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. and Deering Harvester Co., along with their smaller rivals, tried every trick possible to sell their binders to reluctant farmers. The struggle became so intense that competing salesmen would not only bribe farmers to buy, but also allegedly sabotaged the competition’s machines and physically attacked people.

As the war dragged on, binder prices fell drastically and selling expenses grew to more than 40 percent of total sales. Something had to be done and, in 1902, a merger among the five largest companies was brokered by the J.P. Morgan banking firm. The McCormick, Deering and Milwaukee Harvester companies, Piano Mfg. Co., and Warder, Bushnell & Glessner (Champion harvesters) merged to become the mighty International Harvester Co.

 

[flyidaho]

Hauled up another implement late today, in a snowstorm.

 

[flyidaho]

I got another old implement up the hill the other day, but could not get any traction to directly haul it up the slope. So, I got my quick reeve snatch block out and rigged to the base of one of my solar arrays (8" pipe 7' deep, concrete), and my windsock post (also not going anywhere)

and daisy chained about 100' of rigging together so I could pull the hay rake up the hill while the tracotr WASN'T on the hill. Well it was, but being sideways I had traction.

If I get bored enough during this "not quite winter/not quite summer" period, I will chain up all wheels, load my cutting torch, and attack the motor driven hay baler next. It's the last, and biggest piece of junk on my new property, and only dates from the '40's, maybe '50's. Despite the hassle of doing all this work during the cold and a bit of snow, is it's beats mud/tearing up the ground, and the biggie, no chance of starting a fire! I'm saving the wheels. I'm liking my lightweight "lifting bar", seems a good way to max out the lifting power of the FEL when needed by not also lifting the unneeded extra weight of a bucket or even the QA frame.

 

[Vigo]

Very cool. I am planning to build a form of quick attach for the front of one of my tractors that will pick up 3pt and mini skid steer quick attach implements. I am anticipating that having the quick-hitch style top hook on the loader with no implement actually attached will give me the same effect as what you’re getting, something right at the loader arms that gives max lift and visibility when no actual bucket/attachment is mounted.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

My choice / input, I would make a Dolly / Cart / Wagon to haul the array around.
I would think it would be easier and safer on you and it.