BX2380 & FEL Mounting

[TheShadyKubota]

Unhooked my FEL on the gravel driveway on the weekend to cut the grass, but now when I go to connect it again it's not lining up and I cannot lock the right side of the loader arms.. No controls I do will make it come back down to the mounting pin.. Any suggestions?

**Pictures to follow**

 

[xrocketengineer]

The best thing the the first time should be on nice flat concrete. On anything else, it will get tricky. If one side seems higher than the other, get some pieces of 2X4's and a longer piece to use as a lever. On the bucket end, diagonally opposed to the side that will not engage because it is too high, pry with the lever on the FEL behind the bucket to lift the bucket enough to put a piece of 2x4 underneath and that will lower the other side. Then see if you can get the FEL to go on.

Some inspiration:

 

[jimh406]

If you can hook the hoses, you should be able to roll the bucket a bit and put something under one or both sides to help with the alignment.

 

[atitus]

Agree with both. You need to level it.

 

[woodman55]

Another option, instead of tilting the loader, drive the appropriate rear wheel up on some wood to tilt the tractor.

 

[Mlarv]

I did the same thing when I first got my 2380. I finally had to roll the bucket and put a piece of 2 by under the low side to get it almost level with the tractor. I then played with rolling it until I got it installed. From then o I take it off in my garage. I place a piece of old carpet on the floor to allow it to slide a bit if needed. Never had an issue after that.

The biggest thing is the front of the tractor and the bucket need to be a level as possible.

 

[dan_m]

I've had issues with this before on my 2380. I had to spend time wedging wood under one side to lift it so both arms attached. Bent my grill guard and scratched the paint on the hood. Apparently my driveway outside house isn't very level and was uneven enough to cause issues. Now I drop it off in yard, it can sink in a little but that's a bad thing, I've found it makes it easier to re-attach.

Even with bucket manipulation, I couldn't get it to re-attach, the wood was a requirement for me.

Dan

 

[pokey1416]

I feel your pain I fought mine on Sunday for over an hour to reattach. Finally, I realized that my side frames were not right. The lift cylinders were all the way retracted which puts the side frames vertical. You have to have the "bosses" on the side frames tilted towards the tractor, you can do this by using the lift cylinder control. Then you can use the dump control to rotate for the pins and lift weight off the front of the tractor.

Not sure if this applies to your BX but hope it helps.

 

[Mowbizz]

Level ground is the key although when re installing my FEL after having it sit behind the garage all winter (for snowblower use) one of the loader arms would not seat into the “cup” when curling the bucket. It started out in the cup but then would lift out when doing the final curl to Insert the pins. I finally SAT ON THE LOADER ARM to get it to stay in the cup and slid the pin in while sitting on it. Unconventional but it worked.

 

[TheShadyKubota]

I finally got it back on.. just used a little 240lb persuasiveness on the right side and it's back in business. Next time I'll only take it off on a concrete slab in my garage. Thanks everyone.