Kubota b7100 FEL build on a budget

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I would drop to .030, you'll get higher heat and better flow out of a smaller machine.

 

[trial and error]

I would drop to .030, you'll get higher heat and better flow out of a smaller machine.

Thanks NI wolf, I'll give that a try

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I watch this guy (Jody) quite regularly and he usually gives pretty good advice. I have never used flux core or gasless MIG (are they the same?)

My MIG skills have become better by taking some of his advice.

welding tips and tricks

 

[trial and error]

Question for the hydro gurus, I have what I believe is the factory open center 2 spool 2 lever valve for the factory snow plow (KUF110?). If I add quick connects to the four output hoses (to the cylinders) and disconnect there am I good? Or do I need a jumper hose to keep from overpressurizong when the tractor is on. In theory this is an open center valve that just pumps fluid through the feed and return lines to and from from the hydro block on the tractor when the levers are in the nuetral postion. Also in theory the lines going to the cylinders have no fluid transfer when the levers are in the neutral position. So finally and again in theory if I disconnect the lines going to the hydro cylinders using quick disconnects and leave the levers in the nuetral position I should be able to start and move the tractor correct? Or am I totally of my Rocker here? I'm trying to instal quick disconnects to remove the plow and reconnect in the fall and also want to use them on the future loader build so I can switch the two implements seasonally

 

[Vigo]

if I disconnect the lines going to the hydro cylinders using quick disconnects and leave the levers in the nuetral position I should be able to start and move the tractor correct?

Yes.

Even if you pull a lever, it will 'deadhead' that circuit but your loader relief valve will open. Near idle that may stall the engine, but it definitely isn't going to hurt anything. Now if you deadhead something BEFORE the relief valve and at high revs then yes, possible breakage. But the work ports on the loader valve are protected by its internal relief valve, so nothing bad will happen. And, as long as you don't pull the levers, it will be like those hydraulics aren't even there.

You MAY even be able to leave the loader in place, but lifted, and still attach the plow. The problems would be visibility (unless you took the bucket off, will it be quick attach?) and mostly, steering effort from the weight of BOTH.

 

[trial and error]

Yes.

Even if you pull a lever, it will 'deadhead' that circuit but your loader relief valve will open. Near idle that may stall the engine, but it definitely isn't going to hurt anything. Now if you deadhead something BEFORE the relief valve and at high revs then yes, possible breakage. But the work ports on the loader valve are protected by its internal relief valve, so nothing bad will happen. And, as long as you don't pull the levers, it will be like those hydraulics aren't even there.

You MAY even be able to leave the loader in place, but lifted, and still attach the plow. The problems would be visibility (unless you took the bucket off, will it be quick attach?) and mostly, steering effort from the weight of BOTH.

That's kind of the answers I was looking for I have no intention of pulling the levers with nothing hooked up but thanks for confiring my suspensions as to what may happen

 

[trial and error]

Vigo, a quick disconnect bucket is not in my plans at this point maybe some day in the future, but I'm going to somewhat copy Torch's design for the post mounts in that it will only take 8 bolts and w/e holds the tower braces to the front frame to disconnect the loader from the tractor, it won't be fast but will hopefully be somewhat simple. I've never owned a peice of equipment that was "easy" to switch implementation on and likely never will but I'm not afraid of a little work 2x a year, yes it would be nice to have all the fancy stuff lol but I know my fab limitations and will consider it quite a feat to just be able to have a functional loader. I'm really trying to use the KISS method in my build. And avoid extra complicated steps leaving the loader frame on would be the bees knees but I'm afraid it would add complications woth steering and visibility as you mentioned

 

[trial and error]

Made some progress working on the towers today
, despite having to use the tractor to plow a couple inches of mush this morning

 

[Vigo]

I think you should work on the welding technique before any of this stuff gets 'buried' where it would be hard to go over it. It looks to me like you are doing a lot of sort of 'heavy tacks' but almost no continuous beads. It's very unlikely you are getting the parts hot enough to properly bond the parts with and through the weld, to each other.

You probably have several 'off cuts' now of material that is not really useful for anything else. I would try just running practice beads on something of similar/same thickness to what you are welding, and then compare to some examples you find online such as this one:

 

[trial and error]

Admittedly my welds are probably some of the ugliest known to man and after your post Vigo I became even more self aware and self conscious of this . To the point that I came home from work and spent some time grinding a few of my "welds" down I did find the parts bonded fairly well (maybe I'm just blind) but after I ground off all the "extra metal" I found what I considered decent results, obviously I have a lot of "going over" stuff to do and a ton of grinding but al in all im not totally disappointed in the results. Below are a couple samples, I know I certainly have to go over several parts of these joints again. I really don't (surprisingly) have a lot of extra cutoffs laying around nothing has really been cut to a finished length yet except the one "cross peice" which I got at that length and didn't have to trim

None of these pictures are "final product" just showing I'm making progress a tiny little bit at a time

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Once upon a time, there was a hard headed guy that had more money than sense.

He purchased a $2,000 TIG welder online, and was going to teach himself how to TIG weld. After about 2-3 weeks of very frustrating "lessons" on what not to do, this hard-headed fool went to the local community college, planked down $300 more dollars, and signed up for a TIG class after work. It was the funn'est/best thing he had ever done for his fab skills.

Inside of 4 weeks (of a 16 week course), he went from frustrated and disappointed, to "not too bad for a beginner" and has continued to improve ever since.

The end.

 

[trial and error]

Once upon a time, there was a hard headed guy that had more money than sense.

He purchased a $2,000 TIG welder online, and was going to teach himself how to TIG weld. After about 2-3 weeks of very frustrating "lessons" on what not to do, this hard-headed fool went to the local community college, planked down $300 more dollars, and signed up for a TIG class after work. It was the funn'est/best thing he had ever done for his fab skills.

Inside of 4 weeks (of a 16 week course), he went from frustrated and disappointed, to "not too bad for a beginner" and has continued to improve ever since.

The end.

Point taken

 

[Vigo]

We’re not dogging on you, you’re already past the hardest part which is jumping in! I just don’t want you to have a surprise structural issue at an inopportune time when using the loader.

One thing you might consider.. if you are welding a thickness of metal that is near the limit of your welder, there is almost no chance of overdoing it as far as ‘blowing through’ the material, so theres very little risk to just holding the trigger down. To me it looks like a lot of starts and stops currently. In terms of making sure everything gets hot and enough material gets added, id suggest treating it more like a bull ride where the goal is to hang on for 8 seconds at a time!

Now that i think of it, almost all the fab projects on Youtube these days are fast forwarding all the parts where they lay a weld bead. They wouldn’t be doing that if they weren’t holding the trigger down long enough to get boring!

 

[Runs With Scissors]

We’re not dogging on you, you’re already past the hardest part which is jumping in! I just don’t want you to have a surprise structural issue at an inopportune time when using the loader.

+1 on both points.

 

[trial and error]

I know no-one is giving me a hard time just to give ne a hard time, I'm honestly taking it all in and trying to adjust and improve. That's why I signed up for this forum and adventure

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I know no-one is giving me a hard time just to give ne a hard time, I'm honestly taking it all in and trying to adjust and improve. That's why I signed up for this forum and adventure

Also note while grinding a weld down makes it "look better" you really better off leaving it bulky and just lightly knock of the highest points.
I would personally go back and lay another weld slow and hot over the existing on the towers.
Also gussets or reinforcing plates add a ton of strength!

 

[trial and error]

Also note while grinding a weld down makes it "look better" you really better off leaving it bulky and just lightly knock of the highest points.
I would personally go back and lay another weld slow and hot over the existing on the towers.
Also gussets or reinforcing plates add a ton of strength!

Definately the plan, I only went that far with the grinding to see if I had any bonding at all, gussets will be added wherever feasible/possible

 

[trial and error]

Another hydro question for the experts I ordered the quick disconnects to be able to remove the plow and its hydros after confirming they where 1/4" lines also ordered some small 12"Lx 1/4" hoses to get me away from the spool valve (I don't think there is enough room to maneuver 4 disconnects tight around the valve ) all the lines and fittings on the plow and valve are NPT what is the best reasonably priced sealant to use on these threads that's readily available? On the FEL I'm planning on converting to JIC as soon as I leave the quick disconnects. unfortunaly the cylinders I'm using are ORB so I have to switch fitting again there but all of that should be self sealing when properly tightened

 

[Vigo]

So with my automotive experience i actually like NPT whereas it seems to be most people’s least favorite. I think it just comes from getting VERY comfortable with how much torque you can get away with on things before bad stuff happens. Using NPT without getting comfortable tightening it sufficiently is prone to leaks, whereas something like an ORB you can basically just make it ‘seat’ with no actual ‘tightening’ and it will probably seal. JIC inherently involves ‘swivel’ action (ie you can tighten it in any rotational position) so it has that going for it over npt as well, but once you ARE using NPT swivel fittings they have equivalent convenience and the advantage of being the cheapest overall option.

Im not pushing NPT, just saying its not as bad as some people think. For example, you rarely need thread sealant of any kind. An npt female ‘hole’ seals on its threads, but if you are sealing a male npt hose end to a female npt ‘fitting’ it actually seals on it’s conical ‘face’, like a flare fitting. Those types of connections do not require thread sealant, ever.

For anyone threading npt hoses directly into cylinder or valve ports, i would recommend they install npt swivel fittings in between instead. They are $2-3 each at Surplus Center and make your life a LOT better when you have to mess with hoses.

If SAE/ORB or JIC were same cost id prefer them, but overall NPT seems cheapest and i don’t struggle with it. Certainly some people will just prefer to deal with something else.

 

[trial and error]

So with my automotive experience i actually like NPT whereas it seems to be most people’s least favorite. I think it just comes from getting VERY comfortable with how much torque you can get away with on things before bad stuff happens. Using NPT without getting comfortable tightening it sufficiently is prone to leaks, whereas something like an ORB you can basically just make it ‘seat’ with no actual ‘tightening’ and it will probably seal. JIC inherently involves ‘swivel’ action (ie you can tighten it in any rotational position) so it has that going for it over npt as well, but once you ARE using NPT swivel fittings they have equivalent convenience and the advantage of being the cheapest overall option.

Im not pushing NPT, just saying its not as bad as some people think. For example, you rarely need thread sealant of any kind. An npt female ‘hole’ seals on its threads, but if you are sealing a male npt hose end to a female npt ‘fitting’ it actually seals on it’s conical ‘face’, like a flare fitting. Those types of connections do not require thread sealant, ever.

For anyone threading npt hoses directly into cylinder or valve ports, i would recommend they install npt swivel fittings in between instead. They are $2-3 each at Surplus Center and make your life a LOT better when you have to mess with hoses.

Good to know, my cylinders are ORB boss 6 which is nice and the hoses can be anything but since I already ordered ORB to Jic elbows for the cylinder connections and Jic tees for the hoses ill probably stick to JIC for most hoses with female swivel ends and switch back to npt adapters right at the end for the quick disconnects I would love to have done everything with one fitting type. However since the tractor end is NPT and the cylinder end is ORB (expensive fittings) figured I would throw a 3rd type into the mix to try and keep the guesswork out of tightening. I'm also peicemealing stuff together wherever I found it cheapest i.e. cylinders from rugged made and fittings/hoses from surplus center and quick disconnects from Amazon. Going the budget route doesn't always lend itself to the keeping all the fitting the same
Surplus center has been an amazing find, definately the best prices on hosed, fittings and male disconnects which I need 4 of for the loader connections
Sounds like I may not need any sealant at all becuase my only connections in npt are npt females fittings to npt male hoses and based on not finding any sealant on the fittings on the tractor when I checked hose diameter and your advice I should be fine