Kubota b7100 FEL build on a budget

[trial and error]

Side note I already private messaged Vigo all of this. I am just publically posting it here for others who share the valid concerns

To start I appreciate the comcern concern with the less then steller and even less so strong looking "welds" I won't even call them welds becuase it is an insult to a proper welder with good equipment and experience. My biggest issue with consistency has and continues to be the welder striking a consistent arc. Sometimes it does great and most of time it's complains the whole time and I get the visual results I've been posting. I throughly clean all my mating surfaces within several inches of the "weld area" and have my ground also on clean bare metal every time so those two variables are not it. Anyway this isn't the point of this post . I again appreciate the concern and do not want to become known as the guy who either thinks he knows it all, or the guy who throws all caution to the wind. We can all stand to learn something. I do understand static load testing versus shock load testing and have already done some of both, both intentionally and unintentionally. I don't have a 3lb sledge or a proper cold chisel, so I'm improvising and will use my 8lb sledge and a splitting wedge I dont care about . I have beaten on all of my "welds" with my largest ballpoen hammer and also several with the 8 lb sledge.I have used a 3+ foot pry pay to pry on several of the bracket "welds" to the point of bending the pry bars spring steel. I have also had a 4 foot peice of 2x4 in between one of the sets of brackets trying to open the space just a hair due to some warping from "welding". The brackets haven't budged from any of this. My wife also unintentionally lifted the entire font of the tractor off the ground 6 inches with the electric hoist attached to my loader arms and garage trusses, while "helping" me. Now I understand most of this is just dynamic testing not shock loading. So I have also unintentionally dropped the entire assembly over 5 feet twice, once when my ratchet strap "sling" broke and it caught 6 inches off the ground by the strap I had on the" bucket" thus "shock loading" a lot of the bracketry as well as my garage hoist. The other time it fell was when I didn't have the chain hooked into the hoist properly but pretty much the same thing happened. I will also now try the chisel method but I don't expect any catastrophic failure and if t happens like has been pointed out, better on the bench test then in a work test. I also know my "welds" look "cold" but I can assure you they are not. On the ones I have ground I have found good fusion. And the heat markings on the surrounding metal supports that, as well as the 3 left handed welding gloves which are cooked in the area around my index finger and thumb.
Besides the chisel test I'm not sure what other shock testing I can do but I'm open to suggestions, before I go do "real life" tests. I also have no intention of lifting anything delicate anytime until I'm confident in this thing both in form and function so no concern there. My 3pgm pump should keep things nice and slow but their is shock loading that wil come from driving over bumps/uneven ground.

Thanks again all for the valid concerns, and reality checks of what can happen. I am doing my best to test things before I put myself or the machine
in danger from a catastrophic failure in the feild

 

[trial and error]

I did "chisel test" many of the welds as suggested in fact I tested every weld that isn't through bolted. Thankfully nothing failed and it wasn't from lack of trying. Anyway I did get one good coat of primer brushed on everything and two coats of gloss black which shows every run and imperfection (oh well) on one side of everything. Probably not my first color choice but it's what I had on hand and after all the title is "build on a budget"
The last if the hoses come Tuesday.

 

[ve9aa]

I've really enjoyed watching you build a FEL and Bucket from nothing.

Kudos!

You have more wherewithall than I do.

(but yeah, some of those welds would really worry me.........no disrespect intended whatsoever)

 

[trial and error]

I've really enjoyed watching you build a FEL and Bucket from nothing.

Kudos!

You have more wherewithall than I do.

(but yeah, some of those welds would really worry me.........no disrespect intended whatsoever)

Non taken like I've said if I was on the outside looking in I would be sketched out as well but I did abuse the welds as best I could on the bench

 

[trial and error]

Started "Final assembly" this evening and got what hoses I have prepped. I say final assembly in quotes becuase there is still a chance for failure in the feild tests, however I plan on babying this thing till I get the piles of gravel from plowing, and sod and dirt from the wife's garden expansion out of the yard as well as some general light yard cleanup done . Those tasks should be an easy test and then we will go from there, but I need to get those few jobs done before I can really do a true abusive test run and see what it really will or won't do

 

[trial and error]

The beast is alive and got its first tests in the rain today ( with just one lift cylinder hooked up) scooping/"digging" some dirt and gravel played around and pushed a pile of split wood around and also back dragged some of the gravel off the edge of the driveway. All in all it passed my tests . I did run it through its paces in the garage just to check for clearances and had to adjust the articulation stops a little to keep from hitting a couple of hose fittings. All in all im pretty happy and time will tell if It will survive. It is pretty violent when lowering with just one lift cylinder, (half speed should be more tolerable) in that it comes down super fast and sudden stops during its travel definately "test" the welds, but there was no complaining from them. I certainly met or exceeded my lift capacity goals it will lift myself 230ish lbs and 210lbs of sand off the ground, I wasnt testing that to full height with me in the bucket amd the wife at the controls . But it will lift an entire "bucket" of soaking wet dirt and sod to full height (65") With just one of the two lift cylinders plumbed in , so I'll need to be very careful once both are in service. The 300lb + counterweight I have on the 3ph seems to be a perfect balance of keeping me in check with weights in the FEL with the current cobbled "bucket" and also keeping the steering "easy enough" thus to not overload the front axle

Yes, I need to clean up my hoses and zip ties. I'll get to that when I run the last of the hoses and figure out the best routing which may change a few times

 

[trial and error]

Finally got the other lift cylinder plumbed in and all the hoses routed(ish). It is definately more stable with both cylinders doing the work, but just for good measure I added a cross brace between the two towers that bolts on and still allows for the hood to be opened, (this may or may not have been nessacary) I noticed some slight "racking" between the towers on Saturday during the intiittal feild tests and wasn't sure if it was due to only having one lift cylinder plumbed in (most likely) but the brace definately stiffened things up and having the lift cylinders push equally on both sides eliminated any movement that may have been there. I moved around a little more gravel this afternoon then went and lifted the end of a 22" x 12 foot fresh oak log a couple inches off the ground just for fun, thankfully nothing broke and it did lift it but the back end got pretty light even with me and the 300+ lb counterweight so I determined that well below that is my safe operating weight. I'll have to take that additional brace off and trim some edges and paint them in the next few weeks but I think I'll wait a little bit before I do that. . Did I mention that so far I'm thrilled with the results of this project, and as a bonus the wife is pretty happy to have another "tool" to help with the "heavy" lifting

 

[Vigo]

Nice!! It's gonna be awesome having a tiny loader. I havent gotten over mine and its been a couple of years now..

Kinda 'crazy' of you to test the thing with only one lift cylinder!! Lots of people wouldn't willingly put their factory-built loader through that. So, the fact that nothing noticeable happened to yours is a great sign.

Make sure and keep posting anything relevant as you feel out the limits of it.. it all contributes to the 'communal knowledge base' of what someone can expect when trying to DIY a loader and considering different cylinder sizes, mounting points, pressures etc.

 

[trial and error]

THanks

Nice!! It's gonna be awesome having a tiny loader. I havent gotten over mine and its been a couple of years now..

Kinda 'crazy' of you to test the thing with only one lift cylinder!! Lots of people wouldn't willingly put their factory-built loader through that. So, the fact that nothing noticeable happened to yours is a great sign.

Make sure and keep posting anything relevant as you feel out the limits of it.. it all contributes to the 'communal knowledge base' of what someone can expect when trying to DIY a loader and considering different cylinder sizes, mounting points, pressures etc.

Thanks I'll keep the thread updated as much as possible. I plan on using It thoroughly Saturday to get a good start on some of the work that needs to be done

 

[trial and error]

Definately put the build through its paces today backtracking gravel dirt in the driveway hauling the rest of the sod/dirt from the garden expansion out front hauling logs out of the woods once I bucked them to 18" lengths. Dragged the old metal truck cap we where using to burn brish back in February, back to its home in the woods once I cleared the logs out of the way, I even got to use the FEL to flip the cap back over so it doesn't sit there collecting every branch leaf and drop of water that was probably the most fun part of the day. Definately does not lack lifting power as I've mentioned, which is a double edged sword. So if anyone wants to use 1
.5 inch cylinders woth a 1 inch rod on their small build the key angle is no less then 15 mine are more like 17/18 but I'm pretty sure 15 would have sufficed just fine. My only complaint with my build so far is the lack of roll back when all the way down its not a major negative and I knew it going in but it does make it a little difficult to get fulls scoops without lifting up to get the material to settle back clearing more room at which point I jut make an extra trip. And since I've been limited to a shovel/wheelbarrow or garden cart before this is still miles ahead.
I've still have some work to do on the driveway from the ground never freezing this winter and thus plowing everything including a little snow when it did snow, but ill have to borrow our friends york rake for that part.

 

[trial and error]

Figured out a work around for not having quite enough lift to dump over the high sides of the dump trailer. Either A drive up the ramps and into the trailer and then dump (so long as its hooked to the truck and the wheels are chocked) which is what I did yesterday or B like I did today take the side extensions off which is just one screw in each side. Thankfully most of my work won't involve loading high sided trailers but there are work around for those scenarios.

 

[ve9aa]

Attaboy!

Adapt & Overcome

 

[trial and error]

Some old shots from tacking the cylinder brackets on using a long pipe to line things up side to side.. my father is working the camera as he came over that day to give me a hand with the critical parts.

Update: the machine has been getting put through its paces all week moving gravel, dirt, concrete bags and retaining wall block at my parents and despite missing its normal operator the little B and its FEL are exceeding at moving material around a otherwise very inaccessible area of the property

 

[trial and error]

Just put the loader back on (hopefully not more snow) but the idea behind jumping the gun was that I wanted to make the bucket sort of a "quick tach" its crude but functional. The bucket can now hang from the plate that the forks hang from and gets just two bolts through the bottom peice of unistrut attached to the bucket, to the same place that the "fork clamp" goes on the loader plate. I've been stockpiling a bunch of RCA over the last few weeks while my brother's dump trailer is being stored on my property, and wanted to clean the pile up a bit.
The pile of RCA will get used for a 20x 20 (maybe bigger) parking area/turn around area off the driveway
Like I said the design of the quick tach is crude and it needs paint but it's function over form around here.

Ps the set of quick disconnects for my hydraulics for my curl has to be hooked up "backwards" for the loader to dump the plow angle works fine can anyone tell me for certain if the disconnects on the loader may be the issue. I have a sneaking suspicion that the one will only flow fluid one direction and that is causing my issue.I unhooked and hooked them back up several times last year woth no change.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

You are asking a ton of the unistrut.

If it's working backward then you have the cylinders plumbed backwards.
Hence the reason it has to be hooked up backwards to work.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Is it a joy stick or two levers?

 

[trial and error]

You are asking a ton of the unistrut.

If it's working backward then you have the cylinders plumbed backwards.
Hence the reason it has to be hooked up backwards to work.

I would agree on the backwards plumbing, except it worked fine for the first several months after the build. It's not that I have to hook them up backwards for it to function properly, it's that I have to hook them up backwards for me to be able to dump at all, and the lever runs backwards at that point. Hence why I'm asking about one of the poppets only being able to flow one direction.
You are probably right about the unistrut, but I did do a good test run stalling the tractor and lifting the rear wheels off the ground while loaded with gravel. I'll keep a ose eye on it

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I would agree on the backwards plumbing, except it worked fine for the first several months after the build. It's not that I have to hook them up backwards for it to function properly, it's that I have to hook them up backwards for me to be able to dump at all, and the lever runs backwards at that point. Hence why I'm asking about one of the poppets only being able to flow one direction.
You are probably right about the unistrut, but I did do a good test run stalling the tractor and lifting the rear wheels off the ground while loaded with gravel. I'll keep a ose eye on it

Ok better explanation, yes you have a bad quick disconnect, could be either end.

You have so much extra steel at the mount, that it's really limiting the amount of material you can handle.

 

[trial and error]

Thank you fornthe clarification @North Idaho Wolfman
i agree about the excess weight at the front end. But... I'm fairly comfortable with the amount I can move. Our property is mostly flat and the forks worked really well in the fall moving lpgs etc. In my current situation I'm willing to sacrifice some bucket capacity to be able to switch between the two easier. Someday I'll redesign the whole thing when I graduate from fabrication preschool lol
Much apreacoeted NIW

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thank you fornthe clarification @North Idaho Wolfman
i agree about the excess weight at the front end. But... I'm fairly comfortable with the amount I can move. Our property is mostly flat and the forks worked really well in the fall moving lpgs etc. In my current situation I'm willing to sacrifice some bucket capacity to be able to switch between the two easier. Someday I'll redesign the whole thing when I graduate from fabrication preschool lol
Much apreacoeted NIW

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