L3200 Bucket Cylinders

[Woody Martin]

Quick detach front bucket. One cylinder raises before the other one does, making it impossible to reattach the bucket. First time asking a questions on tractor talks. Hope to get a response from someone out there on what may be causing this? The tractor is only 5 months old. Thanks

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

A picture is worth a thousand words in this case!
Sounds like something is way wrong because there is supposed to be a bar between the 2 ends to keep them lined up (shown in yellow)
Is it a case of them being miss aligned but still connected? If that's the case then the QA was welded wrong, or it has been tweaked out of square.

 

[gpreuss]

I agree that something has to be bent. I'd pull the QA pins, and see if the attach assembly will lie flat on concrete. I'd also check the loader frame, and make sure it hasn't been bent out of square. While the QA attachment is removed, tie one of the cylinders closed with rope, and make sure the other moves smoothly and easily; then tie the other and check again.
Has this always been like it is, or has it developed over time? Did you charge into a big rock? If it is nothing you could have done to it, you may have a warranty issue.
When my tractor was delivered the dealer showed me how to slide on/off the QA bucket, as well as the whole loader. So I know it worked OK when it was new. Hopefully, your dealer did the same.

 

[dmanlyr]

I have to agree with the above answers, there is absolutely no way that the two QA "pads" can move independently, they are welded together by the lower bar!

So unless something is bent, or broken this cannot happen.

David

 

[Billdog350]

Woody, are you sure you mean BUCKET cylinders and not LOADER cylinders? If the loader is uneven, that will cause the condition you state...and can be caused by a bent loader, or more likely rear tires with different sizes or inflation pressures.

 

[ShaunRH]

My read of that was the lift cylinders are not coming up at the same time causing a misalignment of the loader when trying to put it back on the brackets. I could be totally wrong on that interpretation of it.

Sounds like the loader was left on uneven ground or the tractor isn't level when approaching the loader. This can be different tire pressures in the rear or more extremely in the front tires.

Make sure the pressures are the same. If they are and all is okay there, you might need to put a piece of thin plywood under the tires of the low side of the tractor to level it as you approach the loader.

Then again, if my interpretation is wrong, the above is all BS and won't apply so ignore it...

 

[D2Cat]

I've got a 730 Case with a Westendorf loader with their quick attach pins. They function independently and are virtually never parallel to each other until they are connected to the implement.

I get lined up with the tool I'm wanting to connect to, push the pins out as far as they go (when one reaches the limit it can no longer move so the other one comes to the same position), then bring the pins up to the connection point adjusting as required---and they both line up and connect and lock.

Guess I'm spoiled working on antique equipment.

 

[dmanlyr]

The poster was pretty adamant in his post about this being a issue to align the bucket QA up, not the whole loader.

Hopefully the OP will chime in....

David

 

[Woody Martin]

Thanks guys. I just typed a full length explanation but lost it because I took too long. The ones that said I bent something were correct. In short. Moving a large limb pile, limb gets caught, opens lever, bucket fell off the one side. Left hand pad got bent and caused all of the grief. The local Kubota dealer grabbed it this morning and (un bent) it and had it back by noon. Charge was $50.00. Could have been worse. I'm sure it will be back to the shop sooner or later. It's just been too much fun getting 36 years of needed work done. This L3200 is just perfect for me. Thanks again. P.S. ShaunRH, you were on the right track also. When I damaged it, it held one cylinder back causing different lengths making me think it was hydraulic.