Gene Blister
Member
Equipment
2019 Kubota B2601, FAL LA435, Snow Blower BX2822A, Land Pride rear blade RB1572
It was time to take the snowblower off Bessy II and reattach the LA435 “Quick Tach” FEL. Everything was in readiness, I felt confident it was going to be as easy for me as it was for Neil from Messicks:
“I won’t even have to get off the tractor seat!”
The thing about leaving a heavy implement on gravel, tottering on two tiny support legs, is that those legs quietly and steadily sink into said gravel over the course of a wet winter.
I got Bessy lined up for rendezvous and docking and found the loader’s arms about 4 inches too low to slip over the tractor’s support pivots. So low that I couldn’t get close enough for the quick and easy 4-in-1 hydraulic coupler to connect to the hydraulic feeds.
I tried lifting it by the arms to wedge something under the bucket (my chiropractor says with therapy and time the pain will eventually end).
I disconnected the bucket thinking to remove some weight and change the balance point. That did no good and now the designed way to raise the tractor up under the support pivots is gone.
I pulled out the trusty farm jacks to slowly lift the arms high enough to slip the front wheels under the arms, remembering to put a 2x8 under the jack so it would not join the loader sunk 4 inches into the gravel. No good. The loader has exactly one place to put a jack that won’t damage connectors, articulating pins or the hydraulic pistons, and when the arms are raised a bit, the whole jack-supported machine falls to the side.
Short of using a crane to raise everything, which won’t work anyway because this is all under a shed roof, does anyone have any suggestions? I’m paralyzed without the FEL and loader forks.
“I won’t even have to get off the tractor seat!”
The thing about leaving a heavy implement on gravel, tottering on two tiny support legs, is that those legs quietly and steadily sink into said gravel over the course of a wet winter.
I got Bessy lined up for rendezvous and docking and found the loader’s arms about 4 inches too low to slip over the tractor’s support pivots. So low that I couldn’t get close enough for the quick and easy 4-in-1 hydraulic coupler to connect to the hydraulic feeds.
I tried lifting it by the arms to wedge something under the bucket (my chiropractor says with therapy and time the pain will eventually end).
I disconnected the bucket thinking to remove some weight and change the balance point. That did no good and now the designed way to raise the tractor up under the support pivots is gone.
I pulled out the trusty farm jacks to slowly lift the arms high enough to slip the front wheels under the arms, remembering to put a 2x8 under the jack so it would not join the loader sunk 4 inches into the gravel. No good. The loader has exactly one place to put a jack that won’t damage connectors, articulating pins or the hydraulic pistons, and when the arms are raised a bit, the whole jack-supported machine falls to the side.
Short of using a crane to raise everything, which won’t work anyway because this is all under a shed roof, does anyone have any suggestions? I’m paralyzed without the FEL and loader forks.
