FEL Idea

rayjay · Mar 25, 2015

Small FELs mounted on GTs seem to be very popular but have some negatives ref-front axle and spindle overloading, rear ballast requirements, etc.

How about making the "FEL " more like a skid steer where the main frame mounted uprights are behind the rear tires? I saw a pic of a New Holland skid steer that uses a multi-link main arm to allow a high lift without adverse angularity issues which is what got me to thinking on this idea.

You could design it so the back of the bucket barely clears the front of the frame of the GT which helps the weight distribution problem.

You would need a stout fully enclosed driver cage for safety. Getting in and out might be a challenge for old guys like me ( no more getting in a midget through the top of the rollcage

).

The main arms would need to be longer so more $$$ for steel and you might end up with longer hyd cylinders, $$$, but it probably balances out since you would need less rear ballast possibly.

What do y'all think?

Kbeitz · Mar 25, 2015

That dose not take the weight off the front of the tractor...

JRC0528 · Mar 25, 2015

Kbeitz said:
That dose not take the weight off the front of the tractor...

Not entirely, but if it keeps the bucket 1 to 1.5' closer to the front axle it will greatly decrease the weight shifted off of the rear axle, which is a reduction of weight shifted onto the front axle.

The biggest benefit I can see is allowing a much better lifting height without shifting the bucket further out front.

rayjay · Mar 25, 2015

Kbeitz said:
That dose not take the weight off the front of the tractor...

It would a little bit. The uprights that would normally be right by your knees are now behind the rear tires. Everything would be shifted rearward to some degree. The lifting cyls would be much farther rearward.

Some of this would be offset by the weight of the roll cage which would still be well back.

rayjay · Mar 25, 2015

JRC0528 said:
The biggest benefit I can see is allowing a much better lifting height without shifting the bucket further out front.

You could probably make the rear uprights shorter than for FEL use and have the arms just clear the tops of the rear tires when the bucket is at it's lowest possible position. This would lower the cg of the machine a little. Or this may not be possible due to cylinder location issues. The designer would need to look at several different skid steer layouts for ideas.

North Dakota 322 · Mar 25, 2015

why doesnt some one make a loader for the back of the tractors

North Dakota 322 · Mar 25, 2015

like the old ford bidirectional tractors

North Dakota 322 · Mar 25, 2015

tlen you wouldent have problems with bad weight disturabution

TUDOR · Mar 25, 2015

GT's, by and large, are relatively light weight for FEL duty compared to industrial tractors. As Kevin pointed out, the weight all lands on the front end. Likewise, as you point out, for a given payload, with the posts further back and the bucket closer to the front end, somewhat less weight gets transferred to the front.

The end result is that more weight can be carried as payload, and usually is. It's a wash.

More lifting height means less stability. A 500 lb payload 6' in the air can be a scary situation under the wrong circumstances. That's 3000 ft-lb of force that can go laterally with a machine that weighs (in many cases) less than 2000 lb. For this reason, rear end ballast is essential to keep the rear wheels, the only source of stability, firmly planted. There is no stability associated with a pivoting front axle. More lifting height is contra indicated without taking extra precautions on a lift by lift basis.

Skid steers have no pivoting axle, carry substantially more rear end ballast, and have a higher base weight than any GT. They can handle the higher lifting height afforded by longer arms.

The center of the bucket for my GT loader is 33" in front of the front axle centerline and the cross member between the arms clears the hood by less than an inch. It will lift over 1000 lb to a height of 71.5" at the arm pins and has broken the kingpin housings off the front axle, the left one once and the right one twice. The last time was in the mid '80's, and it saw service for another 20 years afterwards with no further spindle issues.

The front axle (and tires) on any GT will get overloaded with a FEL. You can take that to the bank, and bear it in mind while using the attachment. You have to expect that overloaded components will fail at some point and be prepared to take immediate corrective action and do the repairs afterwards.

rayjay · Mar 25, 2015

Skid steers also have no suspension movement at all. The pivoting front axle on a GT could be a liability for heavy loads way up in the air.

I did see another skid steer on the way home and on this one the arms turned downward about 90 degrees at the very back end. The pivot was at the bottom of this downward section [ that looked to be about 12" or so ]. The top joint of the lift cyl was right in the 90 degree bend

grandpajay · Mar 26, 2015

rayjay,
What you saw in that skid loader was typical of a "vertical lift" style mechanism. The geometry of the lift reduces the arc of the lift and helps keep the bucket more vertical throughout it's lift. The more familiar standard lift is called "radial lift". Probably all our tractor loaders fit that category. It's different from "self leveling". Jay

FEL Idea

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Kbeitz

JRC0528

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North Dakota 322

North Dakota 322

North Dakota 322

TUDOR

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