2021 - Volume #45, Issue #6, Page #35
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Heavy Metal Beefed Up His Deere Loader Bucket
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Ferrante says when he bought the loader the bucket was bent, the vertical mounting points were twisted, and the pin holes for mounting the tilt cylinder and loader arms were egg-shaped. “At first I thought about scrapping it altogether, then on closer assessment, I figured reinforcements were a better idea.”
Ferrante cut off the top of the bucket and replaced the bent metal with a new piece of heavier gauge sheet steel. Then he beefed up the 1/2-in. tilt cylinder and lift arm mounting points with 1 1/4-in. thick plate steel.
“Rather than cutting away the old vertical mounts, I machined 4 new pieces, two that fit along each side of the existing plates for added reinforcement,” Ferrante says. “I wanted to bolt them on rather than weld them permanently, so I bored the holes and hand-filed them square to accept 3/4-in. carriage bolts. Next, I machined bronze bushings for the pin mounts and put in grease fittings to lubricate them, like most new loaders have these days. If the bushings ever need to be changed, the reinforcing pieces are easy to remove.”
To complete the upgrade Ferrante made new pins from 4140 bar stock, a big improvement over the old pins. He also re-packed the cylinder seals and fitted both of them with new hoses and connectors.
“The project took longer than expected,” Ferrante says, “but the mounting brackets and bucket are industrial strength now, so I won’t have any problems loading gravel, dirt or manure. It was definitely worth the time and effort, without much out-of-pocket costs.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dave Ferrante, 870 Road 19, Powell, Wyo. 82435 (ph 307-754-1555).
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