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Neil from Messicks here today.
We're outside with the Kubota
BX Series tractor,
the load cell hooked
to the bottom of it down here.
We're going to go through
and give you a couple of examples today
of why it's important to properly
size the duty of your implements
to your tractor's loader.
The setup that we have out here today
is a tire that I've buried about
six or eight feet down there underground
attached a chain to it
and then put this 3,000-pound load cell
here in the middle.
This is then chained up around our loader.
We're going to use this
to do a pretty simple demonstration.
It's that every pound that you add
to your loader out here is a pound
that you don't have in lift capacity
for the materials that you're trying to use.
A couple of good examples
that we can come up of where that matters.
Every one of these tractors
now has an option for a skid-steer
quick coupler on the front.
This quick coupler has added weight to it
that a pin-on bucket would not have.
If you have an application
where you're not going to be
say removing your bucket to put on
a snow pusher or a pallet forks
or some other attachment
on the front of your tractor,
it may be in your best interest
not to buy this quick coupler
because of the weight that it adds
to your machine.
We're going to show you the impact
that that has here very simply.
The very first thing that we're going to do
is go ahead and take our loader,
lift the load up and get a lift rating
without any additional weight
from implements
down on the end of the loader.
Now, one other interesting thing
that you're going to see here
when we do this is how
loader specifications work out.
This LA344 loader is rated it
just over 600 pounds at the pivot pin
at full height.
The very first thing you're going to see
is how that compares
to the rated specifications.
You can see 1,069 pounds,
way over what Kubota actually publishes
on the specification sheet.
Part of that is because
as a tractor's lift goes up,
it's lift capacity raises so you can lift
much, much more off the ground
down here at low heights
than you can way up in the air.
Just keep that in mind
when you're looking at these numbers.
What we're going to do now
is take this
26-kilogram weight or 55 pounds
and hang it up here on the front loader
and check and see how this added weight
say be it up an oversize set of pallet forks.
It's not really sized properly for the tractor
or added weight from this quick coupler
is going to impact the amount of weight
that we can now lift.
Seriously, I am not Bill Nye
the science guy here or anything,
but that is really interesting.
We came up 1,006 pounds basically
almost spot on the added weight here
being taken away from the lift capacity
so it is mathematically that simple.
Every pound that you got
out here on the loader
that you don't need to have is taking away
from the amount of lift capacity
that you have to lift.
Now, keep in mind,
those weights are all going to vary
depending on where they sit.
If they're back here where the load
is being lifted like this weight is,
it's going to be pretty mathematically even.
As you come away from the loader
and get further away,
every pound is going to have
a greater and greater impact.
When you're thinking
through your implements,
take a look at them in that way.
You want to keep that load
as close to the loader as possible.
The next thing we're going to do
is walk up here and show you
a couple of examples of implements
where this sizing could really play out.
You can see here,
I've got two different styles of grapples
that you could put on the front
of a small tractor like this.
The more compact, what's called
root rake style grapple that's going to hold
a lot closer to that loader
and then the larger high-capacity
traditional grapple
that's got a lot more space
here for the material.
When you're looking at the two different
applications and designs
of these implements,
you can see where this lift capacity concern
is going to come into mind.
This type of style with the weight
further away from the tractor
and more iron that it takes here
to make this larger opening
and the heavier bottom,
is going to weigh more than
what this more compact brush type
grapple is going to.
Now, granted, these are also going to grab
two very different loads, right?
These things being a lot smaller,
don't grab large objects quite as well
and these don't take looser material
like brush and briars and that stuff as well.
They've got two different applications too
that you certainly want to keep in mind.
Think through the lift
capacity implications
of your implements as well
and the fact that this being
overall closer to the tractor
and having less iron in it is going to allow you
more weight to be available to lift.
Interestingly enough,
these are fairly inexpensive implements.
This one right here is only $1,300.
If you've got the third function
on your loader there,
piece of cake to operate.
Say between the third function kit
and the grapple itself,
you say you're at basically $2,000
all in for something that's going to make
clearing operations a lot easier.
That's a little bit about the impact
of added weight on your loader.
To be perfectly honest,
I didn't expect this test
to come out like this at all.
I was really surprised how
mathematically accurate it came out to be.
Loader geometries are fairly complicated
and oftentimes,
you don't get the readings
that you may always expect.
I think our lift capacity down here
low to the ground
is a good example of that, right?
We've got basically 600 pounds
of lift capacity
but come up with a number over a thousand
because of the geometry of the situation.
In this case,
it really does look like you drop
extra pounds over the lift point
and you're simply going to lift less weight.
A couple of interesting things
I think you can draw from that,
one, buy implements that are suited
properly for your tractor.
Pallet forks is probably
one of the best examples that I can think of.
You can buy say skid-steer
engineered pallet forks for a lot less money
than ones that are specifically made
for a BX tractor simply because
of sales volume, right?
There's a lot, a lot of forks
sold for skid loaders.
Even though they're larger
and higher capacity,
they can usually be purchased
for a lower price than one
specifically made for a subcompact.
You can see there by buying
the cheaper set of pallet forks,
you are ultimately probably
going to lift less weight
because of that added impact on your loader.
Beyond that too,
a lot of other interesting things
that you could talk about for say,
duties of grapples, same thing, right?
Buy things made for your application
and think through where is that weight
going to sit out on my loader?
If you have attachment needs
that we can help with,
parts need for machines you already have
or service work that can be done,
give us a call at Messidks,
800-222-3373,
or online at messicks.com.
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