bucket removal from a 3400 industrial ford tractor

rking

Member
I just got a hay fork for the front loader on my "new to me" industrial 3400 ford tractor. I am getting ready to remove the bucket. Is there any smart way to leave the bucket for easy reattachment? Certain way to tilt maybe... Any hints or suggestions are appreciated. I have never done this before. The you tube videos all showed quick attachments on their buckets. This bucket has 2 pens on each side-12 inches apart.

It is a big, heavy bucket...
 
I have a 345c Ford TLB, which is the much newer version of your 3400.
First find an area that's flat, then dump your bucket all the way over and set it down with all four front edges touching the ground.
Then lube and tap out your pins where the rod ends of the cylinders attach to the bucket. Retract the cylinder rods all.the way to prevent
damage to the chrome rods. Then tap out the bottom hinge pins and you're free! Reverse operation to install it back. It's also a great time to
polish those pins, clean out the grease zeros, and check the bushings in your lift arms and rod ends!
Hope this makes sense.
Joe
 

Thanks-I am adjusting the brackets on the hay spear and am almost done. Ready to give it a shot!

I need to get a manual for the 3400. Think I will need some coaching to perform the bushing check...
 
No manual needed, just stick the pins into each w/o the bucket or forks on it and see if there is too much movement
 
The bucket removal worked great-no problem at all. I do have a
problem with connecting the hay spear. When I got the bucket off, I retracted the rod end of the cylinders. One retracted further than the other and they are now uneven?!

I went ahead and was able to connect the bottom hinge pens to the hay fork but the cylinder rods are now uneven and I am unable to connect to even holes on the fork. Enclosing some pictures...

The right side cylinder (sitting on tractor) is several inches further that the other side. It appears to have a plate (picture enclosed) stopping the cylinder rod from fully retracting.

The left side cylinder slipped over the plate and retracted further.

Is there any adjustments on the front end loader like the lever on the back 3 point to help attach implements?
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normal.. hook up one tilt cyl... then extend and the short one will come down... helps to have a second person to cuss at but its normal for one to retract first... usually the right cyl as its closer to the feed hoses.

I find raising the back of the bucket and setting the back on some blocks makes hooking back up easier. When I lay it over as others said, its nearly impossible to reconnect as its too far over. I guess each bucket is different.

You will have to experiment with your bucket. I have a long rock bar that i use to move/slide the bucket slightly when re-hooking up. A tilted over bucket does NOT slide. A flat bucket on blocks can be bump forwards and backwards a bit.
 

OK-Glad this is normal. Was thinking my tractor may have a defective loader. Going out with your directions to give it another shot. What a learning experience.
 

Got it!! Got the third pen in... Raised the fork then I
used a board as a spacer to prop the cylinder up to raise past the plate that was stopping the right side from retracting up.

Which is the tilt cylinder?If I am sitting on tractor is this the one on the left?
 
(quoted from post at 16:45:56 07/20/15)
Got it!! Got the third pen in... Raised the fork then I
used a board as a spacer to prop the cylinder up to raise past the plate that was stopping the right side from retracting up.

Which is the tilt cylinder?If I am sitting on tractor is this the one on the left?

Success!! I picked up an old bale from last year and the tractor seemed to handle it fine.
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You have to remove bucket every time youwant to use balespear uggh. If you have
awelder maybe you could weld some hooks on top of bucket and and a rod across
the top of bale spear . Then you could hook bale spear to bucket and leave bucket
on.before quick attach forks and buckets that was how they use to do it with forks if
thats not to heavy
 
(quoted from post at 01:30:50 07/21/15) You have to remove bucket every time youwant to use balespear uggh. If you have
awelder maybe you could weld some hooks on top of bucket and and a rod across
the top of bale spear . Then you could hook bale spear to bucket and leave bucket
on.before quick attach forks and buckets that was how they use to do it with forks if
thats not to heavy

It was a job that for sure. I saw some of the you tube videos of the "quick attach" buckets and I was a little jealous... Thanks for the info!
 

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