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John in Mich
03-13-2018 16:29:48
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A lot of comments and I have to agree with most. Mostly, do NOT expect to take on any large earthmoving projects (BTDT).
I have been using a Wagner "jungle gym" pipe frame loader on an 8N for over 60 years (I'm 75). Not hard to climb over when I was younger, not so good now! When we had the backhoe on the tractor and loaded tires, steering was not too bad. After taking off the backhoe, that changed alot. I bought a pair of 6.50x16 6 ply implement tires, mounted on the front and pumped up to 50 psi. Some help is to put an implement on the 3 point or, some owners have made weights with concrete or scrap iron as added weight. (For this I would suggest lifting the weight with the hydraulics and then chain it up so that the hydraulics do not get stressed.)
These loaders have no down pressure. To get the bucket edge to cut you have to lower the nose of it. Tight pivots and tight linkages with the bucket cylinder help. A hand trip bucket can't do that.
Pump: I disagree with the requirement to remove or notch the grill to fit the pump. I have seen removed grills and I have seen "notches" cut in the grill for clearence. Neither was required with our Wagner. The pump was forward of the grill and the stinger shaft from the crank pulley reached through the grill crank handle hole with the coupling very easily.
Small Bucket: The original bucket was 3 feet wide. (I have since widened it to 5 feet, More on that in a moment) It would handle about 1/4 to 1/3 yard of whatever. Wet clay was by far the hardest to carry. A problem with the narrow bucket is when scraping or digging below grade, a trench. The tractor tread width leaves one side of the tractor too high. This requires widening your "trench". You have to make several passes to widen it.
Large Bucket: I widened the bucket to 5 feet but made it a bit shallower front to rear. This solves some probems but has some of its own. DO NOT try to fill with dirt and carry. I carry no more dirt than I did when it was 3 feet wide. Remember, weight.
What has been beneficial with the 5 foot wide is to scoop out dirt and have the tractor follow the bucket with one side of the tractor riding up on one side. Also, this works great when I'm picking up...leaves! I dump them into a 5x8 tilt bed trailer behind my golf cart and my granddaughters can take them to the field to dump for mulch.
I will be removing this loader this year, hopefully. I have a "step-thru" pipe frame loader to mount on my NAA (Jubilee). Still no power assisted steering but I can deal with it. I will move the 5 foot wide bucket to that loader.
As has been said, a loader can be a bit restrictive to manuevering. In close quarters that can be hazardus. Years ago I did hit a section of my deck railing while mowing the lawn with my Woods RM 600 lawn mowwer. AAAHHHHH! *^#@%* LOL
This is where a second, or third or forth or X .... tractor(s) helps. I have more than one, several more, umteen even.
When we only had one, the loader had to be removed for farming. Now that is fun, too.
How much dirt can you move? How much time do you have? Yard work or manure loader is one thing. I have moved hundreds and hundreds of yards of dirt. Sand, top soil and clay. I have also used it like a bulldozer and leveled piles of dirt. One task was about 3 thousand yards of "free" heavy caly dumped in my field. V E R Y slow work. 2 summers as time allowed. Prior to that I leveled about 1400 yards around my (then) new house in 1985.
When we built my barn in 1984, I made a 10 boom to fit the loader in place of the bucket. The dump cylinder allowed some flexibility while lifting the 36 foot long roof trusses to the top of the 12 foot walls.
YOUR mileage may vary. Good luck, have fun, be safe.
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