loader weight distribution:

Preferably, it would be pushing from the carriage of the crawler so as not to put undue stress on the rest of the machine. Same thing with a tractor, I'd rather have it clamped right to the rear axels than pushing through the whole transmission case.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Too early in the morning for serious calculations but:

Think of your loader as a first class lever from the BUCKET end, "C". Label the tower mount "B". Lable the front axle center line as "A".

Example:
Length C to B= 10ft, A to B=1ft, Load weight applied to C = 1000lbs

the total load weight at "B"= 10x1000= 10000lbs

Load weight at "A" the fulcrum is = 10000-1000=9000lbs With "C" remaining constant.

Slide "B" toward the rear axle 5ft with BC remaining constant 10ft.

Load weight at "A"= 10000-5000=5000lbs
load weight at "B"=10000lbs

So yes it does matter where the pivot tower is located and where the fulcrum point is. Most loaders also use the pivot tower as a fulcrum so then the front axle is unloaded even more. We also would now have two fulcrum points, one at "A" and one at "B".

From the above then a pivot tower located behind the rear axle would clearly have the least amount of front axle load.

I'll let someone else calculate the the double fulcrum load but I thought this might help.

T_Bone

The difference I see in the front loaders and the F10 type is not where the weight is carried (wheel wise), but how the frame of the tractor is stressed...

Although my math contained errors in my post (I did warn you), I'll stand by my therory.

Example:
F350 PSD Dually (not exact weights but close)

Empty front axle weight=4400lbs
Empty rear axle weight= 3600lbs

Loaded front axle weight= 4650lbs
Loaded rear axle weight = 7600lbs

Wanna see my front axle weight increase to 5000lbs? Just shove some of that rear axle weight forward in the bed.

How then is my F350 any different than my tractor loader example?

T_Bone

I also believe some of the tractors with front wheel drive simply don't have enough clearance between the front tires and the side of the tractor to accomodate anything but a mid-mount frame loader. The mid-mount frames seem to hug the sides of the tractor more than the front-mounts. We chose a mid-mount for this reason, to keep as much turning radius as possible.

The differences show up during the 80% duty cycle that the loader is not being used for work.

I hate mid-mount and front hangers because they are continually putting weight (wear) out on the front end even when they are not in use.

However, sure wish I could find a nice front-hanger in good shape, tho. They are handy. :>)

Allan

Assuming that two loaders have the same center of gravity, how they're attached to the tractor has no effect on weight distribution (I think that's what you're asking). How the loader is attached does have a significant effect on how the loads and resulting stress gets distributed through the tractor structure. Some mounting points are better able to withstand the stress imposed by the loader, but that has nothing to do with weight distribution between front and rear axles, all else being equal.

Keith

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