How to gear up a scale to a tractor bucket?

Philip d · Jul 6, 2018

I need to figure out how to do this to accurately measure chopped silage to keep corn and haylage ratio's in line. I don't really want to buy a tmr mixer to do that if can be avoided. Some pay loader's and Fendt tractors have them,is there an attachment that could be bought to hook either up to the mounting bracket or in the lift cylinder hydraulics to easily measure how much weight is in the tractor bucket? Thank you for any thoughts.

farmerwithmutt · Jul 6, 2018

I remember a guy hooked a pressure gauge to the hydraulic lines that would give him a rough idea.
Maybe could make a box or wagon to dump into and use the scale of a mixer mill .

Traditional Farmer · Jul 6, 2018

You can buy a scale to hook into your hydraulic system,it'll give you a pretty close idea on weight.Loaders at quarries have them to give the loader operator a rough idea how much they are loading.They can be calibrated to account for the weight of the loader as with most things the best ones cost the most money.

JD Seller · Jul 6, 2018

All you need is a good pressure gauge. Tee it into the hydraulic hose on the cylinder side of the control valve. Then scoop a bucket full. Pick a spot in the lift cycle that you can repeat every scoop. Example: Top of loader arm lining up with a bracket on the frame. Why you need this is the pressure is only the same for the same load size at the same spot in the loader's lift cycle. The geometry of a loader changes as it goes higher or lower. Now you just need to weight what is in your bucket a few times to get what pressure means what weight. This is all the fancy ones do in a modern loader.

At the local quarry the one loader guys understands this. HE cycles the loader up to the same place every time. His loads will be within 500 lbs. on 25 ton. The other part time fellow does not understand this. He just digs and looks at the readout. He is always several ton off in 25. Usually light. End up hauling 22-23 ton from him all the time.

Ken Macfarlane · Jul 6, 2018

Like others said - park on flat and cycle boom to same spot with pressure gage. Other option if you have a platform scale is float the loader empty on it to get tare weight then float the loaded bucket and subtract your tare.

Philip d · Jul 6, 2018

Those are all great ideas! Thank you all very much!

Andy C · Jul 7, 2018

The hydraulic pressure Gauge works pretty well (I have one on the skid steer) Calibration is fairly easy with feed or fertilizer bags. Try to calibrate it higher weight and lower weight than what you are shooting for and remember the loader has to be at the same position (height) for calibration and actual weighing. (we have 2 marks that line up)

How to gear up a scale to a tractor bucket?

Philip d

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farmerwithmutt

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Traditional Farmer

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JD Seller

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Ken Macfarlane

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Philip d

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Andy C

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