Craig Mcgee - Question about your loader

Do you have any close up pictures on how the loader is attached to your tractor? If its been around since 1952, I don't have any problem copying their mounting technique. I am designing the loader frame to put as much weight as possible on the rear axle and this is accomplished by putting the frame towers as far back as possible but still allowing climb in access.

Thanks in advance.

Phil B. (in SoCal)

• Loader Project

You would be correct if the loader frame was designed with the struts going from the upright towers (where the loader arms mount) down to the front end, like many of today's loaders. By designing the towers so they don't have these struts, all the force is transferred directly to the frame rail. With this type of design, the load on the axle is in direct relation to where in the span the towers are mounted. Think of it like two guys holding a long 2x6. If a third guy steps up on this 2x6, right in the middle of the span, the load is evenly distributed to the guys on each end. If the third guy step towards the back, the load increases on the back side. With this type of setup, the third guy can lift or push but the load distribution is still determined by where he stands on the 2x6. This is a crude comparison but you probably get my point. What you are referring to is the effect of the struts (or the upper forward mount of the frame - the part that typically goes over the front axle) have when the towers are essentially being "pushed" forward by the load and this force is directly transferred to the front end via the struts.

I've run some crude stress and loads analyses and so far my design holds water but time will tell. In addition, I've worked with an aftermarket loader company and on paper my design looks solid. The frame rails are 1/4" thick 2x4 square stock. The tower frame is 1/4" thick 2x6 square stock. The webbing on the mount of the towers to the rails should provide more than enough strength to go without the forward mounted struts.

The reason I wanted to see close-ups of Craig's loader is that it looks like the Sky line design attempted a similar design to what I'm working on.

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A better analogy whould be to extend the 2x4 and allow the third guy to stand on the end so that his cog is not between the first and second guys.

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You are probably correct about the weight of the Wagner frame versus the one on Craig's tractor (which is much more elegant by the way) but I did say discounting the arms (and frame). Net center of gravity is still pushed way out beyond the front axles in any FEL. That is why many put extra weight on the 3ph (water filled drum, heavy blade, etc.) to move the net force towards the rear so that the rear tires can bear more of the total load. Interestingly weight in the rear tires has no effect because it is all born by the rear tires.

(The little diagrams are best viewed with a non proportional font such as Courier - the '#' signs were used to try to properly space the 3 guys on the 2x4 represented by '=' signs)

My bad.

Steve(OR)