p.f.engineering mini-payloader - finished!

here it is, the final product painted up, greased up and ready to go.
2.5" bore cylinder on the lift, 2" bore for the bucket, 55" under a level bucket, self leveling linkage to keep material from falling back on the hood of your tractor, 13 grease fittings, replaceable 1/8" wall DOM inner bushings on all the pivots, diagonal tower braces and push plates to keep the boom from bending back at the tractor when you push into a pile of material. 45 degree bucket roll back or curl at ground level and i think close to 75 degrees dump. extremely high rotation on the bucket. uses onboard hydraulics 3.3 GPM at 850 psi on the 300 series JD and will run simultaneously with the mower deck.
i estimate the lift capacity at 350 lbs.
final weight is 230 lbs.
bucket is 44" wide.
plans will be available from www.pf-engineering.com soon.
thanks for looking.

[@p.f.engineering9508]

Guido, it mounts just like any other front mounted implement on these John Deere tractors with a 5/8" rod that mates into the two bottom hooks on the tractor frame, then you attach the hydraulic hoses and boom down to tilt the upright towers of the loader toward the tractor. when this happens the two spring pins snap into the upper two holes on the tractor frame and you're done. if your tractor doesn't have front implement mounts like this, you can just extend the front frame with some 1/4" plate steel for bolting the mini payloader to or copy the bottom hook and top spring pin idea from the john Deere tractor implements. it's not hard to do. some people wonder how you get the hood open with the loader on the tractor. to do this you just release the top two spring pins on the loader mount, unpin the diagonal braces at the upright towers and boom up to tilt the towers forward a little, then you can open the hood fully without taking off the loader. when you're done you can just boom down and tilt the towers back so the spring pins can snap back in. if you want to keep the mower deck on along with the loader or you have other front mount implements you want to swap out, this loader is the easiest option there is for having a loader on your tractor. PF

[@jerrypeal653]

Great job . PF has some good plans .

[@davisphillips7792]

Great build. I agree with one of the other comments for only using 2 cylinders for weight and speed. Plus I love the bump stops built in for when pushing so it transfers the load to the frame not the cylinders. And the scissor action for the bucket to keep it level without extra operator input.

[@p.f.engineering9508]

P.F. Engineering is having a 25% off sale on all plans all October 2023 to celebrate our 25 years in business!

[@garymonsarratt6048]

Did a nice job ,I like the 2 cylinders less weight.........

[@p.f.engineering9508]

this one is 100 lbs lighter than the conventional loader plans i sell, so it should be easier on the front end on lighter tractors.

[@ryanp6859]

Would like to see an update video, see how it’s holding up after some use.

[@gr8fullfred]

nice!

[@RyanShea]

Clearly I wasn't paying attention to see that these plans were coming. I ordered the regular front-end loader plans, which should arrive soon, although these would be more appropriate for my use case. Any chance for a trade out or do I need to make another order when they come out?

[@TheSheriff20]

great job and looking forward to the plans coming out. I have been looking for a project for a while and this will be great. One question I see when you raise and lower the front boom the deck moved as well. is there a way to separate them?

[@p.f.engineering9508]

the mower deck height adjustment can be set to full cut height, then it will stay up and not move around when you operate the loader. not a huge deal.

[@deere300stevev2]

You can add a lock out valve to the deck lift to isolate it.

[@OldeGuido1]

Sweet loader. How easy does it mount/dismount?

[@p.f.engineering9508]

i made it so it hooks onto the lower implement attachment pins and when you tilt the main frame back toward the grille there is a spring pin that snaps into the JD factory implement mounting hole on the top. then just add the diagonal braces back to your foot rest area, plug in and go.

[@boatbuilder1954]

do they have plans for a cub cadet 782 do you know?

[@p.f.engineering9508]

same loader, just change from the john Deere hook and pin mounting setup to the cub cadet hook and pin mounting setup. the cub cadet has only 2 GPM @700 psi for onboard hydraulics compared to the JD317's 3 GPM @ 850 psi, so it may be a little slower.

[@boatbuilder1954]

@@p.f.engineering9508 ok great thanks, I will probably purchase a separate pump as the 782 pump on mine has only a single lever.

[@p.f.engineering9508]

the 3 to 6 GPM / .38 Cu. In. / rev. single stage gear pump would be a good choice to run this loader at 1/2 throttle or so. 3 GPM at 1800 rpm, 6 GPM at 3600 rpm. the plans have a list of online suppliers and bill of materials for all the compact hydraulic parts from vendors i have used in the past and can personally recommend.

[@p.f.engineering9508]

David, if the deck height is adjusted to its highest cutting position, it will not move when you operate the loader. I didn't do this in the video because i wanted to keep my cut height and not have to change it. Davis, thanks! and yes, those bump stops along with the diagonal braces really help channel the stress to the frame and not wear out the front implement mounting points. you've probably seen those other videos of front mount pin on loaders with the towers moving back and forth during operation, and shaking your head like me. ~Paul @ P.F. Engineering www.pf-engineering.com