I have a friend that has a Cat 920. There is about 11'6" from the pins to the ground at max height. It would be real handy if the pins were around 12'6" to fill the new feed trucks. Has anyone ever extended the booms? or seen the booms extended. He is loading cattle feed so there isn't a lot of weight. I know that the IT machines have longer booms and the right height, but cost alot too. I know this is probably a stupid question, but if someone has done, seen it or has an idea how to do it, it would save a ton of money. Thanks :usa
If all you need is a foot why don't you just build a small ramp
As the pit silo gets used up, your loading zone moves with the feed, at the end of the season, you would be travelling a long way to get to your ramps. Also, in ag, you get used to farm tractor loaders that often have a reach of 13'+, It would be really handy if the heavy loader had some reach. If we find some way to extend these, I'll sure look into extending ours just for the extra reach. Thanks for the input
Why not get a rollout bucket?
The height is great, but they are really proud of those buckets. $4000 for one of those buckets(what I've seen), add another 4 and the 920 and he should be able to get an IT. For me, it would be really handy to have the longer booms, I would like the extra reach to stack and handle hay. I realize that the best solution is to get and IT or a telehandler, but since we aren't loading the max weight, if we could modify what we've got for a lot less money, even better. Thanks for your time
I just spent the last hour scouring my hard drive and Googling the net for a pic of a pin-on extension to the loader arms. It used the lower bucket pin bores on the boom and a new 'boss' welded on about 18" or so further up the boom arms. (above where the bucket stop is and out of the way of the bucket in the normal location when it is rolled back.) The extension then had heavy flat steel welded to it to go up along side the new boss, and pinned with what I presume to be the standard size for the lower bucket pins. What remains to do is to increase the length of the bucket linkage to give you full rollback and dump. This would be a relatively simple conversion to build if you can find a donor loader boom to cut up, otherwise a machine shop could manufacture the components. Keep in mind to get 12" of vertical height, you will need to account for the angle of the boom at max lift, so more than likely any extension will have to be 17" or perhaps a bit longer. (Remember: A2 + B2 = C2 ?) for right angle triangles. (2 = squared - can't figure out how to do superscripts) I do wish I could have found the picture I was thinking of - it was at least 5 years ago that I saw it, perhaps it's on a fried hard drive from a years- ago computer....
Speedy, Tell me if I understand you right, you are talking about sleeves that fit over the end of the boom arms and pin in place at the previous pivot pin. Then further down you use donor ends from another boom to make the new bucket pivot point. If I understand that right, I'll have a few more questions, no sense muddying the water if I don't understand the basics. Thanks for your time:usa
Yes, I believe you've got the idea. If you give the basic idea to a good welder/fabicator or machine shop they can run with it from there. Remember, we all want to see pics of the finished product!! :canada
Sugar beet company here simply cut the arms in 2 and added 2ft in the middle. Seems to work OK. Jerry
I Have never extended the booms- but I have changed the boom ends a number of times on various loaders. Some models were available from cat- a lot were not. The ones available from cat wre not a bad deal, ready to weld on the boom and price was reasonable for what you recieved.
forgot to say I should add its been a few years, so things may have changed