I am trying to find a brush rake for my ex200. I found one that seems to have the same pattern for the wedge quickchange, but the lug spacing is too wide. The lugs on my existing bucket are inside to inside of 15" and the rake in question is spaced 18" inside to inside. How many hours (cost) am I looking at to re space the lugs? I would hope the lugs could be cut off and than re welded. Alan
I can usually cut off, clean up, and reweld lugs on a 200 bkt in 6-8hrs. It's not all that hard. What I would make sure of is the other dimensions. What style coupler is it, hydraulic wedge or manual wedge?
Thanks for the reply Deeretracks, it is a hydraulic wedge coupler. I made a cardboard tracing of the lugs on my existing bucket and sent it back to Vancouver with my brother to look at the rake. He said the pin and wedge pattern looked good, but the spacing is clearly off by 1" per side. I have access to a cutting torch and consider myself a pretty reasonable welder, but have no experience taking on a job like this. What is the strategy for cutting off the lugs? Do what you can with cutting torch and then go at it with cut off disks? I would think I would cut off one lug, make a spacer to reference off the lug still there and weld up the cut off at correct space, than cut off the other side and match it to the one just welded on. Any technical advice on this task would be much apprectiated. Alan
Yair . . . Huband1. As always pictures would help folks get a grasp of what you are proposing. I might add I'm a rough old Aussie and I probably would only cut one lug off if its only a matter of a couple of inches . . . but then again you may be a perfectionist and like welding. (big grin) Cheers.
I usually carbon arc the lugs off, grind the bucket and lugs smooth, and weld the crap out of them. If you are just widening them it will be easy peasy.
I have never carbon arc gouged before, just did a little research on the web. Looks like a fantastic process for removing weld bead. I have a Miller Dynasty 200 and very soon a Lincoln 350mp, unfortunately I don't think either machine is well suited to carbon gouging. Has anyone done this sort of job with a gouging tip on oxy acetylene? Alan
I am trying to picture this problem, but to me if you are adjusting the bucket,implement attachment, would it not be easier remove 1 side and make up a spacer,weld to lug and re-weld to attachment, 1" out of centre is nothing,unless were talking other holes here.
brush rake lugs I am not sure that I follow you, but I hope that the attached photo clarifies the situation. I need to move the quickchange mounting lugs outboard by a total of 2 inches. The spacing needs to be correct or the attachment will not connect to my hydraulic quick change. Alan
If you move 1 mounting lug you will save the price of moving 2. 1 lug as you describe moved will only change the centre by that amount.no big deal on that attachment.good luck
Gouging rods are great at melting metal,but you will need the power in your welder to use them then a good grinder for a safe shave.
you said in post #1 that your bucket is 15"apart and the rake is 18" apart 18"-15"=3"on my tape measure .but on post#8 you say need to move outboard 2".but in the picture they are not 18" apart because you are pulling the tape from the out side of the lugging to the inside of the other side looks like about 18 1/4"and the lugg looks to be about 1 1/2"thick so that would make them about 16 3/4 apart? if this is correct I would not cut them off but just make some shims to weld on the inside to take up the slack. what make is the attachment the paint looks like craig if so call them and they could probeley cut you some shims on there burn table that you could weld on in about an hr and would fit tight in you coupler
I will look to see if making a spacer looks like it would work with the coupler. I attached another photo with the tape on the correct side. clintm, is craig a manufacturer? I can try to contact the seller to try to find out the rake maker, but I suspect it was purchased from auction. The add says CWS, but it doesn't look like what they have in their web site.
yeah craig is an attachment manufacture in canada a large family run company .
CWS uses that same color also. I'm not sure you'll be able to just use shims inside the lugs, the outside width may not fit in the coupler. One thing I'd be concerned with if you choose to only move one lug, will being off center 1.5" affect how your thumb tines interlock with the rake tines? Are you sure it will work with your coupler other than the width? If it is a CWS, it is most likely lugged for a CWS manual wedge coupler. I'm not aware of other brand couplers that interchange. If it was a pin grabber style it wouldn't be an issue.
Yair . . . Good point Deeretracks about the interlocking tines, never having even seen a thumb close up I never gave that a thought. Cheers.
There is usually enough clearance that it isn't an issue withe the tines hitting each other but many thumbs have triangle gussets on either side near the base of the tines that tend to bind and push the thumb sideways if not lined up with the bucket teeth or rake tines.
My brother just showed up this morning to help me with a machine burn of all the debris from land clearing. Got off to a slow start, but with some tips from some locals managed to get things going nicely. Should be able to do a better job next time around. Any way, he brought the tracing he made of the rake in question, unfortunately he didn't trace all the way to the wedge on the lugs, so still not totally sure if it will fit my quickchange. The pin diameter and spacing appears to be the same from the tracing he brought me. I am going to Vancouver at Christmas, so will have a good look if the rake is still around.