Machines | How to Adjust Tractor Stabilizers
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I had a request from a viewer for a video about how to adjust the three point stabilizer bars on a tractor. I'm more than glad to supply that, it's something that you need to do to protect your tires, your tractor three point and your implement. First we need to discuss what stabilizers do. They're there to keep the implement from swinging from side to side when driving in a field or down the road, and to keep the three point arms away from the tires. On some tractors (the one in the video isn't the best example, but it's lower arms did touch the tire) the three point travel from side-to-side allows the edge of it to contact the tires. When it does you'll hear a pretty loud noise, every time a lug goes around it actually hits the implement and tries to lift it up, then drops it when it gets past the lug. As crazy as it seems, I saw a customer who bought a brand new tractor and failed to adjust his stabilizers and nearly ruined a new set of tires, chewing the inside corners off each lug. How he ran it without figuring out something was wrong I don't know because it had to make a tremendous racket. Surprisingly, the tractor company bought him a new set of rear tires but told us to tell him to NEVER let that happen again, that was the last set of tires they were buying. Most of the early tractors had either no stabilizers, or a set of chains that limiters the movement of the lower lift arms. The ones with no stabilizers were positioned where they couldn't touch the tires (which limited) the ability to get them wide enough to hook up an implement), the others used chains to limit how far out the arms could go, stopping them before contact with the tires. Moist of today's tractors have one of two forms of stabilizers. Telescopic stabilizers use a bar with a sleeve around it and holes through both and by putting a pin through a hole you're set and the implement won't go anywhere. The stabilizers my viewer requested the training on were probably the other stabilizers, which use a turnbuckle to get the implement where you want it, with a jam nut against the turnbuckle to keep everything tight and for vibration to loosening everything up. It's a little hassle to have to adjust stabilizers even time you hook up an implement but it sure saves on tire wear, and damage to the trisector and/or the implement by it swinging around wildly behind you.
Comments
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You described the stabilizer chain's function to keep the lift arms from hitting the tires. That is the function of the check chains. Stabilizer bars keep your implement centered and moving from side to side. If you want your implement to move from side to side but need to check the travel so you don't hit the tires, like when pulling a plow, you use check chains. That old Ford tractor you showed looked like a thousand series tractor because it was blue. What you showed on that Ford were check chains. That tractor came with solid stabilizer bars that attach to stabilizer pins on one end and to the lower link implement pins on the other. Ford lift arms do not have holes in the lift arm for a stabilizer chain, though some people drill holes in them so they can attach stabilizer chains. If you are using your chains solely to prevent your lift arms from hitting your tires, you are using them as check chains, not stabilizer chains.
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I didn't notice on your tractor and you didn't mention it, but on my tractor, height matters. I have to raise the arms all the way up before adjusting. If I do it down low, the chains get tighter as I raise the arms up. When I lower them back down into position, the chains are a little loose, but not bad. The first time I adjusted them low, thankfully, I stalled the hydraulics and nothing got broke. Now I watch for it. Keep up the great videos!
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Excellent Mike thank you
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Thanks for responding to my comment and posting this video. Very helpful and informative as always!
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Thanks for making that video Mike. Very informative as always!
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GREAT VIDEO
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Every video helps Mike . . . thank you!
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The second type (turnbuckle), is it cheaper to buy? It's not like the telescopic version is drastically more expensive to produce, I guess. But the turnbuckle seem inferior to the telescopic. And those have been around since the 60ies (have it on a MF 175). So why would anyone want the turnbuckle variant?
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My right ear is lonely :) j/k, another great installment. Thanks for the videos.
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Damn that spike looks scary!. Great video Mike!