Mark, no, it isnt the same tractor that I built the full sub frame for. I stopped building the loader on that tractor, and built it on this one instead as this tractor is stronger.
Yes, the vertical towers are further back, for 3 reasons, first it lets me put in longer rams, so they are at a better angle and it can lift far more, and also I can put in longer arms giving me the better lift height, and also, as you say, the load is closer in, meaning that I don't need much rear weight (I can lift a full bucket with no rear weight, the weight is just needed for better traction).
Getting on and off isn't too bad, the hardest bit is lifting your leg over the transmission tunnel, which I haven't changed.
Yes, I built a roll bar, ROPS I'm not sure, as I never finished bracing it properly to be safe in a roll over. As you suggest a FOPS is in the future. I installed the mounts at the front under the bonnet, just haven't built the bars going from it to the roll bar yet, its on my to-do list. I'll put mesh on the front to stop logs dropping over the bucket into my lap
Bucket is 40" wide. Seeing how it handles that I may make a 56" one for lighter materials too.
Surprisingly I think I am more likely to roll over backwards than forwards, at full lift height the tractor is very light on the front with nothing in the bucket. Either way, a FOPS is the way to go. no only in case of roll over, but also its nice to keep branches out of my face.
Got any pics of the 'Frey Loader'? I'd be interested to see how they manage to keep the bucket so close to the wheels, but also keep it far enough away at full lift to allow for dumping into a pick-up for example.
There certainly is alot to think about designing a loader. Very hard to get it perfect, over a compromise.
My loader could do with a little more roll back on the bucket. I should have worked on the geometry for that a little longer. I'm very happy with the arms though.
Thanks again
I'll attach 2 pics, the first is the mounting for a FOPS that I installed, it goes down on a post and attaches to the chassis. The second is a mockup I did a while back with some scrap and drew on it on the computer to see what it would be like.