Johnny Bucket

[DavidBarkey]

@MattA Can you take a couple of pictures with a measuring tape next to it for dimensional reference .

[MattA]

Making some progress on the project. Lift linear actuator has been changed from 90 degree mounting to 0 degree. Adapter hitch is assembled and on the tractor.

[MattA]

I'll get back to you guys on the joystick/relays/control box. It's a work in progress... I'm not thrilled that I had to go up two box sizes to fit the relays and joystick.

Anyways the control box is mounted using rubber coated magnets that accept M4 screws and the wiring is being mounted with rubber coated magnets that accept tie wraps. Wiring will eventually go in a braided wire loom. I'm trying to figure out where to run the wiring. I'd like it to be out of the way but easily installed/uninstalled. I'm open to opinions... Wiring will probably be 3/4" high when I finish.

Wiring down the inside of the fender

Wiring more toward the front of the fender

Wiring on the front of the fender... I think this is asking to get stepped on. My feet fit fine with the wiring there...

Another option is down the PTO piping hole and under the tractor... but that's likely not easily removable.

[MattA]

Progress has been slow but I did get the Johnny Bucket working. It will lift me (around 200lbs) in the middle of the bucket without the tractor running. Pulls up to about 30 amps when lifting me. Lifting me on the front edge of the bucket is pushing the linear lift actuators limit.

Some pictures below... I'm going to make the battery connection pluggable. Once I do that, the whole harness will be removable in about a minute. Bucket comes right off like any other snap fast attachment.

[RoamingGnome]

Excellent looking installation @MattA - I'm really liking the idea of the rubber coated magnets with the cable ties attached.
Do you have a link for them?

I purchased a couple of electrical pigtails off Amazon a little while ago -

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0D13T9BJK?ref ... asin_title
and

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BNM9X7TP?ref ... asin_title
My intention was to mount the power socket on the tower somewhere, and have the other pigtail connected to the battery - mostly so I could connect a small trickle charger to the battery and not have to lift the hood or muck around with the battery cables - but it will also give me a hard wired power port if I wanted to connect some extra 12v lights or something...
That's the plan anyway...

[MattA]

@RoamingGnome I like your electrical pig tails. I used what I thought were weather pack connectors and even bought the crimper which does the seal and the crimp at the same time but they didn't mate with the Johnny Bucket weather pack connectors... so I chopped the JB connectors off.

These are the rubber coated zip tie magnets. The zip ties are reusable... The fully zipped diameter seems a little large for my wiring but it allows me to slide the magnets around on the braided mesh over the wiring.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCJBR1ZD

This is what I used to mount the wiring box:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYGR7ZCY?th=1

I chose the 32mm diameter threaded insert magnets over the threaded stud magnets which allowed me to choose the screw length needed. Most crappy magnets barely hold my kids school drawings on the stainless steel fridge door. Putting one of these magnets on the fridge was a mistake. I had to slide it off.

[MattA]

I got a lot of seat time last weekend with the Johnny Bucket setup. Lifting with the bucket loaded is slow. I've previously mentioned with me in the bucket, the lift actuator pulls a good 30Amps. If you look at the american wire gauge (AWG) table in this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge scroll down to 14AWG and look 8 columns over for 0.002525 ohms per foot (table is in mili ohms per foot, 2.525m Ohms). My wire harness is made up of a good 14' of 14AWG wire, that's 28' round trip (pos and neg wires). At 30Amps, the voltage drop is 30A * 0.002525ohms/foot * 28 feet = 2.121V drop. Likely more with the relays and connectors. Certainly helps explain the slow lifting when loaded. I may at some point change the setup to 10AWG, 0.0009989 ohms per foot. That would reduce the voltage drop to 30A * 0.0009989ohms/foot * 28 feet = 0.839V. I may also explore a remote relay box where I don't have to run an extra 14' of wire round trip to the fender and back where my control box is right now. The remote relay box would reduce the voltage drop to about 0.42V.

Other thoughts... the Johnny Bucket mule drive pivot does not use any replaceable bushings like the Ingersoll snowcasters/Berco snowblowers use. For $600 they ought to. The bracket is decently thick. Also the JB mule drive only supports using a Case deck with the bucket mule drive installed. I've thought of offering to loan JB an Ingersoll RM series mule drive for development. I only have the early style.

[myerslawnandgarden]

14 gauge wiring is good for 15 amps

12 gauge= 20 amps

10 gauge= 30 amps

Bob

[DavidBarkey]

Remote relay box (Closer the better to the bucket )with 10 guage to the actuators and feed it with 8 guage from the battery . Keep your RPMs up to allow the alternator to maintain the battery between actuations (pickup and dump) . Happy Haulling . PS , the actuators will never be as fast as hydralics .

[MattA]

I didn't realize the lift actuator would draw 30Amps. The actuators themselves are wired with what looks like 14AWG. I'll likely do a rebuild in the future.