For steering, the frame is articulated. The earth moving and construction equipment industries are made up of several global manufacturers. The business is capital intensive and highly competitive and there is no place for guesswork and rules of thumb. Any significant design change is extensively analyzed and optimized for cost and performance. In construction machines, performance means uncompromising durability under harsh conditions and frequent abuse.
Most calculations are static linear but contact-element analyses are being implemented.
In addition to these non-linear calculations, WLO also does some modal and dynamic analyses. A major focus of WLO redesign is a critical piece in the bucket lifting structure, the cross tube. Mounted between the lift arms just behind the loader bucket, the cross tube supports the complex mechanism and linkages for tilting the bucket up or down. Two large brackets project rearward from the cross tube to support a vertically mounted, lever-type link. On one end of this link the hydraulic tilt cylinder is mounted.