Man lift for fel

[4570Man]

Thats a stackable parts bin used in an assembly plant (for exa,ple). Parts suppliers fill them with tail lights, or radios, or alternators or other stuff and they get moved to the line as needed. Very heavy. The weight of this would subtract from the weight of stuff you want to lift up 25' with your loader.

Any machine capable of lifting 25' feet high has huge lift capacities and a few hundred pounds won't make any difference.

 

[jcummins]

Update.... This parts bin, will work great...as is, no mods for getting to gutters/etc, the 'other' tasks for the man lift. Well worth the $25. The painting of a story up deck next year, this will be put to quite a bit of use.

The bad....my eye ball measurement of the extra height I need to reach the top of the flag pole was way off. I cannot get the height I need using the fel of the tractor, without building a much taller extension to this, which is a bit more than I want to do. Soooo, it looks like I'm going to have to rent something after all.

 

[bigtiller]

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Update.... This parts bin, will work great...as is, no mods for getting to gutters/etc, the 'other' tasks for the man lift. Well worth the $25. The painting of a story up deck next year, this will be put to quite a bit of use.

The bad....my eye ball measurement of the extra height I need to reach the top of the flag pole was way off. I cannot get the height I need using the fel of the tractor, without building a much taller extension to this, which is a bit more than I want to do. Soooo, it looks like I'm going to have to rent something after all.

I would put an extension on it to raise it to my waist or slightly higher. It looks to be about knee high now, which is a good tripping height.

 

[ajmaxham]

Update.... This parts bin, will work great...as is, no mods for getting to gutters/etc, the 'other' tasks for the man lift. Well worth the $25. The painting of a story up deck next year, this will be put to quite a bit of use.

The bad....my eye ball measurement of the extra height I need to reach the top of the flag pole was way off. I cannot get the height I need using the fel of the tractor, without building a much taller extension to this, which is a bit more than I want to do. Soooo, it looks like I'm going to have to rent something after all.

How much too short are you? Could you take a piece of 1/2'' emt with a 90 deg sweep on the end and run a wire or small cable through the emt and extending out of the 90 deg bend. Line up the wire sticking out of the 90 deg bend with the pulley and push through. Then push enough wire up the emt until you can reach the free end. Tape your line to the wire and pull back through. The emt should give about 10' extra reach.

 

[jcummins]

How much too short are you? Could you take a piece of 1/2'' emt with a 90 deg sweep on the end and run a wire or small cable through the emt and extending out of the 90 deg bend. Line up the wire sticking out of the 90 deg bend with the pulley and push through. Then push enough wire up the emt until you can reach the free end. Tape your line to the wire and pull back through. The emt should give about 10' extra reach.

Possible, I had thought about something along those lines. It wouldn't need the 90 degree bend, just straight emt....the truck on top of the flagpole has the top of the pulley enclosed, so pushing a wire through there, is feasible. Problem is working with something kind of squirrely. Might end up being a lot of frustration. Gotta give it some think time.

Bigtiller, I had thought of that too. Corner pipes are open on the top for the stackablity of the units. So...building a pin on extension would not be difficult at all....but I'd probably weld in solid. Gotta put it to first use as a test, but I might do that. But it is usable the way it is.

 

[flyerdan]

Baskets can have a bit of a sway factor, even on a rigid forklift mast; I'd imagine a tractor FEL would be even more squirrely. If I was doing this I'd have leg made out of 1.875 or bigger, as long as the loader can lift to act as a stabilizer leg. It can be separate, and just guided by hand as you're going up and clamp into a saddle. Raise or tilt a bit over where you want to be, attach the leg, relieve a bit of pressure and it should be a lot more stable.

 

[comancheflight]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...606-man-lift-revisited.html?referrerid=282553

 

[4570Man]

Baskets can have a bit of a sway factor, even on a rigid forklift mast; I'd imagine a tractor FEL would be even more squirrely. If I was doing this I'd have leg made out of 1.875 or bigger, as long as the loader can lift to act as a stabilizer leg. It can be separate, and just guided by hand as you're going up and clamp into a saddle. Raise or tilt a bit over where you want to be, attach the leg, relieve a bit of pressure and it should be a lot more stable.

Have you ever been up in a real boom lift. My forklift mast feels solid as a rock compared to my boom lift. At full extension my boom lift easily has a foot of play maybe more. The forklift is pretty solid. The tractor loader is also pretty solid. It wasn't hardly a fair comparison. The tractor lifts 8 feet, the forklift lifts about 15 feet, and the boom lift lifts 35 feet.

 

[flyerdan]

Yes, I rented a boom lift to take down some trees where power lines were a problem and they had to come down from the top down. You are correct on stability factors: forklifts>FEL>boom lifts. I was just saying that if I was going to climb a ladder that was bodged to a basket, I'd like as much stability as I could get.

 

[jcummins]

For anyone that followed this thread or interested......winter and other projects got in the way, but I finally replaced the rope on the flagpole using this setup. It's was a cake walk. Did not feel unsecure at all. In fact I've been in far more tree stands that was less stable than this was. I had a neighbor very experience with tractors to do the left etc. It really turned out to be quite easy.

 

[Xfaxman]

:thumbsup: Thanks for the update.

 

[jack707]

For anyone that followed this thread or interested......winter and other projects got in the way, but I finally replaced the rope on the flagpole using this setup. It's was a cake walk. Did not feel unsecure at all. In fact I've been in far more tree stands that was less stable than this was. I had a neighbor very experience with tractors to do the left etc. It really turned out to be quite easy.

You would give a safety man a stroke if you did that on a job site! Be walking to the gate.

 

[lilranch2001]

Lol. No doubt
At home we get away with things we wouldn't at work.....
Until we don't.......

 

[jcummins]

I know....I know.....BUT like I said, I've sat for several hours in tree stands that was far less stable. I had the parts bin strapped solid to the forks, and the ladder to the parts bin....it was solid. I was a bit surprised how stable and easy it was to do.

 

[lilranch2001]

Yea.....
I would probably do it too, just never document and set yourself up to have the world of TBN lambast you now for actual and perceived safety violations
Lol

 

[olPete]

How long have you got before the safety police are back!!!


I climbed 50' up a tree last month with a big saw and cut the dead top out, I wish I had a lift like that already. I won't post what I used to get the first 30' now I have 30 trees to top at about 25-30' so...
What changes would you make if you had to hypothetically do it again?
Not to be used, of course..
Thanks,
Pete

 

[jcummins]

How long have you got before the safety police are back!!!


I climbed 50' up a tree last month with a big saw and cut the dead top out, I wish I had a lift like that already. I won't post what I used to get the first 30' now I have 30 trees to top at about 25-30' so...
What changes would you make if you had to hypothetically do it again?
Not to be used, of course..
Thanks,
Pete

I started out to weld together a box of sorts to put on pallet forks then came across this parts bin. For my purpose wouldn't change anything/ The parts bin near perfect for the task. If I needed to go higher, just tilting the ladder so it's near vertical, I think, would put your weight directly on the ladder, and in so doing believe I could have extended the ladder a fair amount more. It was not different in going up the ladder if it had been leaning against the house.

 

[olPete]

I started out to weld together a box of sorts to put on pallet forks then came across this parts bin. For my purpose wouldn't change anything/ The parts bin near perfect for the task. If I needed to go higher, just tilting the ladder so it's near vertical, I think, would put your weight directly on the ladder, and in so doing believe I could have extended the ladder a fair amount more. It was not different in going up the ladder if it had been leaning against the house.

I used to get the job of climbing 120' of tower with an adjustable crescent in my pocket as a kid so I believe in holding on .
I was planning on hanging an alloy ladder off the side, on hooks. I'll be by myself most of the time and it's the only way I can think of to get in and out without shinnying the FEL all the time, can just climb down and unhook to move and then go back up.
I have a couple of tree lines than really bug me as I have to hug the side of the laneway too much in the tractor to save my mirrors etc. Plus some big leaners that pose a bit of a problem that I need to top., I really like the thought that's gone into yours. Luckily I have a decent sized ag tractor so I'm thinking about 9 foot wide will be what I aim for.. will let me get a little more done at a time. May put a bracket for a little saw vise for giving the saw a rub.
I plan for mine to double as a carry tray/calf carrier so will have to make the side rails close together with an in-swinging gate and a removable front for utility use. That will hopefully mollify any safety police that see it and ask..

Thanks for posting as I wouldn't have found your thread otherwise!

 

[aeblank]

...the parts bin...

I love those bins. My dad has half a dozen. I'd like about 50 of 'em for firewood. Indestructible and stackable.

 

[mmancuso13]

Personally, I may have secured the ladder differently in the basket but a man cage on a heavy duty loader is what it is. The "safety" police sometimes turn out to be the same guys with the $400/hr ladder truck that "you should use...". And that's before the trip charge!

Great fix!