Debris Forks

[akadave]

I've been seeing a lot of pop up ads recently for clamp on debris forks. I looked into them and am considering getting a set. They are under $200 for the five foot version. Looking for input from guys who have used them as to whether they are worth purchasing. I realize they are light duty.

I do have dedicated pallet forks which I haven't used much recently but are very handy at times. I also have a grapple which is also not used too often anymore since most of my land clearing is done and I'm not looking to buy more land. I'm looking at the debris forks more as a bucket extension for things like putting up fencing where they'll provide a place to lay posts while still having the bucket available for smaller items that won't sit well on the pallet forks, or moving small amounts of brush etc where getting out the grapple takes more time than just taking multiple small loads in the bucket.

It's not a money or storage issue. Just wondering what those of you who have used them have to say. Thanks.

 

[scootr]

I went this route because like you I had an extra set of forks laying about. It's okay, nowhere near as functional as a grapple. But for a cheap attachment it will clamp on whatever you get your forks under. Mine was too quick making it hard to control. I wound up putting a restrictor inline.

 

[WranglerX]

I have a set of hand crafted debris forks and they are probably the most use implement on my tractor after FEL, I am continually clearing land to reduce fire fuel and use them to make brush piles for burning...

My only regret is I built them to lightweight, they are 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x .140 inch steel and I should have made then 2 x 2 x 1/4 inch tube

Later mod...

And yes a grapple or some sort of "clamp" (maybe electrical actuator to cause clamp to come down like a clamshell) to keep from having brush fall off forks would be useful... Maybe this winter...

 

[akadave]

I ordered them. $125 bucks with a $50 off coupon on eBay for a 60" set. We'll see how they work out.

 

[paulsharvey]

I ordered them. $125 bucks with a $50 off coupon on eBay for a 60" set. We'll see how they work out.

I have been curious, but not enough to actually order them. Let us know what you think when they come in.

 

[RjCorazza]

I can see those working well and being convenient to use.
I get by with regular pallet forks, and after training my neighbors on how to layout brush piles they work well enough for my use.

 

[Carl_NH]

I have the similar debris forks from Titan - they are HD and add 2' to the front of the bucket and are handy for brush and picking up piles of brush so you dont have to load by hand. Are also good for logs too, but I have the HD bucket with 3/4" cutting edge which makes it less susceptible to bending,

They can pick up pallets but not loaded to heavy as the tines don't go all the way in. Very handy to have around.

 

[Hay Dude]

I get by well with my HLA single arm log grapple. I just push into the debris pile and it all seems to crunch down into a wad that stays together.
I highly recommend this attachment to anyone that moves a lot of brush piles. Extremely well engineered and powerful.

 

[chim]

As mentioned, forks are something that get used frequently.

I made an inexpensive but usable set to clamp onto the bucket of an L3200 I had. Made a olarger and more capable set for the L4240 from bale spears and QA frame. The chains on the front of the L3200 forks weren't for holding the forks. They were the "self-install" method. To install them, the bucket was dumped over the forks as they laid on the ground. The chains (one end permanently attached to the forks) were dropped into the slotted angle on the top of the bucket. Curling the bucket lifted the forks and the clip angles caught on the cutting edge. They were then fastened to the bucket with a load binder on the back side of the bucket.

The L4240 forks are much better. Easy on and off via the QA frame. They even worked as a crude crane with a 10' piece of 3" EMT and some chains. I set it up to catch pieces of a dead tree at the creek and when the one large piece fell, it drove the conduit back into the fork structure and the gusset acted like a Kett Shear till the end of the conduit bottomed against the QA frame..

 

[akadave]

I have the similar debris forks from Titan - they are HD and add 2' to the front of the bucket and are handy for brush and picking up piles of brush so you dont have to load by hand. Are also good for logs too, but I have the HD bucket with 3/4" cutting edge which makes it less susceptible to bending,

They can pick up pallets but not loaded to heavy as the tines don't go all the way in. Very handy to have around.

I bought these to fit my HD 73" bucket. Hopefully they will fail before the bucket in the event I get too ambitious with them. I do have a standard duty 53" bucket but honestly it never gets used. I debated whether to buy smaller debris forks to fit either but decided wider would be more useful for my intended use.

I'm looking at them more as a mobile work bench and for projects where neither the forks or bucket are ideal because of a variety of materials. A place to set boards, fence posts with the bucket available for hand tools, screws. I often work on my fences and find there's no good place to put small things with the forks on but no good place to carry posts with only the bucket.

I think I'll get enough use to to justify what I paid.

 

[Carl_NH]

Yes, AKADAVE - installed 800' of fencing and these forks can be a work platform or for hauling the posts or just a good extension to the bucket for any sort of use.

 

[WranglerX]

As mentioned, forks are something that get used frequently.

I made an inexpensive but usable set to clamp onto the bucket of an L3200 I had. Made a olarger and more capable set for the L4240 from bale spears and QA frame. The chains on the front of the L3200 forks weren't for holding the forks. They were the "self-install" method. To install them, the bucket was dumped over the forks as they laid on the ground. The chains (one end permanently attached to the forks) were dropped into the slotted angle on the top of the bucket. Curling the bucket lifted the forks and the clip angles caught on the cutting edge. They were then fastened to the bucket with a load binder on the back side of the bucket.

The L4240 forks are much better. Easy on and off via the QA frame. They even worked as a crude crane with a 10' piece of 3" EMT and some chains. I set it up to catch pieces of a dead tree at the creek and when the one large piece fell, it drove the conduit back into the fork structure and the gusset acted like a Kett Shear till the end of the conduit bottomed against the QA frame..

About the bale spears... Are they really stiff enough to resist bending with sever use.... Kind of wonder about them but the cost of spears (5) and the sockets sort has me wondering if the investment and quality of spears is worth it.... Dont know enough about bale spears to adopt them over replacing my square steel tube..

 

[chim]

About the bale spears... Are they really stiff enough to resist bending with sever use.... Kind of wonder about them but the cost of spears (5) and the sockets sort has me wondering if the investment and quality of spears is worth it.... Dont know enough about bale spears to adopt them over replacing my square steel tube..

They're quite tough. Here's the build thread from 2020:

Brush Forks - Second Attempt

The first pair was several years ago for the L3200. Post# 18 in the link below has a brief description of them. The pictures in the link don't show a couple add-ons that made them pretty much self installing. Sort of like the "early photo" in an obit. Since those forks were custom made to...

www.tractorbynet.com

As mentioned the 10' piece of conduit slipped over one of the spears for a redneck crane. Then two chains were hooked from the end of the pipe in a "V" shape to the slotted angle on the top of the QA frame to take most of the weight. That way one end of the pipe pushed against the QA frame while the other pulled tension on the two chains. The tree was mostly in the creek, and the only help available was the Kubota (and Wifey occasionally checking to see if she needed to call 911).

I cut everything I could standing on the banks with a DeWalt 20V pole saw that did way more than should be asked of it and the branches landed on the banks. When it was time for the Stihl to cut the bigger stuff, the crane was used to place the extension ladder with a couple planks across the creek. That made a decent platform to work from. Then it seemed like it would be better to keep the wood from going into the creek instead of fishing it out.

So the crane was set and the load chain was wrapped around the big chunks to catch them. On one of these the weight was underestimated. When the chunk came free and dropped, the force was great enough to shove the conduit into the QA frame and the end of the conduit hit the spear gusset making a small piece of the conduit to be cut and curled. It also pulled down hard on the spear as any slack in the chains was used up and the conduit became effectively shorter by an inch or so.

Below is another picture from the tree removal side show that illustrates how far the spear was pulled down, compared with the other spears that had no load. It looked like the tip was pulled down about 6" and my first thought was "Uh oh, now ya dunnit". I was pleasantly surprised that the spear went right back into its original position when the load was removed. It was equally surprising that the Millermatic 175 welds held up.

 

[paulsharvey]

Another point on bale spears is that they are cheap, compared to a fork. My hesitation, would be they arent designed to make that whole round bale load, at the tip, they are meant to stab in, and take loaf over the whole spear. So, if you're the type that would use the tip to lift, you likely will bend/break something. However, if you look at this complete Vevor SSQA bale spears, and its price, that looks like a great starting place for a build of debris forks

 

[Hay Dude]

I use my triple bale spear to push brush and trees that have fallen into hay fields all the time.

 

[akadave]

I have been curious, but not enough to actually order them. Let us know what you think when they come in.

They arrived in a box labeled Garvee even though they were listed as "Unbranded" on eBay. Haven't used them yet but I did unpack and try the fit. My first impression is they are quite sturdy, well built with good welds. The fit and finish is good. They do fit my bucket with the Piranha tooth bar on. They would sit a bit closer to the bucket and make full contact with the cutting edge if I removed it. For my intended use it's probably not necessary to take it off. I could see a guy bending them but you'd have to get real aggressive or use them for something outside of their intended use like digging up stumps. Overall quite pleased especially at the price I paid.