Forks 3ph fork lift

[RAW]

Can anyone point me to some good manufacturers of 3-point-hitch fork lifts?
Prices? Experiences?

Thanks

 

[anthem]

The two best manufacturers that are readily accessible are probably Wifo out of Canada and Edwards out of Washington State. Wifo is at WIFO Farm Equipment Limited, edwards is Home :: Edwards Equipment Company . Both make excellent 3-pt mounted forklifts. There are a few other companies that have 3-point models as well, but I am not familiar with them like Agritek, etc.

The best one is probably the Porter 3-pt forklift, but that one is out of Italy and not easily accessible. It has lift, tilt and side shift - basically something that someone who was using a forklift on a tractor every day would want.

 

[uncaged]

Not a new forklift, or commercially available, but you could make one to fit your 3pt like I did. Found a dead electric forklift in the local want ads and bought the thing. Ripped the whole mast off, fabricated a 3pt attachment for it, then used the forklift's valves for control. The angle valve on the forklift became my new aux (TnT, grapple, etc) valve!

Special thanks to WayneCountyHose for answering my stupid questions (how do hydraulics work ) with adapting the plumbing from the forklift to the tractor's.

Some pics attached of the forklift.

 

[RAW]

Anthem,

Thanks for the links. I'll have to call and ask some questions.



Uncaged,

Wow. I'm impressed with your ingenuity.

 

[Zick]

Not a new forklift, or commercially available, but you could make one to fit your 3pt like I did. Found a dead electric forklift in the local want ads and bought the thing. Ripped the whole mast off, fabricated a 3pt attachment for it, then used the forklift's valves for control. The angle valve on the forklift became my new aux (TnT, grapple, etc) valve!

Special thanks to WayneCountyHose for answering my stupid questions (how do hydraulics work ) with adapting the plumbing from the forklift to the tractor's.

Some pics attached of the forklift.

Nice setup!
How much can you lift with it?
Do you use any other kind of ballast in the front to keep it down besides the FEL?

 

[Wayne County Hose]

please Please PLEASE, anyone that does this. Please place a load in the bucket whenever you attach this. Forklifts have very heavy counterweights, 1.5 tons and heavier. Absolutely no pictures of a tractor laid back on the mast with the bucket pointing straight up in the air. It can, and will, happen very easily!
I like that you found a mast with wheels attached. Most don't.
How is the steering with the wheels on the mast? Or, can you lift the wheels with the 3 point hitch? I would let the wheels contact the ground whenever possible.

You could locate a local forklift dealer and ask if they have any scrap units that they would sell a mast off of. Try to get a 2 stage mast such as uncaged's is as they need less counterweight and weigh less. You could also get the valves off of it as well. If you call a forklift outfit, or better yet go there with a dozen donuts and ask for the service manager. Give a mechanic a donut and you have a friend for life.

 

[uncaged]

Here's a pic of it lifting something with the ballast hanging off the bucket. Not sure how much the ballast weighs, but the FEL struggles to curl it up and the front tires get a little squishy when I pick it up.

The 3pt can lift the forklift off the ground, but even when it's on float, the forklift wheels roll easily and don't make the handling too bad. Of course when it gets into soft ground, it's not so free wheeling.

 

[hosejockey2002]

Here's a pic of it lifting something with the ballast hanging off the bucket.

I'll say it's lifting something! The back of that pickup has to be around 3,000 lbs. That's darn good for a BX23!!

 

[jas67]

Not a new forklift, or commercially available, but you could make one to fit your 3pt like I did. Found a dead electric forklift in the local want ads and bought the thing. Ripped the whole mast off, fabricated a 3pt attachment for it, then used the forklift's valves for control. The angle valve on the forklift became my new aux (TnT, grapple, etc) valve!

Special thanks to WayneCountyHose for answering my stupid questions (how do hydraulics work ) with adapting the plumbing from the forklift to the tractor's.

Some pics attached of the forklift.

Uncaged -- aren't you concerned about breaking the top link attachment point in your tractor (and the rear end casing with it)?
Yes, the fork's wheels are holding the weight so your 3PH arms don't have to, but with a heavy load on the fork, you top link is holding that load from tipping backward. I've seen pictures of broken tractor rear-ends due to overloading the top link.


How much (if I may ask) did the dead electric forklift run you?

I'm looking for something that I can use to unload 2000-2400 lb pallets of wood pellets from my pickup (F-350) with.

Jay


Thanks,
Jay

 

[TTTTTT]

There are used ones out there I have seen. Heres one.I have seen more as well.

forklift 3pth new price, great for fruit bins-firewood NEW PRICE - St. Catharines Farming Equipment For Sale - Kijiji St. Catharines

Dave

 

[uncaged]

The top link connection on the tractor looks stronger than the attachment point I made on the mast, but before those, I thought the hydraulic cylinder top link would let go.

The forklift has done a good amount of work. I mostly use it to move snowmobiles around, with 4" schedule 40 PVC pipe over the forks. It has unloaded 2 full pallets of pellets for my neighbor (not sure how heavy, he said they were "a ton"). Once off the truck the BX had trouble moving them around his squishy side yard where he wanted them, but that's not the lift's fault. On hard terrain, the mast wheels (where I make sure the weight rests) roll well and moving things is easy.

I scrapped the old forklift carcass and the lift was able to put that in the back of my Dodge 2500 Cummins (high bed height) which had to weigh A LOT. I saved the removable forklift counter weights and I hang one off the FEL when lifting something heavy. The forklift with trashed electrical and a dead battery was $800. Easily, $400 of that came back when I scrapped what was left of it.

 

[jas67]

The top link connection on the tractor looks stronger than the attachment point I made on the mast, but before those, I thought the hydraulic cylinder top link would let go.

Unless you have a very wimpy toplink cylinder, that might be wrong. My toplink cylinder is a 2" cylidner with a 1" rod, so at 2000 PSI, that is several thousand pounds.

I scrapped the old forklift carcass and the lift was able to put that in the back of my Dodge 2500 Cummins (high bed height) which had to weigh A LOT. I saved the removable forklift counter weights and I hang one off the FEL when lifting something heavy. The forklift with trashed electrical and a dead battery was $800. Easily, $400 of that came back when I scrapped what was left of it.

You have motivated me to do the same. My tractor is a little bigger than yours (B7610), so if the BX can handle this, so can my B. Is it a multi-stage fork carriage? My pole barn has 8' doors, and it will be kept in there, but I'll be using it outside my house attached garage to unload the pellet pallets (2000lbs) from the back of my F350.

I've also thought about just using a couple pieces of 2x3 or 2x4 box tubing and some chain with my car lift to lift the pallets off the truck, move the truck, and then set them on the floor. I can then move them around the barn (concrete floor) with a pallet jack (which I do have). The problem still remains getting the pellets to the house (on the pallets preferably), as the driveway to the barn is gravel.

I have thought about making some kinda of mini "lowboy" trailer which would have steel box tubes that I put through the pallet, and then connect the front and back parts of the "trailer", where the back half is a axle with at least 12" tires, and a hydraulic cylinder to lift the load, and the front half is a trailer tongue that connects rigidly to the box sections, that I then lift with the 3PH mounted trailer ball. This design would put about 2/3 of the weight on the rear axel, and about 1/3 (or even less with a longer tongue) on the 3PH of my tractor (which can lift 1300 lbs at the pins). With this, I can tow the pellet pallets from inside the barn (where the auto-lift is) to the house garage where I want to store them. I only need to get them to the pavement outside the garage, from there I can move them with the pallet jack.

The forklift attachment would still be way cooler to have (and more useful), although I do have FEL forks (that go right on the loader arm, not the bucket), and can lift up to 700 lbs to max height with them, so other than the pellets, I've been able to lift everything else I need to lift with the FEL.

 

[jas67]

The search for a fork lift mast turned out a Crown 20MT walkie-stacker for $800 -- in working condition with a good battery. I will be picking it up tomorrow morning, so long as it is actually in the advertised condition.

I won't be able to use it on rough surfaces, but it will be a great thing to have to free up some floor space. I got two 10' high by 12' long pallet racks with 4 shelves each. All the implements other than what is used most will go on the pallet rack, along with anything else big and heavy and in the way. This particular 20MT can lift 2000lbs up to 9.5 feet. It will be just the thing for unloading pallets of wood pellets from my truck too.

Specs:
http://www.sistemasyproyectos.com/Contenido/Montacargas/Apiladoras_Electricos/catalogos/m_spec.pdf

(this is a picture of a new one -- the one I'm getting is well used, and looks it)

My wife thinks I'm nuts. Anyone else here have one of these (or even a forklift) at home, for personal use, and not for a business?