Anyone drilled a hole in the end of a pallet fork

[goeduck]

The tips are fairly thin so I can understand OSHAs concern, but then, they are OSHA. As was mentioned, moving a trailer with a ball on the tip is very little load. I seldom tip load anyway, most of my loads are fully on the forks up to the rack.

 

[RickB]

If the OSHA people ever saw some of the crazy stuff people do with forklifts they would probably outlaw them completely. :confused2:

No doubt.

 

[bdog]

I highly recommend against it. I did this on my old forks and the one with the hole and trailer ball over time got bent down. Not a lot but enough to make picking up pallets difficult. I never could get it straightened so I eventually got new forks and welded up a trailer mover that slips over both forks.

 

[Fallon]

My Titans did not. Must have been an option?

Ya, you generally have to order the forks separate from the frame. But you can get them with a hole in the end. I'm happy with mine, makes putting a ball in. I dont use my 3pt trailer mover anymore.

 

[herm0016]

We always had slip on extensions, and kept one with a ball in it. the extensions were not used that often. they were about a 6 in channel section with a hoop on the end that kept it from sliding off the butt end of the forks. a bent tip could have damaged a lot of product in the lumber yard. many bunks of trim and similar did not have very good sticks between them on the flatbeds delivering.

 

[goeduck]

I highly recommend against it. I did this on my old forks and the one with the hole and trailer ball over time got bent down. Not a lot but enough to make picking up pallets difficult. I never could get it straightened so I eventually got new forks and welded up a trailer mover that slips over both forks.

You sure it was not that Teaxs heat that bent those tips?

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was at a friends shop and saw a commercial fork that was bent back in a U about a foot back. I can't imagine the event that caused that. There must have been speed involved followed by rapid (probably totally unexpected) deceleration!

 

[Maharaja]

I will try to remember to upload / post if I can a page from a fork manufacturers “Fork Facts”

 

[Maharaja]

 

[Lelandwelds]

If your load slips, put a piece of thin plywood between forks and load.

A former employer decided our forklift needed a fire extinguisher because all company vehicles needed a extinguisher. I mounted it with the supplied bracket by drilling two holes in the roll bar. The safety weeny inspected it and red tagged the lift since I modified a safety device. The idiot driver says "it must be OK because he drilled the forks too".

We sent a requisition to corporate for a new forklift because the roll cage was no longer available and the two items probably exceeded the cost of a new lift. We enjoyed a rental lift for two months until the safety idiot "reviewed safety policy" and decided no rules had been broken and we should use the old lift.