Biggest forks ever

[AKwelder]

They had me build these monsters at work for a special application. Sorry about the poor quality pictures.
The picture of the weld is the 90 degree point of the fork. The small circle is a quarter.
The two welds on the forks took 77 pounds of wire, and three 10 hour days. Each fork is 8 foot long 30 inch high and 2 1/2 inches thick.

they ordered the T-1 steel from the east coast, and had it milled so the forks taper the last two feet to 1 inch thick. All the welds were inspected and UTed for safety by a 3rd party company.

They fit a large front end loader, a Volvo 180 or something. I also attached a quick coupler

 

[mjncad]

Good grief! What does the company who ordered these forks intend to lift with them?

 

[Bird]

Each fork is 8 foot long 30 inch high and 2 1/2 inches thick.

Didn't you mean 30 inches wide instead of high? It was over 25 years ago when I was in charge of the police auto pound that I bought a forklift with forks that were 11 feet long, but they weren't extra wide like that.

 

[cmuncy]

OK I just have to ask:
What was the finished weight?

 

[EddieWalker]

Very impressive.

I'm also wondering what they weigh and how you move them around?

Eddie

 

[john_bud]

Good grief! What does the company who ordered these forks intend to lift with them?

My guess, something HEAVY!!

Maybe a mother-in-law mover?

jb

 

[Farmerford]

Nice job! Those things must weigh nearly a ton each.


What size MIG did you use, and what preheat and postheat was required for the T-1?

 

[Renze]

They fit a large front end loader, a Volvo 180 or something. I also attached a quick coupler

Where i work, we build loaders from 10.5 to 17.5 metric ton. A customer that places the beach houses and icecream stores etcetera on the beach during spring, (and takes them away from the beach before storm season) has some of our 17.5 ton models with extra ballast, to take these 10 ton mobile homes off the trailer and lower them on the beach.
The loader is our model WG 45E, which equals a Volvo L120.

The forks you show there, seem a bit over the top for an L180 loader: i guess them to be more like the size for an L 350 loader...

 

[JB4310]

beautiful looking weld, but I thought forks were cast? or some other way of making them 1 piece.

 

[Renze]

beautiful looking weld, but I thought forks were cast? or some other way of making them 1 piece.

most standard forks are cut and bent/forged.

Big forks, made in small quantities, are often welded. Also because the thicker slab of metal has more deformation in the bend, which can cause the bent metal to form hair cracks during bending.

 

[bobodu]

My God....my back hurts from just thinking about 30 hours of welding.

 

[BigD23]

Mega Forks!

 

[AKwelder]

The forks are for a LARGE front end loader and I had to install the quick coupler on the back so the loader can drop them and add them as needed.

All of the none fork plate is cut by CNC water jet at a local shop.

No, the upright portion of the fork is 30 inches tall.

The weight? I have no idea, the plate steel is 1-3/4 high yield, the box tube is 8 x 8 x3/4 and the pins the fork is mounted on is 4 inch high yield steel.

The mast is 11 ft. wide

While we were building them we used an overhead crane and welded picking eyes wherever needed.

30 hours of welding just for the forks, me and an apprentice took 6 1/2 days at ten hours a day.

The welding on the forks was nothing abnormal, minimum preheat was 250 degrees, maximum interpass/preheat was 400 degrees. since this was not to crazy on the weld we used a DC-400 power source and a LN-3 (?) squirt feeder wire unit. I used .045 dual shield wire with a yield of 110,000 PSI and 75/25 backing gas.

On the rest of the unit we used what ever 80,000 PSI dual shield wire we had available, 81K2H mostly with 75/25 gas. The preheat was not as critical and the weld did not see anywhere near the stress. Most welds were 3/4 fillets.

We insulate pipe for oil field use here, the short of it is we wind a sprial duct around the pipe and cap the ends of the duct, then inject liquid foam in and let it expand and cure. If you use narrow forks to pick up the pipe when insulated it crushes the insulation. So we build one of a kind forks to use. Also has been discovered that the wider forks are better on all kinds of lift applications.

The other forks are high yield steel that is bent, I would guess that they are heated and bent and the cooling is very closely monitored and controled to avoid any changes to the steel. Kind of like heat treating, they may be slowly cooled over a long period of time.

The loader is big, very big. but nothing unusual, I thought it was a L-180. I will check and see if I can get any pictures of it in use. I saw that it was the loader supporting the double joint rack I am working at.

 

[BX2230Dude]

Here's more proof that it's "Tougher in Alaska" Fairbanks is also home to the worlds biggest and toughest tow truck used to recover trucks that slide off the haul road to the oil fields. Seems fitting that they should have the biggest forks too.

 

[Lunk]

A salvage auction place down the road from me has forks that they use for loading junk cars. They slide them under the car the long way. The sucka's must 15-20 feet long, mounted on a mid-size wheel loader.

As far as capacity, I've never seen them lifting anything bigger than a crew-cab p/u, so 10k and under would probably cover it...

 

[Bird]

A salvage auction place down the road from me has forks that they use for loading junk cars. They slide them under the car the long way. The sucka's must 15-20 feet long, mounted on a mid-size wheel loader.

As far as capacity, I've never seen them lifting anything bigger than a crew-cab p/u, so 10k and under would probably cover it...

That's what I was talking about when I mentioned buying a forklift with 11 foot forks. The police auto pound was selling an average of more than 130 cars a week at an every Monday morning auction. As soon as the auction was over and the buyers started removing the vehicles they had bought, my guy started moving and lining up the vehicles for the next week's auction. He had been doing the job for years with a standard duty (one ton) wrecker, but it was much faster with the forklift, and even from one end, the 11 foot forks would handle one ton crew cab trucks.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So, just how do you adjust those forks? You made them adjustable it looks like, but I know on my small little forks it is nothing but cursing trying to adust them. What do you use, a second tractor?

 

[rtdiggr]

I would love to see the forks mounted to the unit if you get a chance to take a pic.

Shane

 

[Airic]

I want to see the pallet.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Well when I saw the title of this thread, I had to look. I was a forklift mechanic for over 22 years. Yes, they are the biggest set of forks I have ever seen. No, I don't want to work on what carries them.

Someone that mentioned it was correct. Standard forklift forks are made out of a sheet of steel that is tapered. The sheet is put in a huge press and bent to the 90 degree angle. Then they cut the forks to their individual width. I don't remember seeing them heated to bend them. I don't know what forks are made out of, but they are very hard and flexible. I have had to drill through them for attachments and even with a cobalt bit and a drill press it was very difficult.

Very nice job on building them. They look like something that came out of a factory. Hmm, maybe even better. I hope they got a new data plate for the machine, if needed. I know that on a forklift for something like this, you would first need a permission to modify form from the factory then an amended data plate for the changed weight capacity.