Excavator as Fork Lift

RonL · Apr 1, 2003

I know hydraulic excavators are used as cranes often, but has anyone replaced the bucket on an excavator and used it as a high lift fork lift?

RonL

Anonymous Poster · Apr 2, 2003

Why would you want to do that? Out of curiosity.....
I've never seen fork attachments for a trackhoe. So I'd have to say no, I've never seen or heard of that. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Blake
WA

RonL · Apr 2, 2003

Blake

For the same reason someone would want a high lift (telelift) fork lift on a construction sight. Unloading and placing building materials where they are needed.

RonL

ScottAR · Apr 2, 2003

Probably have to build it... I've never seen one. It would work ok I guess... Would need a lot of room to manuver and would be hard (guessing) to keep the forks levelish.
Just my random neural firings..

jtn · Apr 3, 2003

I have never seen or heard of such a thing. It would take a lot of practice to keep the forks level as you raised the load, which is why I assume nobody has built one. But you could be the first

JT

Taylortractornut · Apr 3, 2003

I made a forkset to go on the end of a 300 Komatsu excavator, very hand with a quick coupler. We used the one i mad in and alley where our telehandler o nthe job couldnt turn around the corner to get into the alley. its not that hard to keep it level well front to bacl level. Wed hook the bucket on the excavator and fix a small area to getinto the alley and level the pad up then drop the bucket and get the forks. It was good to load pipe as well. Its just the fact of the 360 degree and the 40 foot lift of the machin and terrainability of the machine that make it handy. Try Imac.com they make such an attachment for and excavator.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 3, 2003

RonL. I see what you mean, but wouldn't it be easier to use a telelift or whatever it's called. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I'd like to see the pic. of the komatsu with the attchment. It would be interesting to see.

Blake
WA

Taylortractornut · Apr 3, 2003

I have a picture of the IMac that i used to make the one for the hoe where i used to work. THere handy ever drive a telehandler on a 2 to 1 slope lol thats one thing about the excavtor it can got alot of places becacause of the 360 degree swing and tracks. Im making some now for a mini excavator to be used on a retaining wall im builing at the lake a skidsteer with forks wont reach far enough out on the trails well have to cut to make the wall on. its not too hard to keep the forks level after running a hoe for a few years. im attaching the Imac links

EdDekker · Apr 4, 2003

I think you mean http://www.imac.ca
imac.com is an Apple Computer web page.

Taylortractornut · Apr 4, 2003

thats the site thankyou i had forgotten the webaddress and the first thing that popped into my tiny brain lol. THe company i worked for owned alot of Imac special attachments. Thank you for the correction Taylor Lambert

RonL · Apr 4, 2003

Taylor

That's exactly what I was thinking. Did you have any trouble placing material up high?

RonL

Taylortractornut · Apr 4, 2003

i forgot the reach for the standard 300 but it was a good amount highter than with the bucket and chains. And the 300 with the long reach was verry good to. we sold som big shot rock boulders to a lansscaping company and the 300 was well suited to puttin them on the trucks from the pile. I wasnt allowed a camera on that job but ill see if i can get one from my old supervisor. We picked alot of things with the forks but there no replacement for the telehandler just on a special occasion.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 5, 2003

Taylor, that's a really cool design. Never seen it but it looks COOL! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Blake
WA

Taylortractornut · Apr 5, 2003

Blake another feature that is handy with one i forgot to add was the ability to lift a load over a wall and set it down, our telehandlers couldnt do that. Its been said the excavator is one of the most adaptable machines built,, i run one alot with a hammer.

Hoeman00 · Apr 5, 2003

After your picture I could just build an attachment to go from my hoe to take SSL forks and could also use the 8' landscape rake on it too.
It would be good for finish grading slopes.

Taylortractornut · Apr 5, 2003

Tim it would be handy on a hoe like yours with the extendable dipper and all that reach. Im building a blade now to go on my bucket for the hoe i had one i rushed through this winter i used it on a small contract cleaning up after a utility company mauled some banks. The rake would be great for seeding to.
We had JRB quick couplers on our loaders and excavators very handy for the blades when we had alot of roads to maintain we took a coupler blank and made a blade to work on it.

Hoeman00 · Apr 7, 2003

I put a 3/4 x 8" plate across the teeth of a 36" bucket and welded it on.
This works great for digging basements (dug one yesterday 28x60 w/ 2 car garage in less than 6 hrs.) since it leaves a flat smooth ground .
I found a 5' ditching bucket last summer and got it for $700, which is a bargain compared to $2000 new.
I've used the 5' to dig driveways in tight areas so I could load dirt right into dump truck and leave no mess.
I am going to try to find a Q-T for my hoe since these buckets are so heavy.

Taylortractornut · Apr 7, 2003

I usually weld a plate across the bucket but its gettin old. i saw a 4in1 hoe bucket for an excavator in Nashville a few months ago at a show may fix one of them. If you get a quick tach i d recomend to avoid the hydraulic lock its handy but some are a pain with the lock lines in the knuckle breaking and the bucket droppin. We had alot of trouble with the JRB's like that diggin a trench in the river where there was shot rock when wed curl the bucket a 3 inch chunk could break the lines and it was time to fish out a 2 yard bucket.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 7, 2003

Here's a link with the fork attachment for the trackhoe.

http://www.brianscottengineering.com/products2.htm

With a photo included in this post.

Blake
WA