FEL hooks

[wroughtn_harv]

Hi Tony,

Your steel has three directions you can pull from. The thickness of the plate, the width of the plate, and the length of the plate.

Chim has his slots so that when his bucket is parallel to the ground the pull is against the thickness of the plate.

It also means if he tilts his bucket the pull down will have a ramp for the chain to go out and off.

What I suggested was a strap across the hypotenuse (sp) of the angle iron. This would mean the pull would not only be against the thickeness of the plate. It would also be working against the combined strength of the width of the angle and the thickenss of the bucket wall it's bolted to along with his bolts.

Imagine sliding your chain into the slot. On each side of the slot let's say you have one of those straps I'm talking about. Then for safety's sake you put a rod through the first link so that if the bucket is tilted forward the chain can't slip off becaue the pin catches the one or both of the straps.

Chim's idea and craftsmanship is beyond reproach. I hope I don't come across being a critic of it. What I'm offering is in addition to his idea to help it be safer and hopefully stronger.

One of the reasons I get so many interesting projects is because I'm constantly being the devil's advocate and looking for the failure in an idea.

 

[BayView]

I read the comments on hooks last evening and had chance to think about it today. Everybody puts hooks on their buckets! Why don't the manufacturers get smart and produce them with hooks? Beats the heck out of me.

 

[bgott]

They don't want you to use the bucket for anything other than moving dirt... liability concerns. It would also cost them about $2 a bucket and they wouldn't want to spend that, gotta keep those costs down!

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>Why don't the manufacturers get smart and produce them with hooks?</font color=blue>

It's like bgott says, David, the manufacturers are covering their fannies. The owner's manual for my FEL, for example, includes the following language:

"<font color=red>Never lift of pull any load from any point of the loader with a chain, rope, or cable. Doing so could cause a roll over or serious damage to the loader.</font color=red>"

 

[BayView]

Harv, Thanks regarding manufacturer liability and reluctance to make FEL's with hooks.Do they make or allow a 4 in 1 grapple attachment or is this "owner at your own risk" stuff? And to be really safe liability wise, they could just exclude FEL's altogether.The whole gray area of safety and manufacturer liability is kind of dumb. But then again I'm not a lawyer.
David

 

[Wal]

I don't know about Tony, but I still can't picture what you are describing /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif. Can you make a drawing of your method and post it?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I would love to make a drawing.

But, and this butt is of the size of Rosanne Barr after a great vactation, you're gonna have to explain to me how to do it. It's not that I'm not willing. I'm just not able.