FEL Lift Capacity For Unloading Semi Trailer

[5030]

Like the old saying goes... you can lift the world with a long enough lever. I've been exceeding my lift capacity quite a bit lately but using both the lift and curl functions to 'lever' the skids off truck decks or tailgates as the situation dictates.

 

[ning]

Don't forget to include the weight of the bucket and bolt on forks

I suspect "bolt on" was a mistype as wouldn't using those put the load that much farther out from the pins? (besides the "ouch" to the bucket lifting that much with them!)

 

[Bavarian]

Truck driver here.
I hauled wood shavings. And there is no way that a pallet weighs 2000 lbs. It is considered a light load at full capacity by volume.
But be prepared, there is not much room at the top to lift it up if they are delivered by a box truck.
Just to make sure, put everything on the back of your tractor that you can find as counter ballast.
You should be good.

 

[rebelback]

Truck driver here.
I hauled wood shavings. And there is no way that a pallet weighs 2000 lbs. It is considered a light load at full capacity by volume.
But be prepared, there is not much room at the top to lift it up if they are delivered by a box truck.
Just to make sure, put everything on the back of your tractor that you can find as counter ballast.
You should be good.

You are 100% correct. A good friend helped me off load all 26 pallets yesterday with his fork lift. We loaded several on my gooseneck to haul to the farm. My 45hp tractor picked them up effortlessly. I would say those pallets were closer to 900-1000lbs. I wish the manufacturer would have been more accurate on their weight info, but it was a nice surprise for next time.

 

[nyone]

What's the actual shipping weight?

Worst come to worse you just drag them off the truck and let them hit the ground. It's not like your going to damage wood shavings.

 

[eKretz]

That 2,000 lbs at 48" was likely meant as height off the ground, not distance from the pin. Almost all loaders lose power as they ascend due to geometry changes between the loader arms and cylinders as the load is lifted. What they're telling you is that a 2,000 pound breakout machine might not make it. Whether that's accurate is a whole 'nother story.

 

[dnw64]

Worst case would be tipping forward before you get the load close to the ground, but you can kind of plan for preventing that, like the stuff RayIN suggested.

Note too, that the center of the load will move AWAY from the tractor as you lower it. This will increase the potential of tipping forward as you lower it.