RedNeckGeek
Super Member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2011
- Messages
- 8,746
- Location
- Butte County & Orcutt, California
- Tractor
- Kubota M62, Kubota L3240D HST (SOLD!), Kubota RTV900
What the fork?
More than a year ago I was picking up some steel at the scrap yard when I came across a big metal bin full of fork lift tines. I've always wanted a forklift, but with the rough ground around here it would take the all terrain type to get anything useful done, and they're way above my budget. But a neighbor had purchased some tines that bolted to his front end loader bucket, and they sorta worked, but were pretty light duty. So when I saw those forks laying there, the gears began to turn and I brought them home with me for scrap metal prices.
After thinking about what to do for almost two years, I decided to make an adapter that engages the quick disconnect on the front end loader, then mount the forks on that. That way I wouldn't be lifting the weight of the bucket every time I used the forks, and visibility would be a little better, too. I still had some heavy wall steel tube left over from making the backhoe mount, and a trip back to the scrap yard turned up some three eighths plate. The last piece I needed wasn't there, though, so I had to wait a couple more weeks before I could get down to the closest steel supplier in Oroville. That was yesterday. Over the last week I'd already put together the frame and hooks to engage the front end loader quick detach mount. Today I notched the top bar and welded it and its lower mate to the adapter, mounting the fork tines to them several times to verify fit. Boy those things are heavy, more than a hundred pounds apiece. And by the time all the little bits were welded onto the frame, I could barely lift that, either. But once everything was on the tractor, it all fit, and seemed pretty solid, too.
One of my buddies mentioned that the 3-point would lift much more weight than the FEL. Lifting capacity on the FEL is 1415 lbs, less 300 for the forks leaves 1115 lbs.
Lifting capacity for the 3-point is 2646 lbs. less 300 leaves 2146 lbs.
That's more than a ton, and almost twice the weight available on the front end.
With that in mind, I started looking into modifications that would allow the same frame to work on the back of the tractor. Turns out all I needed were a few bars welded onto the frame with holes in them to pick up the top link and lifting arms.
The location of the holes in the plates was chosen such that the 3-point lifting arms and top link were parallel when the forks are resting on the ground. That keeps the forks level as the lifting arms raise. I can still tip the forks back a bit with the top link if I like, but only when there's no load on the forks.
All that welding wouldn't be complete without a nice coat of orange paint to hide all the oopses, and the Kubota dealer was only to happy to oblige. Only trouble is that was also over two years ago, and the paint took a couple of days to dry, even though it was catalyzed. It eventually hardened and hopefully won't fade like the Tractor Supply spray bomb stuff.
So far I've only used the attachment on the FEL, once to unload a new log splitter, and again the other night to unload pallets of flooring. It worked surprisingly well, even though I had to pay attention and keep the forks level or tilted back by making adjustments to the bucket controls. Both times made potentially dangerous and painful work into a few minutes of fun in the tractor seat, and I'm sorry I waited so long to put this thing together!
More than a year ago I was picking up some steel at the scrap yard when I came across a big metal bin full of fork lift tines. I've always wanted a forklift, but with the rough ground around here it would take the all terrain type to get anything useful done, and they're way above my budget. But a neighbor had purchased some tines that bolted to his front end loader bucket, and they sorta worked, but were pretty light duty. So when I saw those forks laying there, the gears began to turn and I brought them home with me for scrap metal prices.
After thinking about what to do for almost two years, I decided to make an adapter that engages the quick disconnect on the front end loader, then mount the forks on that. That way I wouldn't be lifting the weight of the bucket every time I used the forks, and visibility would be a little better, too. I still had some heavy wall steel tube left over from making the backhoe mount, and a trip back to the scrap yard turned up some three eighths plate. The last piece I needed wasn't there, though, so I had to wait a couple more weeks before I could get down to the closest steel supplier in Oroville. That was yesterday. Over the last week I'd already put together the frame and hooks to engage the front end loader quick detach mount. Today I notched the top bar and welded it and its lower mate to the adapter, mounting the fork tines to them several times to verify fit. Boy those things are heavy, more than a hundred pounds apiece. And by the time all the little bits were welded onto the frame, I could barely lift that, either. But once everything was on the tractor, it all fit, and seemed pretty solid, too.
One of my buddies mentioned that the 3-point would lift much more weight than the FEL. Lifting capacity on the FEL is 1415 lbs, less 300 for the forks leaves 1115 lbs.
Lifting capacity for the 3-point is 2646 lbs. less 300 leaves 2146 lbs.
That's more than a ton, and almost twice the weight available on the front end.
With that in mind, I started looking into modifications that would allow the same frame to work on the back of the tractor. Turns out all I needed were a few bars welded onto the frame with holes in them to pick up the top link and lifting arms.
The location of the holes in the plates was chosen such that the 3-point lifting arms and top link were parallel when the forks are resting on the ground. That keeps the forks level as the lifting arms raise. I can still tip the forks back a bit with the top link if I like, but only when there's no load on the forks.
All that welding wouldn't be complete without a nice coat of orange paint to hide all the oopses, and the Kubota dealer was only to happy to oblige. Only trouble is that was also over two years ago, and the paint took a couple of days to dry, even though it was catalyzed. It eventually hardened and hopefully won't fade like the Tractor Supply spray bomb stuff.
So far I've only used the attachment on the FEL, once to unload a new log splitter, and again the other night to unload pallets of flooring. It worked surprisingly well, even though I had to pay attention and keep the forks level or tilted back by making adjustments to the bucket controls. Both times made potentially dangerous and painful work into a few minutes of fun in the tractor seat, and I'm sorry I waited so long to put this thing together!
