Forks for John Deere

jgbanshee · Feb 20, 2007

I just got a set of pallet forks for a skid steer quick attach and want to convert them to fit my JD 4300 with 430 loader. What is the best way of doing so?

kennyd · Feb 20, 2007

Do you have a welder?

You can buy the hooks and pins from JD for about $35.00 and weld them to your forks to make them compatibe with the Deere QA system.

Here is an example of the forks I made for my 410 loader:
http://www.tractorbynet.com//forums/showthread.php?t=51695&highlight=forks

jgbanshee · Feb 20, 2007

Yes, I have both a MIG and Stick welder.

Andy-H · Feb 22, 2007

I did the same thing to a skid steer rock bucket that you need to do to the pallet forks. I built out the flat surface with four short pieces of C-channel laid horizonal inside the skid steer part, where the 430 quik attach will hit. I only welded the top hooks on first. hung the bucket to find the exact placement of the lower pins. I used a piece of 3/8" x 4" x 8" flat plate to hold the lower pin. once the bucket had the 3/8" plate pinched with the lower pin and lynch pin installed, weld it up.

Seon · Mar 25, 2007

kennyd said:
Do you have a welder?

You can buy the hooks and pins from JD for about $35.00 and weld them to your forks to make them compatibe with the Deere QA system.

Here is an example of the forks I made for my 410 loader:
http://www.tractorbynet.com//forums/showthread.php?t=51695&highlight=forks

Our JD Parts folks aren't the sharpest....so do you have parts number for the hooks and pins?
thanks

jgbanshee · Mar 25, 2007

The hooks are part# W43359 and the pins are part# W47211.

mars1952 · Mar 27, 2007

jgbanshee said:
I just got a set of pallet forks for a skid steer quick attach and want to convert them to fit my JD 4300 with 430 loader. What is the best way of doing so?

Hi: Depending on how many attachments you already have for you FEL you might want to consider converting your FEL to Skid Steer Quick Hitch(SSQH) instead of the other way around. There are bolt on SSQH replacements out there that will fit a 430 FEL. I can't find the link right now but I have looked at them for my 420 FEL. The adapter plate for your FEL bucket costs around $95 or you could probably make one. I decided to not convert my 420 FEL to SSQH because I already had 3 attachments for my FEL and I plan to build anything else I might need so I stayed with the JD quick hitch.
The advantages of the SSQH are that there are many different attachments out there from many different manufacturers and I believe that the SSQH is stronger than the JD quick hitch. The biggest advantage of the SSQH is that when you get around to selling your attachments there will be many more buyers available for you SSQH attachments than for JD quick hitch attachments.
Good Luck, Mars