Forks lift capacity /lifting 1/2" plywood bundle?

[Coyote machine]

I was surprised to find my new DK35se/hst KIOTI with fel model KL351 was not interested in lifting a bunch of sheets of 4x8x1/2" plywood above where I could just move it from one location to another. It only got the pile of 30-35 sheets a few inches off the ground. I figured I could get them up higher into the air or possibly lift them up to the roof for my crew of gorillas to install on my trusses.
Any thoughts as to why the pallet forks and tractor are wimping out on this job?
Note: loader book says: lift capacity to full height at pivot pin:1,412 lbs
and breakout force at pivot pin:2,640lbs ( what does breakout force mean?
I think that the loader weight specks are more relevant to loader lifting than pallet forks since the weight is further away from and more spread out than what is carried by the loader bucket- but that's just my inexperienced tractor operator's best guess....

Any help would be appreciated....

Thanks,

CM

 

[Duffster]

I think that the loader weight specks are more relevant to loader lifting than pallet forks since the weight is further away from and more spread out than what is carried by the loader bucket-
CM

It is as you figured

Plus that bundle of plywood weights closer to 2000# than 1400

 

[LD1]

Well I don't want to open up a can of worms here by knocking kioti, because they are a fine tractor. And kioti is not to only one guilty of it either, its called marketing tricks with numbers.

Kioti only gives 3 measurements...loader lift at PINS, breakout force, and bucket rollback force. Giving the spec for loader lift at the pins makes it look better than another tractor, which may actually be able to lift more, who gives the spec @bucket center, or @500mm forward.

Kubota has about the best spec sheets out there, the give the lift at the pins, bucket center, and bucket edge. It makes it nice for conversion as I can take a spec @pins from another manufacture and match it up to a kubota loader spec, to get close to the true lift capacity.

Anyways, enough rambling, to answer one of your questions, breakout force is the maximum upward force of a loader (as to breaking out of a pile) using all avaliable hydraulics. This includes the rollback cylinders, which do not help you lift something with pallet forks.

Next question. 1/2 plywood weighs 48lbs per sheet. so 30-35 would weigh 1440-1680lbs. Your tractor can lift 1412 @ pins. Take about 25% off to get the 500mm forward (bucket edge)measurement. which puts you at 1059lbs of actual capacity. Assuming you have the bucket off and pallet forks on a skidsteer plate, this would be close to the center of the load. If the bucket is on and the forks start at the edge of the bucket, you have moved the load another 24"out. So just gussing here as I dont know the #'s but take off 30% more and now you are at ~740 lbs. So the most you can lift is about 15 sheets.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

don't forget to include the weight of the pallet forks and/or bucket in the equation.
my forks weigh about 300 pounds.
when first building my house, I found out the hard way that the C50HL loader on my Century 2535 would lift more than the tractor could safely handle. (it was actually designed to go on a 47 HP machine, not my 35HP job)
I could use the roll back on my loader to raise a bundle of 40 wet 12' 2x10's off the deck of the delivery truck, but even with 1000 pounds of counterweight, that weight dropped like a brick. (love that seat belt! saved me from launching)
lowered the back end down and restacked the load - found out 20 of those boards was plenty to move around at any given time.

 

[Coyote machine]

Duffster, LD1, and Erik_in_Hoyt,

Thanks to all for your answers. My forks are on a Woods skidsteer plate, not attached to my bucket.
I will adjust the load according to max capacity to lift and leave a margin of error for safety. I can do more lighter loads and still get done what needs to be done. I was mainly concerned that maybe something was amiss with my pump or hydraulics- evidently not- I just need a bigger tractor!

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

I just need a bigger tractor!

something most of us think every so often - but the rest of the time, fitting between trees in the pasture, sipping fuel instead of gulping it, we realize 35 HP is juuust right!

Oh, yeah -- pallet forks are great for picking up and moving big rocks, too...

 

[LD1]

Duffster, LD1, and Erik_in_Hoyt,

Thanks to all for your answers. My forks are on a Woods skidsteer plate, not attached to my bucket.
I will adjust the load according to max capacity to lift and leave a margin of error for safety. I can do more lighter loads and still get done what needs to be done. I was mainly concerned that maybe something was amiss with my pump or hydraulics- evidently not- I just need a bigger tractor!

You can never have too big of a tractor, so when you decide to get a new one...get one of these

 

[jinman]

You can never have too big of a tractor, so when you decide to get a new one...get one of these

Can you get a belly mower with that?

EDIT: When my house was being built, they delivered sheetrock on a flatbed truck with one of those little "tag-along" forklifts on the back. The driver was hauling full pallets of sheetrock and lifting them up to the second floor. I asked him what the maximum lift was and he said it was around 6,000 lb. It's easy to think our CUTs should lift more, but a speciality forklift can run circles around most of our tractors. They do one thing and do it very well.

 

[Coyote machine]

Nice machine- but where does one get attachments?! and what is the gallons /mile spec on that rig?!

 

[LD1]

You could probabally special order a 150' batwing mower. Sure it might use 5 gallon of fuel in 5 minutes....but think of it as gallons per work done. 5 gallons in 5 minutes to mow 5 acres isn't too bad