Front End Boom/Crane

Viny · Nov 3, 2017

So, I'm converting my Kubota LA1001 FEL to a Skid Steer quick attach. With this, I'm going to return my bucket to straight bucket use. It's currently in Frankenstein mode with bolt-on forks and a grapple for brush work. I'm also going to use the grapple and forks and build a dedicated brush grapple that should be more efficient.

Now I'm looking around at the possibles pile and considering taking an old engine cherry picker and adding a SS plate and turning it into a front end boom/crane. I also have a truck winch that plugs into a 2" tow receiver that I could add with little effort. So, it occurred to me that I could replace the manual hydraulic cylinder on the cherry picker with one I could plug into my existing tractor hydraulics and have that be adjustable as well.

So, I've done some searching on this forum and haven't found any projects quite like this one. I'm particularly interested in figuring out the considerations specific to adding this hydraulic cylinder. Of course I have the size of the existing manual one, but what else is important to know and not screw up? I assume the system pressure of the tractor is an important number to go figure out. What else can anyone think of?

Of couse, Safety is the number 1 consideration. I'm only thinking of this to lift items of a few hundred pounds at the most...

texasranger556 · Nov 3, 2017

Is there a particular problem you are trying to solve with an adjustable boom pole? Typically boom poles are welded solid and the bucket retract cylinders are used to move the pole up and down along with the loader lift cylinders. I'm not sure what a third axis of movement would gain you?

texasranger556 · Nov 3, 2017

In thinking about it, if you also made a 3 point SSQA adapter plate, I could see some convenience in a boom pole with a cylinder on it.

Viny · Nov 3, 2017

No not really. At this point, this is as much a thought experiment as anything else. I'm about to have this new flexibility with respect to the front end of the tractor and I have this engine picker that has the manual cylinder already. I want to get it out of my barn and have it be more useful. It doesn't have much value, and I am interested, and would imagine others might be interested in learning about the considerations involved in adding a diy hydraulically controlled implement. I totally agree with your notion of beginning with the end in mind, but I'm merely trying to make some stuff less lazy and I might stumble onto something very useful...!

BukitCase · Nov 3, 2017

Typical cherry pickers (if they're rated at 2 ton) use an 8 ton jack; if your tractor's hydraulics are at (say) 2500 psi, you'd get 8 ton from a 2.85" diameter cylinder - if you stick to that size (again, depending on system pressure) and figured out a mount that did NOT compromise the existing design on the cherry picker, it'd probably live long enough for you to find out just how useful that extra range could be -

Knowing myself, that'd probably come in handy - seems like I'm regularly wanting "just a couple more inches, little more reach, etc... Steve

downsizingnow48 · Nov 3, 2017

Interesting thoughts. I also have an old 2 ton engine hoist that is seldom used but always in the way. And I was also thinking about some kind of boom pole for the tractor. But I never put the two ideas together until this thread, thanks. I have a SSQA and auxiliary hydraulics on the loader so rigging it up would not be a lot of work as these things go.

lpigott · Nov 3, 2017

You can buy SSQA boom poles ready to go the work way cheap than your time is worth cobbling something together. Check the ones out at Palletforks.com

2458n · Nov 3, 2017

The length of your new jib is going to change the weight the front axle has to support. Tipping or crushing front axle bearings is a real possibility. Duplicate something that is already sold and you should be okay. Let someone else do the engineering for you. Service trucks with cranes on the side always come back with ruined booms because the winch is rated for fully re tracketd. When extra length is added the winch is strong enough to bend the boom.