Loader Has anyone made a boom pole for their front loader?

[tman1020]

I’m getting ready to set some trusses and was considering building a boom pole for my front loader. I did this once before out of 16 foot two by 4’s and a bunch of strapping and it worked pretty well for setting pole barn trusses but I was able to drive right down the middle. Thinking about building something a little stronger and longer.
Has anyone done this before and what is the maximum you felt you could go. I’m considering 20 feet long.

 

[MESSMAKER]

I have seen the wooden setup before. It worked pretty good. I guess you could mount a receiver to your bucket and use some square tube for the pole but I am not sure it would be stronger unless you work out some form of bracing.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have extended a FEL by maybe ten feet with heavy wall 2" tubing, no bracing. So, maybe I had ten feet of FEL height and extended it to 20. A twenty foot extension on a small CUT sounds like a bit much, but the discussion is immaterial without knowing what weight you want to lift and the capacity of your FEL.

Generally, you want an arrangement that only adds a bit of height to what you have and not a scheme where you are in affect creating reach where there was little, if that makes sense.

 

[tman1020]

My capacity is probably around 1400 at the pins. Not sure what the trusses are going to weigh most of them won’t weigh very much but the gable ends will be sheeted and they will be considerably heavier

 

[Rustyiron]

I built one out of some steel I happened to have on hand along with a cylinder.

The telescopic action helps with the initial lifting (boom flat - hook low) with your load is way out in front. Once your load is near vertical (close in) you can fall back to your loader/tractor rating. With trusses, you can stand them up by hand and then hook them. This one shoot's out about 9' with the drawn in length of about 12'.

 

[Rustyiron]

I prefer it on the SS with much stronger hydraulics. Here's a few more pics with one fully extended.

One of the little sleeping cabins I built up at the shop and trailered down to the camp. The roof was not attached for the move.

That's about a 28' hook height right there.

 

[4570Man]

I prefer it on the SS with much stronger hydraulics. Here's a few more pics with one fully extended.

View attachment 563690
One of the little sleeping cabins I built up at the shop and trailered down to the camp. The roof was not attached for the move.

View attachment 563691
That's about a 28' hook height right there.

On top of the much stronger hydraulics my CTL lifts about 3 feet higher then my tractor.

 

[tman1020]

I built one out of some steel I happened to have on hand along with a cylinder.
View attachment 563684


View attachment 563685

The telescopic action helps with the initial lifting (boom flat - hook low) with your load is way out in front. Once your load is near vertical (close in) you can fall back to your loader/tractor rating. With trusses, you can stand them up by hand and then hook them. This one shoot's out about 9' with the drawn in length of about 12'.

That is super cool this is exactly what I was thinking. I don’t want to add hydraulics to it though. Even though that is pretty darn cool I don’t have access to long cylinder like that for a reasonable price but I do have electric winch. I may coordinate it into my design. Thank you

 

[downsizingnow48]

Rustyiron that is nicely done and very strong.

Here is a similar idea on a smaller scale with a smaller cylinder. With the boom fully extended, it can get up about 18 ft combining loader lift, hoist lift, and bucket curl. I will be using it to put trusses on a greenhouse later in the year. Have to be careful, it gets tippy. I use the backhoe stabilizers for more stability.

 

[Al 2]

Industrial Toys is pretty much right on for a small scale operation. Many years ago I set the trusses for a 60 ft long building using a simple boom pole and a Ford Jubilee tractor. Basically a triangle made from 2.5'' dia. pipe or whatever appropriate. The smaller side just sits in the bucket and make it whatever length will safely work. Weld a grab hook on the end and also chain it securely to the bucket. We just left the end wall out of the building and drove the trusses in from that end and worked our way out.
Al