Ken's Hooks - LS Bucket Installation

[elbowroom]

Discussed before, but I'd thought I'd add my thoughts and pictures on the installation:

The LS bucket has a rectangular tube on the top edge that is wrapped by the sheet steel bucket material. It goes over the top, down the front and terminates just in from the edge of the tube. It is welded to the tube underneath. This provides a strong connection with the bolt on hooks. The difficulty is drilling the holes straight and not interfering with the existing welds. This picture shows how I kept alignment when going through the tube:


I drilled a pilot hole in the top and used a 1/2" drill to open it up and continue through the bottom. I had no issues maintaining alignment (the bolts dropped right through) and also no issue with the seam weld on the tubing.

The base plate for the hooks was located flush with the front edge. This put the bottom hole very close to the existing weld underneath. In order to get the washer to lay flat, I did have to grind the weld back a bit. Moving the hook plate back from the front edge 1/4" would have been ideal. However, next to the weld should provide good strength. Guessing, but I probably got 75 lb-ft of torque on the nuts and they did draw tight with no feeling of the tube collapsing.




I debating getting weld on hooks as I have a decent MIG, but was not confident in my skills if I have to support heavy loads safely. Would be easy to lay a bead across the back plate, but there is no way these are going to pull through the tube!

Easy install, nice to have this feature now.

 

[davrow]

Well done. I punched (okay, drilled) both top holes first then clamped the hook to the bucket to drill the bottom holes. Nearly 1/2 inch of steel guiding the bit kept it straight for the bottom holes. Keeping the bottom hole drilling lubricated was the tricky part. I did set my hooks back about 1/2 inch to avoid that seam underneath.

What length bolts did you end up using?

 

[George2615]

Nice job.
I welded mine to some 2x2 angle then welded the angle to the bucket. I'm sure just welding to the bucket would have been fine but I wasn't sure of the thickness of the tube metal. I also added a couple of chrome hooks also.

 

[elbowroom]

I used 3 1/2" bolts if I recall but ended up cutting them off. 3" would have been perfect.

 

[elbowroom]

Nice job.
I also added a couple of chrome hooks also.

Nice bling!

 

[George2615]

Nice bling!

Not really, just some cheap HF hooks that happened to be chrome.

 

[kennyd]

Thanks for the great write up Elbowroom! :thumbsup:

 

[elbowroom]

Thanks for a great product and service!

 

[Gary Fowler]

[QUOTE

I debating getting weld on hooks as I have a decent MIG, but was not confident in my skills if I have to support heavy loads safely. Would be easy to lay a bead across the back plate, but there is no way these are going to pull through the tube!

Easy install, nice to have this feature now.[/QUOTE]Lot of folks are afraid of their welding skills, but even if you get just a few inches of good weld around a 4x4" plate like Kens hooks are attached to, it is likely going to hold that hook in place. Most weld material is 70,000 per square inch and since none of the CUT or Utility tractors can lift more that around 2500# it doesn't take much weld to hold that amount of force. I once put a 1/8" tack weld on the outside corner of a piece of 2x2 angle and a 2.5 ton come-a-long couldn't pull it loose with a straight pull, a simple side bend broke it easily though. Just one example of the strength of a small weld.

I weld the heck out of any lift attachment all the way around not so much for strength but for looks and to completely seal any moisture from getting under the pad, otherwise a 1/2" weld around each corner would hold any force one could put on the hooks.

 

[hutchman]

Nice job.
I welded mine to some 2x2 angle then welded the angle to the bucket. I'm sure just welding to the bucket would have been fine but I wasn't sure of the thickness of the tube metal. I also added a couple of chrome hooks also.

That's how I did my hooks too. I got mine from Northern. I did 3, one in middle and the others in line with lift arms.