Pallet Forks/Markham/JD

[dmccarty]

Has anyone bought the Markham Pallet Forks? I have searched TBN and I see people talking about getting the forks but I have not seen anyone who has actually purchased.

Markham is near enough to me that I can travel to pick up the forks. I would prefer pallet forks that attach to the bucket but it looks like Markham's product cost less and does more....

I could not find a price on pallet forks from JD or anyone else. Markham is asking $530 for a unit that can handle 3,900 pounds. Is this a fair price. It sure is compared to the bucket forks.

Later,
Dan

 

[RichNJKubota]

The bang for the buck on the Marham forks you mentioned seems very good.
I just bought a set of light duty Payne's Forks for $290 including shipping. They work as advertised. I like the fact that each fork weighs 35lbs so I can easily move them by hand. Since I don't need to pick up very heavy loads these were the best for me.

Rich

 

[dmccarty]

Rich,

I was comparing Markham's product with Payne's and Markhams looks like a better deal. I have numerous cubes of bricks to move at our house site. The best I can figure they weigh between 1700-2000 pounds. We ordered extra for a garage that will be ordered later and the builder over ordered as well. It only costs $100 per cube so I would rather have more than less..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For what it would cost to pay someone to move the cubes I bet I could buy the forks and move them at the same or close to same price..

We also will be buying new appliances and it will be nice to be able to off load them with pallet forks on the tractor. I have lots of pallets at the house site and I'm going to use them to store firewood.

I thinking about puting the pallets in the back of my pickup. Loading stuff from the house onto the pallets and tieing them down. Once I get out to the property I can off load the pallets from the truck to the porch which will make things a whole lot easier....

Melissa at Markham's said the forks work with JD 400 loaders so I should be good to go.

Later,
Dan

 

[RichNJKubota]

Dan,
You mentioned alot of used for the forks but one that caught my eye was the movement and storage of firewood. I will be doing the same when I get a moment. I was going to use pallets and chicken wire or snowfence to keep the wood on the pallet. But then I noticed crates at the local floor tile store. The crates are pallets with sides. Perfect for wood. Unfortunately the crates I saw were sitting outside too long to be worthwhile but now that I know they exist I'll find a few.

Rich

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have numerous cubes of bricks to move at our house site. The best I can figure they weigh between 1700-2000 pounds. )</font>
Last time I looked, a pallet of bricks was closer to 3,500 lbs but it may only have been the particular ones I was looking at.

Since my JD855 will only lift about 750 lbs on the forks, it's not an issue for me.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( We also will be buying new appliances and it will be nice to be able to off load them with pallet forks on the tractor. )</font>
They're very useful for that. The last delivery, I parked the tractor in the driveway so I could respond to the truck quicker, particularly as he must stop in the road. The driver said it made it really easy to figure out which house he was delivering to. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[jmc]

Dan,

If you go to Denton, NC, maybe you could stop at Piranha Attachments, link attached. Their prices seem very good and I was wondering about their quality. Hope you give us a report.

John

Piranha Attachments

 

[keeney]

Bricks or stone on a pallet can add up to over 3500 or even 4500 lbs quickly for a typical pallet "cube". Most of the smaller to medium CUT's are not going to be able to lift that much weight.

Still, its a lot less work to re-stack the stone or bricks into 1/2 or 1/3 cube units so they can be easily moved around than to move the whole pile a few bricks at a time or one wheelbarrow at a time.

One thing to notice on the lift curves is that a lot of machines can lift more lbs down low than they can to full height. For example, at the ground, my 4100 can lift maybe 1200 lbs. At full height, its rated for only 800lbs or so. Those weights are with the bucket. I built my forks to be as light as possible, so I maybe get another 100 lbs over that rating.

This is actually really helpful with the forks since you generally are not lifting things to full height. Usually just a few inches to get ground clearance, or at most, up to a truck bed.

I find that I hit the max lift capacity of my little 4100 a lot more often with the forks than with the bucket digging dirt.

Be sure and check your front tire pressure and ratings before lifting anything like 4000 lbs!

For anything at all heavy, I would recommend that you will want forks that replace the bucket.

Even with the stock bucket attach on my 4100, switching is not a big deal. Jump off, pull the pins, dump the bucket, get in drive up to the forks, jump off, and replace the pins, jump on and start moving stuff.

- Rick

 

[dlgmt]

I bought a set of quick attach pallet forks for my Kubota L3130 from markham welding two weeks ago. I promptly made use of them moving a 1000# round bale of hay and removing a few downed trees from last weeks tropical storm. They are a nice markham attachment to have. I believe they were $425. plus shipping.

 

[dbrauner]

Hello Dan,

I am in NC and a local JD dealer quoted me $968 for a set of forks for my 430 FEL. That is a steep premium to pay for something that isn't even green.... I am thinking about an alternative at 1/2 the cost.

 

[DK45C_Dave]

Hi,
I bought a set of Markham forks this summer. They work fine. They slide along the rails for any spacing or lock in place at 3 different spacings. What I really like is that they are easy to take apart and store flat, along the shed wall, out of the way. I will use them for a few days and then store them for a couple months. I have not seen forks I like any better for any price.

David