Pallet Forks ... yet another home made set.

[Dataway]

Here are the pallet forks that I just finished for my 1715. Built them as low profile as I could as I have some tight spots I want to get them into. Should be good for at least 1500 lbs, the loader will only lift about 1000. Forks are 11ga 1.5 x 1.5 square tube doubled up in width and reinforced at the stress points, most of the rest is bent 1/4" plate and 1/2" rod. Added some sockets for 2 x 4 uprights if I need them. About 34" of usable fork, don't think the bucket could handle much more. Going to strap it in with 3300 lb ratchet straps (10,000 lb breaking), plus 5/8 anchor bolts. Total cost about $70 for the tube and the straps, took the rest of the metal out of the shop stock. About five hours to fabricate including the measuring and head scratching.

 

[robstaples]

Nicely done!

 

[Oldpath05]

I made my forks just about the same way cept my tip points down and I use two 1" bolts two hold them on.

 

[Dataway]

Yep, I wanted the points down, but as short as they are I needed the extra length on top to catch as much of a pallet as I can. I see you got some log grabbers on the bucket too

 

[crazyal]

Similar to what I have but I use chain and binders, not straps. If your loader capacity is 1000 lbs bucket lift capacity you probably will be limited to 500 to 700 lbs. Still plenty of capacity.

 

[Oldpath05]

Looking forward for the next picture with those perty blue forks on tractor.

 

[Oldpath05]

Similar to what I have but I use chain and binders, not straps. If your loader capacity is 1000 lbs bucket lift capacity you probably will be limited to 500 to 700 lbs. Still plenty of capacity.

Do you have picture somewhere with your forks on with binder?

 

[Smokeydog]

I had old solid logging forks that had the tip end bevel on the bottom for sawmill work. Worked good on rough ground getting under a load without digging in the dirt as much. Then got an early set Titan clamp on forks that did the same. Makes sense with most tractors picking loads off the ground. Also work good with pallets.
Now most forks have the tip bevel facing up. Think those would tend to dig instead of slide under?

 

[Dataway]

Looking forward for the next picture with those perty blue forks on tractor.

Will take one tomorrow ... but they get less pretty every day

 

[davedj1]

One thing with clip on forks is the lift capacity is greatly diminished. The spec lift weight on your tractor, if you read the fine print is "at the pin". Just be careful and don't expect much from them and you'll be fine. Sure beats moving stuff by hand
And they look like they are nicely done!

 

[Dataway]

Yep ... not a lot of power at the tips at all. To pick up a log I have to get under it far enough and tilt it so it rolls back to the bucket. I'm hoping it will pick up a pallet with a dozen or so 10" cinder block on it. Probably 600 lbs.

Hanging a log from the bucket I can pick up a hardwood log 10' long, 24 in diameter .... won't do that with the forks, I tried.

I was surprised the tilt wasn't stronger, it will lift things that it can't tilt. Say you had something two feet out on the forks ... it would lift it, but not tilt the forks up.


Here is the last photo before they get beat to heck

 

[Oldpath05]

I dont know if you beat the forks to heck yet but that bucket sure has seen better days compared to rest of the tractor, what year and how many hr on it?. You have any trouble keeping forks straight? I had to double bolt mine.

 

[Dataway]

It's a 95 ... was a rental, has about 1100 hours on it, about 300 of which are mine. I have a feeling the dealership swapped on a crappy bucket before they sold it to me. I TIG welded up a few cracks in the edge and it's holding up OK. Although being a rental I'm sure it saw it's share of abuse, but it also shows signs of regular dealership servicing and replacement of parts. Everything works, came with a 7.5' Woods backhoe also. Other than replacing some lines and the clutch the tractor itself has been very reliable. I did have to rebuild the backhoe, added bushings, new pins, new king pin bearings, not real expensive, just a pain. I've got a small fabrication/machine shop so I was able to do it all in house.

Yes the forks are moving around some .... I'm thinking about adding a rail on the slot where the bucket goes in that engages the front edge of the bucket that would make the fork have to pivot out to move, and the strap should prevent them from pivoting out .... picture how a T-Square slides on a drafting table with the front edge of the bucket being the edge of the drafting table. I would lose some of my maximum width though.

 

[Oldpath05]

I cant picture a drafting table, I can picture a table saw with the T-square push thing in a track. You thinking something like that going side to side or from from to back of bucket.

I found your tractor, it's bucket is rough to.. YouTube

 

[Dataway]

Yep, that's almost exactly the same, full frame hoe looks a bit different, specially in the king pin area where mine has broken twice. Mine broke where the top cylinder pin connects to the main frame above the king pin (swivel) a year or so after I bought it, when I went to fix it I could see it had been fixed before. I fixed it properly and it's been good the last ten years.

Same idea as a table saw square, going side to side on the front edge. I "think" that the strap pulling it against the edge would keep the forks from cocking to the side .... the bar at the top of the "T" would make it want to pull away from the edge if the fork tried to cock to the side, but the strap wouldn't allow that. You could probably "slide" the fork sideways along the edge of the bucket with enough force on the fork at the bucket edge, but forces at the end of the fork would try to cock it away from the edge.

Like pushing on the long end of a table saw T-square with a rusty slot in the table

 

[Tomtint]

I have a question of he guys that have the bolt on forks. Has anyone had the bottom of their bucket bend ? It looks like there would be a ton of pressure on it. I use a set of Cat forks on my L3700, But they are heavy, probably 350 pounds and that effects how much other weight it can lift.

 

[Dataway]

The key is to have the back of the fork extend slightly beyond the back of the bucket underneath. That way the force is on the vertical part of the rear bucket. I would imagine lots of people have bent the front edge of their buckets ... the farther toward the sides of the bucket they are, the less likely they are to bend anything.

In general on my smaller tractor the hydraulics are not strong enough to bend the bucket with the forks installed.

 

[metalbender]

Son was operating my old Ford 3000. Just driving along, went to raise the forks, not really familiar with the old, under seat control, dropped the bucket instead. Forks dug into the dirt, tractor reared up on the back wheels, broke the cutting edge and totally destroyed rhe bottom of the bucket. The home made, clamp on forks were unscathed. Were made of 2x4x.188 tube. Never asked him if he filled his pants.

 

[aczlan]

I have a question of he guys that have the bolt on forks. Has anyone had the bottom of their bucket bend ? It looks like there would be a ton of pressure on it. I use a set of Cat forks on my L3700, But they are heavy, probably 350 pounds and that effects how much other weight it can lift.

A guy at work bent the bottom of his bucket and broke the cutting edge into 3 pieces when he tried to lift a large round bale with a single bolt on fork.
Not sure how badly worn it was beforehand, but he took about an 8 inch wide triangle(ish) shaped piece out of the cutting edge and bottom of the bucket.
As I recall it was able to be straightened up and then they welded a new cutting-edge to the bottom of the old one and between straightening and clamping it was close enough.

Aaron Z

 

[Oldpath05]

I cant get a ton of pressure on my tractor forks, somewhere around 700 lbs. A quick switch bucket is on my bucket list though, clamp on forks are the only quick fix option for a pin bucket.