Proposed Idea for better clamp on forks.

[Diggin It]

Gonna toss this out into the meat grinder to get shredded. If anybody likes it and decides to produce it, remember, I get the first million bucks. Maybe @kennyd ???

If you have ideas, let'em sail.

If you hate it, that's OK too.

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Typical Clamp On Forks as shown in left sketch clamp on to the lip of the bucket with a screw clamp that prevents the load from passing that point. The entire load is forward of the bucket edge which can lead to bending and greatly reduced capacity.


Proposed version on the right would allow much of the load to sit back of the lip and against the top edge of the bucket, bringing part of the weight further back towards the pins. This would reduce or eliminate the risk of bending the bucket lip and reduce the loss of capacity.

Back end of forks would be perforated every two inches or so to allow placement of the uprights for different depths of buckets --- square holes for carriage bolts maybe. Uprights would have female threads and screw down tight on the top of the forks. There would still be a small lip over the edge of the bucket lip to help with position retention, but would bear little if any force. This could be a spring clamp/force fit of some kind. A cross brace could still be used also.

Most all buckets have some kind of top edge for strength, angle, channel, square tube, etc. Top of uprights would seat behind this edge to keep them from moving forward. Clamping force would be provided by a turnbuckle type of assembly similar to a top link that should provide sufficient force for locking into position without putting stress on the bucket.

Quick sketch that doesn't show a lot of detail. There would have to be some sort of gap between the bucket and the bottom of the forks to allow for a pallet to slide back over the bucket edge.

Too stupid for TBN????

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks good but my BX is limited in what it can lift…

 

[flyerdan]

It's a better design than the original, which is just a lever to pry the cutting edge down, kind of like a can opener.
I'd make the bottom overlap a bit longer, and if I was building a set for my own use would use small trailer jacks for the adjustable kickers inside the bucket. That would allow for quicker in and out or adjusting fork width without swinging a wrench.
You won't get anything into the bucket unless you slide it on top of the forks, think of the edge as the bend in the forks where they bottom out.

 

[jaxs]

Gonna toss this out into the meat grinder to get shredded. If anybody likes it and decides to produce it, remember, I get the first million bucks. Maybe @kennyd ???

If you have ideas, let'em sail.

If you hate it, that's OK too.

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Too stupid for TBN????

Nay,I'd say about typical for TBN. I'll forfeit my royalties and stay with time tested and proven forks.

 

[CalG]

Looks good but my BX is limited in what it can lift…

Your BX can lift more if the load is closer to the tractor! ;-)

 

[4570Man]

Your idea already exist. And they are a lot better than the ones that just clamp on the bottom.

 

[ultrarunner]

Your BX can lift more if the load is closer to the tractor! ;-)

Which is why bucket forks have limitation.

I was unloading sacks of concrete from a flat bed and it would carry 700lbs across the path but no way will it lift 700 lbs... just as it should be.

 

[kennyd]

I appreciated the mention, and while your idea certainly has some merit I don't see an easy way to make them universal, there are a lot of different shaped buckets out there.

If one needs forks, and I'd argue everyone does, then time/money is better spent on a true QA system to attach them (and the bucket and grapple LOL) and not on any sort of "bucket" or "clamp-on" forks.

 

[mikester]

After you buy a pin on to ssqa adapter you will wish you had done it sooner

 

[Lazy Sod]

I don't understand why you folks in the USA and Ca. are so wedded to bucket forks, surely it must be difficult to see the fork ends. Is it because most people are living in the dark ages and have to knock out pins to take their buckets off?

I think that some type of quick attach system is essential in this day and age. I know that some of you use the skid steer quick attachment system for changing attachments. Here in the UK, the euro bracket system has become pretty universal for the f.e.l. manufacturers, whilst the tele-handler makers tend to all use their own systems.

Here is my Kubota bucket with euro brackets welded on. Thee yellow paint is to make the hooks even easier to see. I also have included a photo of my pallet fork attachment fitted to my previous tractor, an M7040, using euro brackets. The hook on the pallet fork is for moving trailers about.