Stabilizing clamp on forks?

[cwbyeng1300]

We had some heavy duty bolt on forks for a backhoe. What we did was weld some large washers on the inside of the bucket where the clamp bolts touched the bucket. This gave us a fixed width, but that was where we needed to keep them anyway. The bucket had a reinforcement plate in line with the lower pivot points where we alway put the forks. Even if they worked loose the end of the bolt wouldn't jump out of the washer "cup". If they were crooked I would just tilt the bucket down & let gravity straighten them out before I used them.

 

[etpm]

We had some heavy duty bolt on forks for a backhoe. What we did was weld some large washers on the inside of the bucket where the clamp bolts touched the bucket. This gave us a fixed width, but that was where we needed to keep them anyway. The bucket had a reinforcement plate in line with the lower pivot points where we alway put the forks. Even if they worked loose the end of the bolt wouldn't jump out of the washer "cup". If they were crooked I would just tilt the bucket down & let gravity straighten them out before I used them.

That's an interesting idea. The washers. I'm gonna take a look at what I can maybe weld to the inside of the bucket, be it washers or perhaps washers and something else. Welding stuff to the inside of the bucket bothers me way less than stuff welded to to outside bottom where it could interfere with digging.
Thanks,
Eric

 

[loggin]

That's an interesting idea. The washers. I'm gonna take a look at what I can maybe weld to the inside of the bucket, be it washers or perhaps washers and something else. Welding stuff to the inside of the bucket bothers me way less than stuff welded to to outside bottom where it could interfere with digging.
Thanks,
Eric

I have to admit I don't have much faith in clamp on pallet forks. But for light duty lifting they can work. That said here is a video that shows how to stabilize them. Check around the 4 minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole video.

Hope this helps!!

 

[Doughknob]

That's an interesting idea. The washers. I'm gonna take a look at what I can maybe weld to the inside of the bucket, be it washers or perhaps washers and something else. Welding stuff to the inside of the bucket bothers me way less than stuff welded to to outside bottom where it could interfere with digging.
Thanks,
Eric

If willing to do that, u could weld on a bar with a long slot. This would allow any position plus capture the clamps like the washers.

 

[etpm]

I have to admit I don't have much faith in clamp on pallet forks. But for light duty lifting they can work. That said here is a video that shows how to stabilize them. Check around the 4 minute mark if you don't want to watch the whole video.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the link, I will watch it later today.
Eriv

 

[PILOON]

I have a set of DIY forks and solved the parallelism issue.
What I did was to make the clamping width match the gap between my teeth.
Most clamp ons are just as wide as the fork width.
Since my teeth are 8 ins apart I made my forks with a 6 inch contact area so they don't wander.
Works just fine.

 

[TractorGuy]

This is the last time I used mine. They went over instead of under but i needed a little more reach to move my generator. I had my 1200 lb ballast on the 3pt and kept the load a few inches off the ground.

 

[CobyRupert]

This is the last time I used mine. They went over instead of under but i needed a little more reach to move my generator. I had my 1200 lb ballast on the 3pt and kept the load a few inches off the ground.

If it works, it works!
…but when it doesn’t, having the forks under the load keeps the load closer to the tractor. This is less leverage that will lift the rear of the tractor and the FEL has a greater lift capacity operating in its “breakout” range.