Using FEL to hang lights

[Iplayfarmer]

I've found so many uses for a tractor since I got mine that I'm now expecting a new use every day. The latest thing that I'm considering using my CUT with FEL for is as a man-lift to hang christmas lights.

My CUT is pretty small, so the bucket will only go about 6 feet high. The reason that I'm considering it is because I can put the bucket out over the bushes and hedges where it is difficult and precarious to use a ladder.

Is this insanely stupid? Are there precautions or potential hazards that I am missing here or that I need to plan for?

 

[beenthere]

There are hazards with everything, and while the FEL isn't a "man-lift", it is often used as such. Insane? depends on your definition. Risky? yes, because if done alone you have to crawl into and out of the bucket.

With a good operator at the controls, I would be in the bucket. Or if I had someone to get in the bucket, I'd operate the controls. Takes two to trust each other and not make a 'stupid' mistake where both regret the idea.

(I've told the story where I was on top of a 40' extension ladder that was placed in a small Int'l tractor bucket so I could paint the side of a 50' barn. The bucket moved and I came down, ladder and all, but didn't get hurt. Did that when I was 16.)

Hope you can do it safely. There have been threads here on 'platforms' built around the bucket to make a working area, but they still require someone to position the bucket, IMO. Be careful, for all of us. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[RoyJackson]

"Is this insanely stupid?"

Probably...but I'm sure you're not the first one to do it. Under the right circimstances, I might too!

"Are there precautions or potential hazards that I am missing here or that I need to plan for? "

A sudden drop by the bucket...whoever is sitting in the seat better know what they're doing! Also, it's one thing to be raised by the bucket, but being transported with that bucket in the air might be the most dangerous part...I wouldn't do that.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Thanks for the replies. I agree that transporting someone in the bucket is insanely stupid.

My brothers and I hang the lights on my Grandpa's house every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. There are two spots where he has bushes around the front of his house such that it makes getting a ladder in there very precarious. After reading the replies, it sounds like the FEL, though risky, is less risky than the alternative.

Good advice about the sudden drop in the bucket, Roy. I think I'll be at the controls. None of my brothers is familiar with this tractor and I don't want one of them "guessing" wrong which lever to push when I tell them to lower me down a bit.

 

[turnkey4099]

I did some work from a bucket back when. The biggest problem for me was the shaky platform. There was considerable movement from all the linkage points adding up. Of course that was on an old, well used machine.

Harry K

 

[Jstpssng]

We always used the bucket for a lift when I was growing up. Picking pears from our antique pear tree comes to mind. My father is very cautious, so it didn't seem like a big deal.Since I bought my Kubota I use it anytime I need to get on my roof; I put all my tools and materials in the bucket, raise it up to it's full 6+ feet, then place a ladder against the arms to climb up. The only risk is if the hydraulics fail, then I'd go for a ride in a hurry; but after having a ladder kick out as Iwas climbing onto a 2 story roof, I'd much rather step off from the bucket than a ladder.

The only risk I can

 

[escavader]

My money would say you would more likely get hurt on a ladder than your loader.Like was said a good operator,you can trust.if possible try not to drive straight in to the building,a slight angle might avoid a pinch point,or hitting the building. Id try to drive parrell to the building if i could still reach.I would have the operator try to stay on the tractor at all times to hold the brake.Low idle also to avoid quick loader movements.
I tryed to put the kids trampoline back in the box ,last weekend,put a piece of plywood,on the tilted back fel.so i could slide it into the overhead door of my shed.It was 2 ft lacking being able to do it.Next spring im going tobuild a "riser" to put in the fel so i can accomplish this.
At the companys ive worked at,we always had a 6 ft high box to stand on to do carpentry work,because the fork trucks couldnt get us high enough.A no no today by osha standards,we survived it though.
work safe, work smart
ALAN

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Is this insanely stupid? Are there precautions or potential hazards that I am missing here or that I need to plan for? )</font>

Insane? naa.. I'm sure (cough) there are quite a few of us who do it.. that is.. get int he bucket and then direct the wife to 'lift'.. I've done it when putting up a tarp / tube frame canopy...

I'm sure that an osha inspector might pass out seeing that sort of thing.. but then.. I figure every time I climb on my tractor.. my risk level went up a color bar anyway.. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

( do be carefull )

Soundguy

 

[ruglad03835]

I'm not a big fan of using a front end loader as a man lift. A couple of years ago someone did that changing light bulbs at the fire station. Needless to say the operator moved the joystick in the wrong direction and dumped the contents of the bucket ( including the guy changing the bulbs) onto the floor. Thankfully he wan't hurt. When I was a teenager myself and my cousins used to get lifted up in a backhoe bucket to pick grapes off the vines. We thought this was cool, but i wouldn't put my daughters in a bucket to do the same thing. I guess as we get older we get smarter. ( I hope!!!!)

 

[GregK]

Yep, doing that is stupid and dangerous. Having said that, I use my FEL to hang my Christmas lights every year. It works well to span the shrubs around my house. I have also tried this method to trim a tree branch and did not feel safe doing it; so I stopped. Hanging Christmas lights is about all I would do while standings in the bucket.

 

[jimmysisson]

This bends the topic, sorry. Years ago I used the loader on a 1956 Massey to erect a 28' x 10' bent (two posts, beam on top, braces) from a timber frame on a barn-house conversion we were doing. We had a fir 4x4 about 14' long to push the bent up (it was a second-and-a-half floor frame). Guys were walking around and under it as it went up to get ready to set in knee braces and pin it in place. No problems, no injuries, task accomplished. Next day, farmhand next door borrowed it to push some gravel and a hose gave way and it dropped (from 1' up) flatbang to the ground. Gave my young self shivers. Pretty scary to hoist someone with no backup to a hose failure.

 

[JSUnlimited]

Does anyone know Clark Griswold?

 

[EddieWalker]

I use mine as a work platform all the time. Usually I park it at an angle with the bucket where I want it to be, then lower the outrigger to hold my tractor in position.

Then I use a ladder to climb into the bucket.

I don't know anybody that I'd trust at the controls, but I've lifted several different people that trusted me at the controls.

My bucket is good for 4,000 pounds of lift, so my 200 pounds wont matter to much. But when I'm up as high as I can get, it does wobble around a little. Guess that's normal enough.

Eddie

 

[N80]

Mine will go up about nine feet so it can be handy as a lift. I primarily use it as a platform and climb into it with a ladder.

Used it to hang a large farm bell on a 7' post recently. I don't operate the bucket with anyone in it, or let anyone move me around in it.

I guess the two main issues are operator error and hydraulic drop down from sudden loss in pressure. I've eliminated the first but the second is always possible. It would be my luck that I'd hit hte ground first and then get pounded by the bucket!

Before I got my tractor I frequently got on my B-I-L front loader that had forks and a palate in order to work on his new barn. At that point I didn't know any better and just trusted him.

In any case, this got me to thinking. As a young man I worked on a telephone line crew and we spent a lot of time in a bucket at the end of a boom. And while there was no way for the crewchief to actually dump me out, there were still plenty of other ways the boom operator could put you in jeopardy. But what I'm really wondering about is what makes the boom on a boom truck immune from sudden loss of hydraulic pressure and dropping suddenly? In other words, on the surface it looks like a boom truck could be every much as prone to problems as a FEL. Do these vehicles have some sort of failsafe or mechanism that prevents rapid descent?

We did blow a hose to the augur once. Got a very thorough shower of hot (but not too hot) hydraulic fluid. Took hours to get that stuff off of me. Longer to get the smell off.