budget fork lift

[Jim Cafarelli]

I had some heavy scrap I adapted to my loader box.. I haven't used it yet so I'm not use how much its going to be capable of lifting,,Photos in the link below (Il keep you posted on how it works) thanks jim

http://picasaweb.google.com/jimcaf12/ForkLiftAttachment#

 

[dusty-t]

Hi Jim. Looks a bit awkward. I wonder how much stress that square tubing will take. Now don't get me wrong, I have built lots of stuff that looked weaker than that and still worked great. And I am by no means a good fabricator. I guess what I am saying is to try a light load first till you see how much it will lift without wreckin something. And boy have I done lots of that.Wrecking stuff I mean. Hope it works good for you. Dusty

 

[traildust]

Jim,
I'm gonna pull a Dusty Ditto and then add some.

My first impression is you have some great fabrication and the welds are superb! Now trying to get a feel of the torsion on the forks moving through the squared beam it sure seems better than the clamp-on-forks. I'd start off with a couple of hay bails (200Lps) and transition the FEl through several motions while driving the tractor around. If all is well then go up in weight from there.

The only weak link that I see is the one bolt on the upper side countering the bending moment.

Let us know what kinda loads you can haul with it and PLEASE post some pic's with your great fabrication loaded up.


Thank you!

 

[Jim Cafarelli]

Hello guys,,,the square tubing is left over receiver hitch material,the one piece of square tube going across is 1/4inch im pretty sure thats going to be strong enough,the contact points on the forks to the square tubes and those tubes Im betting are the weak links.Im considering welding them solid and gusseting them if it proves to be to weak,but hate to loose the adjustablity. Im not planning on moving big weight with it maybe 3 or 4 hundred pounds tops..If I were to do it over I just found some used forks on craigslist for 75bucks I would of worked those into the build it would have been much better,I still may I just hate to scrap the work I put into these without trying them.Im going to pick up a few skids today from my paint supply and will test it this weekend I will keep you posted..thanks jim

 

[traildust]

Jim,

Thanks for the update. I, for one, like the idea of fabricating my own stuff. Make do with what you have and start creating. From there improvements and modifications can be made if needed. In the end you will always have more satisfaction from what you created verse using off the shelf.

You are doing good and please do keep us updated.

 

[dusty-t]

Ditto on what Traildust said. Dusty

 

[traildust]

Dusty, the KING of fabrication

 

[Jim Cafarelli]

Finally an update!! (new photos in the album below of me putting them to work) I added some more support at the attaching points and welded the snot out of it,Its no longer adjustable but seems plenty strong for what am going to use it for.all in all im pretty happy with it,always looking back there are a few things I may have done differently ...thanks jim
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimcaf12/ForkLiftAttachment#

 

[dusty-t]

Just curious but did you try them out before you modified them? Man I wish I could weld like that. And yeh it looks like they work great. Forks are so handy. Once you have them you will use them more and more. I like your outlook on making do with what you have and creating with what you have. Most times if I can build it I aint buyin it. Dusty

 

[traildust]

Damn, looks GREAT! I'm equally jealous of those welds, very nice!

 

[bikerdib]

I'll second what dusty-t said, if I can make it instead of buying it; it's a done deal. I also will try to make due with material I have on hand instead of buying new steel.

Jim, you have rear ballast on your tractor? In that last photo it looks like your rear tires are "floating" on the pavement. You might also want to check the air pressure in your fronts. I usually go above the recommended pressure by a few psi when hauling loads in the FEL (legal disclaimer, you didn't hear me recommend going above the psi recommendation on the tire sidewalls )

 

[Jim Cafarelli]

Yeah Im with you guys on building any thing I can,the price of steel is insane,these days I cut up save and reuse every pound of it.
If you like the looks of the welds I bought a new Esab Migmaster 250 about a year ago,recomended to me from some guys that really know there stuff on a welding forum. Its light years ahead of my old Lincoln old wirematic,,,super hot machine it really makes welding easier.
Dusty I didnt try the forks before i welded them.I liked the idea of the adjust ability but the were on the sloppy side,an 1/8 inch on one end was like 4 inchs of up and down out in front.
Out back for ballast I usually have my scraper box,I noticed those front tires when I loaded the photos,they look like there going to blow.I need to check the pressure.Sounds like a good idea Bikerdib I think I will put a couple more PSI in them.
thanks jim

 

[Bullpine]

Looks good to me. I think the front end of the tractor will tip before that unit breaks.
This time of year, here just outside Yosemite Nat. Park, fire season is over and its time to cut brush and trees to get ready for fire season next year. I got tired of dragging limbs and brush so I scrounged up some scrap steel I had lying around and made up some brush forks. They arn' as beefy as yours but they sure do a great job of moving brush piles to an area where I can burn them. I need to find some channel iron to modify them for heavy duty pallet and barrel lifting. Nice job.

 

[Rust Addict]

Nice work.

My 2cents. Add a pair of 55 gallon drums of water for a quick fill 3PH ballast box, to keep ALL the wheels on the ground.

Quick story of mine, a local sawmill nearly busted my truck up when moving some timbers around to load the trailer. Guy got greedy trying to load too many in one lift, slight hill in the loading area, and hey a rear wheel on the tractor came off the ground with the change in grade. Lucky he was quick to drop the forks before anything really got too serious. I guess he had done this before, but if I was in the seat.....(AWE SH#T).

 

[IC-Smoke]

I designed my forks and attachment after full sized backhoe forks.....

It takes seconds to install and remove... just roll the bucket! If you want to slide the forks in or out just raise the bucket up so the forks are off the ground and dump the bucket all the way... the forks will swing free and all you have to do is push the forks around on the tube.

.02

Ian

 

[DsBota]

Great idea and build Ian.

 

[Dan_R_42]

Ian, they look great. Love the quick attach & adjustment too...

Just curious, how much weight to they add to the bucket. Hoping to add brush / pallet forks to B7100 in the spring. Do to the small lift capacity on the B7100 I'm looking at all my options first, then reality will have to kick in when it's time to build.

 

[Jim Cafarelli]

Nice job! I really like the quick easy hookup! enough to where I may remake mine....thanks Ian

 

[IC-Smoke]

Thanks guys!! Both the BX and B2400 FEL have the hooks so the forks are universal to the tractors.

Dan I just surfed ebay and craigslist for fork lift forks and ended up picking these up for $80 I think. then a couple tubes welded to the forks and a solid bar (and washers) to connect them completed the forks. Total weight for the forks is around 150 Im guessing?

I cant lift a big amount real high (over hood) but large logs, pallets and piles of brush the forks come in real handy!!

Ian

 

[pat331]

IC, I made some similar hooks for two forks on my Dad's M4030 and it worked real well except for one thing. This where a bit advice comes in. Dad was using the forks to lift some logs and wasn't paying attention and lifted the bucket too high with the bucket rolled back. The forks came off and slid down the loader arms on top of him. He was just bruised on one arm, but the tractor's steering wheel, hood, and fuel tank were bent pretty bad. He was real lucky! We got the tractor fixed and I made some safety bars to lock the bar that the forks rode on in place. Hopefully, it won't happen again. Good Luck!