Home made bucket forks

[daveyj]

I used to have a set of 3pt forks on my old tea20, and i was feeling the lack of them with my new to me kubota.
i decided to build a set of bucket forks.
i didn't like the looks of the ones you can buy ( and i'm to cheep too)
total cost was 200$, 100 for the forks and 100 for the steel.
2 by 1/4 hot rolled
2x2x.250 hss
1 3/8 cold rolled bar
1/2 grade 5 bolts with nylocks

preheated the forks and let them cool down slow after welding
brackets just bolt thru the side of the bucket.


my buckets only 48" wide, i think that i should be ok lifting what my loader will lift. If i had a bigger loader/ wider bucket a support in the middle would be a good idea.
you could always use 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 hss and use 1 3/4 round bar too i suppose.

 

[hodge]

You may want to cap the ends of the round stock. I could see a load on the forks distorting the bar, and pulling it out of the brackets.

 

[daveyj]

yup, already done. i took a pic before and after.
pretty sure my loader won't lift a load big enough to bend the bar, but i did find a bit of side load on the forks would wiggle the bar along the brackets.
cheers

 

[pat331]

You did a great job. Much better than the one I did one time. From a lesson I learned the hard way, you may consider putting a safety bar across the gap where your round stock fits down in the hook. On the one I did, the bar came out and damaged the hood & gas tank when the loader was raised too high. It wasn't me, but it could have really hurt the operator. Good Luck!

 

[daveyj]

Good point,i had'nt thought about that. Mostly i use the forks to move
My garbage bins about,(low to the ground), im sure ill use these for more than i did the 3pt ones. Maybe a chain and boomer for the higher lifts?

 

[pat331]

In my case, it was my Dad on his tractor. He wasn't thinking, lifted the FEL too high and the forks came sliding down the loader arms. We're lucky he wasn't killed or badly hurt. I'd say you're good as long as you remember and are the only one operating your tractor. I've since fabricated a set for my Kubota using the skidsteer quick disconnect. Even then, I've forgot to move the locks down to lock them in place on at least one occasion. Regardless, you did a good job.

 

[daveyj]

glad your dad wasn't badly hurt, scary stuff.
i'm the only one who runs the tractor, i keep offering to show the wife how to operate it, she's just not interested
had them on and off a few times, its nice to be able to drive up and hook em on without getting off
if the weather smartens up i'll give them a coat of orange.
Dave

 

[jimbo913]

Looks like a good way of doing it. I never really thought of doing it that way but I like it. The weak point appears the be the bolts on each side are taking all the stress. A stronger and faster to install solution may be a solid pins and press clips on each side. Bigger the pin the better.
If you keep it the way it is, I would lift something 1.5 times heavier than anything you plan to lift to make sure it doesnt give. Your test piece should be some piece of junk you dont care about dropping.
Also, keep in mind that bolts can stretch and fatigue over time. My recomendation is to change out to close fitting pins.

 

[daveyj]

thought about pins, but then i'd probably be tempted to reinforce the bucket, and well, i'm a bit lazy plus, i hate welding ( did it for to long i suppose).

my little tractor wont lift much, i'd say about 500-600 lbs, if the bolts start to stretch i think i'll have a bit of warning. Anybody know what the sheer strength on a 1/2" grade 5 bolt is? i used to know these things, seems like my brain is dribbling out my nose somedays.

on a loader with a bigger capacity pins would be a big plus , you could make the
flat bar run on the outside and inside of the bucket and pin right thru everything.

if things ever slow down at work maybe i'll re-design them, i guess i don't hate welding that much.
thanks for the feedback,
Dave

 

[Lil Foot]

Nice job!
A safety lock to prevent the round bar from popping out vertically would be an easy modification. Please excuse the crude drawing, (new computer without a decent drawing program yet) but you get the idea.
Weld up a couple of "L" brackets similar to the current ones, (red outline) drill & bolt the lower hole (marked "A") as a movable pivot, then drill & pin the upper hole (marked "B") with a hitch pin secured with a hair pin clip. (maybe a bolt & wing nut?)

 

[daveyj]

forgot i took these pics, it'll show you why i don't think a safety is necessarily required ( not because i designed it out or anything i just lucked out i think)
i just wanted to be able to pick up the forks without getting off the tractor,


i got a little worried when pat331 told me about the forks coming out so i tilted it up,
but it seems the origanal lower fork mounts just happen to catch on the
bucket lip, acting as a safety of sorts. not one i'd trust my fingers to, but you'd have to really work at popping the forks out.
i do like your latch tho, i am going to make some for when i'm doing
something not so smart with them
( it seems to me forks might be good for prying rocks out of the ground ) probably have to go with the pins instead of bolts if i do that much work with them tho.
click on the link and the album for pics
cheers, Dave
http://davejeep.imgur.com

 

[Lil Foot]

it seems to me forks might be good for prying rocks out of the ground

Never thought of that use.... I might have to try that. You could develop a lot of prying force with the proper fulcrum.

 

[jimbo913]

I didnt realize it was only capable of 600lb lift. It will probably be fine but better safe than sorry is my motto. If you are only picking up junk without anyone standing close then no big deal.
Tensile strength on the bolts will be an outragoues number but it would be hard to calculate actual force when factoring in leverage near end of the forks, shock loads, etc. I wouldn't risk anything I wanted on the factory tensile strength of new bolts.

As I said before really good concept.

 

[daveyj]

Quick long term update, The forks seem to be holding up to my abuse, although i decided against using them to pry rocks out of the ground. slight bending on one side of the flat bar where i tagged it against a tree but overall they've worked out pretty good.
Cheers, Dave

 

[FlyingLP]

Quick long term update, The forks seem to be holding up to my abuse, although i decided against using them to pry rocks out of the ground... overall they've worked out pretty good.
Cheers, Dave

Dave,

Though my sister and brother-in-law have a Kubota of which they are quite fond; sadly, I do not own an "orange tractor." As a result, I am but a temporary visitor to this site. Nevertheless, I expended the time and effort to register in order to post my heart-felt thanks for your willingness to post pictures and share information about your creation.

My son recently ordered some "palletized merchandise" with a shipping weight of about 1200lbs. The delivery company wanted an additional $450 to upgrade the "curbside" drop-off to garage delivery. We thought this rather expensive; however, as it turned out, the shipment was delivered on a 40-foot flatbed -- there was no way it could have navigated his gravel driveway. The $450 was their fee for having to transport a fork-lift that would not be needed for a simple drop-off in the street...

I spent some time casting about for what we might do to enable my Ford 4500 to pick up the goods and avoid the $450 charge. As it turned out, the solution, inspired by your post, cost a significant portion of that sum. Nevertheless, it proved worth it because, when all was said and done, we had another "tool in our kit box" that we would not have gained by simply paying the enhanced delivery fee.

Anyway, I thought I would take a moment to say thank you (!) and to post a picture or three showing the fruits of one exceedingly long weekend. These were taken at 3:30AM. The "package" arrived at 11:00AM the same day and the tractor had no problem handling it. Since my bucket is six feet wide, we chose a 3" hex bar as the top rail for this endeavor.

Enjoy!
--LP--