I made this non optimized picker (using material I already had laying around, total cost, zero) in about 1.5 hrs. It plugs into the receiver socket on my forks attachment, and goes on and off in less then 30 seconds. I had been using the tip of one of my forks (with a hole burned in the end for a chain to drop through) to set my 5' rake (estimated weight 250 lbs) on a high shelf inside one of my outbuildings, but this starts off higher, so I don't hit the bottom of my trusses before reaching the needed height. Plus, this little picker weighs a lot less then the two forks, so leaves more capacity.
The angle iron is just a redneck way to stiffen up that very thin wall tubing, and the end fitting was already there. For my first use of it I just wrapped a chain around the tubing, and it couldn't slide forward or backwards, as a I didn't have a big enough shackle to use the end fitting. I just cut a slot in the QA side for the chain to drop into, easy peasy. Stored, the picker takes up no room to speak of, which I'm running out of with my existing buildings, gotta quit buying tractor implements!
For the first time, I had to store my new snowblade along with the blower in the hangar, and once again I came very close to taking the ROPS permenantly off, when I came within an inch of tearing the underneath of the plane's wing. jacking up the plane a bit solved the problem. My bad, I know it's (the ROPS) there for a reason..... but my old 'bota didn't have one, so I'm used to a certain amount of height, but I do like the protection the new one offers. Even though mine remains folded, always, it still can serve it's purpose. The snow blade first, then a couple boards resting on it to give the blower a flat place to nest, and I had saved a lot of room. The new 12' dump trailer is the other game changer, but it all fits!
The angle iron is just a redneck way to stiffen up that very thin wall tubing, and the end fitting was already there. For my first use of it I just wrapped a chain around the tubing, and it couldn't slide forward or backwards, as a I didn't have a big enough shackle to use the end fitting. I just cut a slot in the QA side for the chain to drop into, easy peasy. Stored, the picker takes up no room to speak of, which I'm running out of with my existing buildings, gotta quit buying tractor implements!
For the first time, I had to store my new snowblade along with the blower in the hangar, and once again I came very close to taking the ROPS permenantly off, when I came within an inch of tearing the underneath of the plane's wing. jacking up the plane a bit solved the problem. My bad, I know it's (the ROPS) there for a reason..... but my old 'bota didn't have one, so I'm used to a certain amount of height, but I do like the protection the new one offers. Even though mine remains folded, always, it still can serve it's purpose. The snow blade first, then a couple boards resting on it to give the blower a flat place to nest, and I had saved a lot of room. The new 12' dump trailer is the other game changer, but it all fits!
