Made myself a pallet fork attachment

[slevys95]

Nice work on forks. I'm in the process of fabrication of a set of bucket forks also for my bx2370 with fixed FEL. While at junk yard looking for scrap metal to practice some welding I tripped over an old set of skid steer forks. Asked what yard wanted and he said $10. Needless to say they ended up in my truck. I'm still thinking through mounting but think I have a solution that will be a fairly quick on and off. . Welded short length of tube on back of forks to slide a 1inch bar through and I'm going to weld side plates on bucket edges with drilled 1-1/8 inch holes to slide bars through. I am sliding 2nd 1 inch bar in front of top of forks to receive stress on bucket cutting edge. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated as I haven't welded side plates on yet. Attached are some pictures. Of course I hope to do a paint job, probably mostly to cover my amateur welds.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[bosifus]

Nice work. Any idea off hand where Titan is sourcing or making their products from? I want to order a few of these blanks but not if they are coming from China. I found these for $50 more per unit.

https://expresssteelinc.com/product/516-universal-quick-attach-plate/

 

[Dennis.D]

Nice job on the forks build. I too like made in USA. Happy forking.

 

[Blueice]

AL A
Forks look really good but I got couple of questions,
how long and high are you forks, and do you think taper would be more user friendly on top side?
Thanks, Blueice.

 

[AL A]

A bit of follow up on this project:

After using these for a while it became obvious that I should have bought the version of the SSQA plate that has the center part cut out. With the forks level, I could not quite see the ends of the forks. I found this annoying and a bit limiting at times.

So I borrowed a plasma cutter and after outlining the open space in the SSQA mount, cut it out. With some grinding and welding a few oops cuts closed it now has viewing ports. After repainting and reassembly I can now see what I am doing.

After cutting and some grinding and welding:

After a coat of paint:

Reassembled:

View from the drivers seat:

So now I can see what I'm doing, at least most of the time!

 

[AL A]

AL A
Forks look really good but I got couple of questions,
how long and high are you forks, and do you think taper would be more user friendly on top side?
Thanks, Blueice.

My apologies, i somehow missed you reply here:

I have found the taper on the bottom to be OK, I think it's a 50/50 sort of thing. There are times when having it on the top would be an advantage. I find this arrangement works well for getting the points under something then rolling the forks back while pushing forward. I guess you just get used to whatever setup you have.

Edited to add: Forks are 36" long and are made from 2"x3" 3/16" wall square tubing.

 

[B737]

Those are beautiful, and for sure, their low weight is what really differentiates them in the market.

We'd be interested in reselling them on our web-site at bottomlessbucketstore.com. If you have don't have time to do the fabrication of them in high volume, we have our own fabricators that could take your design and fabricate the forks, and we also have the powder coaters at our disposal to paint them up.

We would pay you a sizable commission on each one we sell.

Reach out to me if this is of interest to you (phil_tympanick@bottomlessbucketstore.com).

already on the market, ~$600, identical to the ones sold by Earth & Turf in New Holland PA; box frame, weight rated 1200 pounds, weigh 110 pounds.

Quick Attach forks for Kubota BX Tractors | Earth and Turf Attachments

Earth and Turf Attachments manufactures a quick attach fork set designed to fit Kubota BX tractors. Our forks are made in the USA!

earthandturfattachments.com

 

[Vigo]

I wouldn't say that's the same. I suspect the forks mounted on round bar are a lot easier to shift side to side since the ones that hook at top and bottom always seem to get 'stuck' and you have to 'walk' them across the fork carriage rather than sliding. On the other hand, forks attached at the bottom are able to be used for 'off label unapproved uses' such as stabbing into dirt (probably a bad idea with some this light) and able to push down on things.

A variety of options is always nice.

 

[Snowman7]

Got myself a BX1880 recently. Part of the reason for getting it was for a retaining wall project I've had in mind for years. That will involve moving a fair amount or rocks and granite blocks around and a set of forks seemed a good tool for that part of the job.

I looked at a bunch of attachments, but most that I found seemed to be rated for 2-3000 pounds or more and weighed in at close to 200# just for the attachment, some even apporaching 300. That would eat up almost a third or more of my little tractors lift capacity. So I decided to try fabricating a set.

This is the result. I bought the QA plate as I could not buy the steel for what a prefab one cost, and it has all of the fiddly parts done for me already. The forks are 2"x3"x 3/16 wall tube. A friend had made a similar set and actually did the calculations on the sizes of the tubes, etc (he's a mechanical engineer by trade) so I have confidence in the basic design.

They weigh in at just about 115 pounds total, so a significant weight savings. I've tested them to the point where my hydraulics limit out with no sign of any trauma to them so that's good. Overall cost was about $230 so long as I count my time as free and before I bought paint. Not 100% perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

Look great, nice job

 

[Snowman7]

Look great, nice job

I went with Redline, 2200# capacity, weigh right about 200 lbs, 2” receiver, ssqa, really like them. $900 shipped

 

[fried1765]

Nice work on forks. I'm in the process of fabrication of a set of bucket forks also for my bx2370 with fixed FEL. While at junk yard looking for scrap metal to practice some welding I tripped over an old set of skid steer forks. Asked what yard wanted and he said $10. Needless to say they ended up in my truck. I'm still thinking through mounting but think I have a solution that will be a fairly quick on and off. . Welded short length of tube on back of forks to slide a 1inch bar through and I'm going to weld side plates on bucket edges with drilled 1-1/8 inch holes to slide bars through. I am sliding 2nd 1 inch bar in front of top of forks to receive stress on bucket cutting edge. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated as I haven't welded side plates on yet. Attached are some pictures. Of course I hope to do a paint job, probably mostly to cover my amateur welds.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

I am certain that these forks will work just fine, but you now have the parasitic weight of the bucket, and the forks, plus the extra lifting distance from the loader pins.
These issues contribute to a significantly reduced lifting capacity.

I had a similar arrangement on my Ford 3400, with 2000 lb. loader capacity.
Could only lift 1,000 lbs with forks on front of bucket.

 

[BT3101]

I "made myself a set of pallet forks" so I thought I'd add it to this thread.

I ordered a quick attach back plate from Titan Pallet Forks for $149.

I had an old set of forks from a previous tractor.

I cut out several brackets and used some 3" x 3" angle for the bottom runner. Scrap for the gussets here and there.

I wanted to pass along several things I learned. One, my loader arms were not square, likely due to some hard use of the bucket. So, had I attached everything just by measurement, my forks would have been uneven. Level your forks, then weld you brackets.

Second, make sure to remember you will need some curl left when the forks slide under the load. In one of the pictures below, you can see I left about an inch of exposed cylinder to give me some tilt.

Tilt to adjust width between the forks

See the exposed cylinder still left to curl the forks up from level. That is critical to take into account before welding anything.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[D2Cat]

Nice. Looks like you have the material, tools and skill so why did you spend $149 for the quick attach plate? Would not have taken much to build the whole setup.

 

[Crash277]

those are awesome!!! i got a cheap set of home made ones that were designed to fit a 3pt or an ALO QA. i modified them to fit SSQA, they are so light i can pick them up and move them by hand. They are fixed width though which can sometimes be an issue. I can now pick up logs that i couldnt even curl with the heavy grapple.

 

[BT3101]

Nice. Looks like you have the material, tools and skill so why did you spend $149 for the quick attach plate? Would not have taken much to build the whole setup.

You're right, I have a CNC table for my plasma cutter and can make some stuff. So, I could have made it all. But, I actually ordered the set with a solid backing plate, which would have been 48" x 18", at 3/8" . That's roughly $75 plus time/fuel. I figured that amount plus the additional for sides and bottom plates, plus the time to make it, I was really only spending maybe $50 to have them make it.

However,...they sent me the wrong part. I got the one with the open back, much less steel. So, they refunded some money and I added some bracing.

I am going to add some attachment points on the end brackets and rig up a gin pole next, so I still have some fun fab work ahead!

 

[OrangeKrush]

Wish I had looked into weight when I purchased mine with the tractor. I could have used more lifting power!