Operation Forklift

[Hick]

Got some forks from a friend, then had to make them work. Fun day project, with some hair-pulling as the angles & dangles were figured out. Overall, happy (so far). Haven't put it to the test for lift capacity. It is considerably heavier than the bucket. I used the stick welder for the first time in years; preliminary welds with the wire welder were problematic. So don't look TOO close at the welds; they are functional, not purdy!  Look REAL close at the vertical angle irons: They were 3 1/2" x 4", and I did not catch that until all welded up! And of course, I had one one way and the other the other way! So I had to trim 1/2" off the one side to make the mounts work!

It can, of course go the full height as with the bucket. It will tip back about 15°, and tip forward to straight up and down. That was not planned; just how it happened. But that will make it easier to park in the shed!

Overall view of the frame. Making the frame to hold the forks was the easy part!

Getting the loader & tilt cylinder mounts was the killer! The hole is first attempt, but could not make it work. So put a set-back mount like the bottom one. I'll probably fill in the blank area between the two outside mounts, both to make it look better and to reinforce them.

The reliefs were cut in an attempt to make it work with the hole in the mount. Just could not get it done w/o possible damage to the cylinder and hoses. The rail to hold the forks is 3" channel. I reinforced the one side.

I'll probably weld filler plates over the deep cuts; more for looks than strength.
I've also considered making a sweep for cleaning up branches when I trim the trees, but I think this will work as well.

 

 

[Talntedmrgreen]

Nice work!  Forks are the handiest thing ever.  I put 5 hours on my legacy this weekend moving oak with my forks.  My loader will lift about 700lbs on top of the heavier-than-the-bucket forkset, and some of my chunks I couldn't get off the ground.  I am always waiting for one of my shotty welds to let go, but it has been a couple years since that happened.  I bought my carriage bars though, vs building some.  I figured i was certain to bend them if I made them from angle.  I would watch for some smaller forks to buy or trade for...that weight way out front gobbles up capacity.  I have always wanted to do the same...mine are overkill for the setup too.

[Hick]

Well, the excitement of making the forklift attachment ran into reality today. The forks are heavy enough that while the loader will lift them and a load, the tilt cylinders (working on the small side of the piston) don't have enough oomph to tilt it. By lowering the loader down I can get it to tilt enough to lift it. It will hold the position.

And I'm needing to add more weight to the back!

[720nut]

I traded a large set of forks for 30" long forks , works so much better. Of course when I built the quik tach I had to redrill a couple of holes and do some trimming on the brackets. 

Have to say that it was the most useful project I've ever done.

[CarlH]

12 hours ago, 720nut said:

I traded a large set of forks for 30" long forks , works so much better.

I found some smaller forks from a Crown walkie. 43 lb's each.

[SmilinSam]

Here is one of my past solutions to the "too heavy for the tractor " forks problem. ..

 

 

I have built 3 different forksets for garden tractors & the sub compact pictured above.  Shorter forks are the primary answer for smaller tractor/loader setups.  24" to 30" max in my opinion. I generally use half pallets for garden tractors with loaders.

The setup pictured above also lets you swap out different lengths of forks if need be, simply by pulling a pin and pulling the fork material from the receiver socket.

[Hick]

Redesigned the forklift frame once again so that the Tilt cylinders could have more of a pull.

It worked a lot better; I could tilt the forks and raise the load. I added more weight to the back, but apparently not enough; going up the bank I was spinning out - not enough traction. So I decided to go down the ditch and then up and around the lilac row where it wouldn't be so steep. I forgot to to lower the load down. All of a sudden the tractor tipped over to the right side, throwing me off of the tractor.

(Throwing me off is more impressive if you realize that the way the loader is on the tractor, it makes for difficulty of getting in and out.) It rocked to the travel allowed by the front axle pivot, then the fork & pallet hit the ground, dumping the load. It was leaning hard to the right, did not go on over, thanks to the dual rear wheels

The left duals, being up in the air, were spinning. I got up and kicked the tractor out of gear, and lowered the loader, which put the tractor back down on its Wheels.

Decided maybe that was way too much load out front, as it was also steering extremely hard. So I took the forklift attachment off and put it in the junk jaunt lineup for tomorrow. And went back to the loader bucket and finished carrying stuff over.
 

[SmilinSam]

Glad to hear you were not seriously injured.

I have drove loaders and forklifts at work for 25 years or so now. Surprisingly quick and easy to injure or kill yourself or others if one is not careful....not to mention wrecking equipment.

Just ditch the forks you are using. Way too heavy for a garden tractor setup, and way too much weight too far out front. Shorter, lighter forks are the answer. Keep the forkset as close to the same weight as the bucket as possible.  Like I was indicating  before, using shorter forks and half pallets keeps the load at what the garden tractor will safely handle. 

Heres some pointers for anyone using a garden tractor loader.....

#1  Never forget that its a garden tractor..Its not designed to do the same jobs a big tractor/loader does.         Keep the work and the loads proportionate to the machine size.

#2 Keep your loads down low to the ground  when traveling around and turning

#3 Keep your load weight as close to the pivot points on the loader boom as possible, IE to the back of the bucket, or against the backstop for the forkset

#4  Always raise the load when going in a straight line. Never turn with the load/loader up in the air.

#5 Keep the tractor counterbalanced adequately. Usually requires either a weight box on the back or a suitcase weight bar. Find out what the factory load rating for the loader is and go from there. Too little weight and you system wont be balanced. Too much weight and you will shorten the life of your tractors rear end/axles.

#6 Keep people and pets  at least 15'  away while using loader.  Not only if tractor tips, but for if a hose breaks and the load free falls. It does happen, ,and when it does it happens FAST.  Its happened to me in a big articulated loader with a 2000-3000lb load on up in the air... Absolutely no time to react ( other than to grab the steering wheel with both hands and hang on....)

 

Those are the main ones, though there are others..

 

 

[tadams]

Great advice Sam. Just glad he didn't get hurt

[720nut]

21 hours ago, SmilinSam said:

Glad to hear you were not seriously injured.

I have drove loaders and forklifts at work for 25 years or so now. Surprisingly quick and easy to injure or kill yourself or others if one is not careful....not to mention wrecking equipment.

Just ditch the forks you are using. Way too heavy for a garden tractor setup, and way too much weight too far out front. Shorter, lighter forks are the answer. Keep the forkset as close to the same weight as the bucket as possible.  Like I was indicating  before, using shorter forks and half pallets keeps the load at what the garden tractor will safely handle. 

Heres some pointers for anyone using a garden tractor loader.....

#1  Never forget that its a garden tractor..Its not designed to do the same jobs a big tractor/loader does.         Keep the work and the loads proportionate to the machine size.

#2 Keep your loads down low to the ground  when traveling around and turning

#3 Keep your load weight as close to the pivot points on the loader boom as possible, IE to the back of the bucket, or against the backstop for the forkset

#4  Always raise the load when going in a straight line. Never turn with the load/loader up in the air.

#5 Keep the tractor counterbalanced adequately. Usually requires either a weight box on the back or a suitcase weight bar. Find out what the factory load rating for the loader is and go from there. Too little weight and you system wont be balanced. Too much weight and you will shorten the life of your tractors rear end/axles.

#6 Keep people and pets  at least 15'  away while using loader.  Not only if tractor tips, but for if a hose breaks and the load free falls. It does happen, ,and when it does it happens FAST.  Its happened to me in a big articulated loader with a 2000-3000lb load on up in the air... Absolutely no time to react ( other than to grab the steering wheel with both hands and hang on....)

 

Those are the main ones, though there are others..

 

 

Sam this needs saved some where so everyone can see, very good article and very well written