Using Tractor Shovel as a manlift

[Sawyer Rob]

My loader control has a lock out, once locked, you can NOT move the control... Also, I have a hydraulic lock on the arm cylinders...

AND, for extended lifts, I have a metal piece that WILL hold the arms up, no matter what hose fails.

As for the "tilt", I use a apple box and my grapple holds it no matter how/if it's tilted or not. It can NOT slide off the forks...

ANOTHER advantage of the pallet fork grapple combo...

SR

 

[2458n]

I have no idea on a forklift but would assume they have some safety device to stop the mast from lowering if the hyd system is off or were to fail. But whether they do or not I know such as cranes and excavators have what is called a holding valve that will prevent the cylinder retracting without pressure on it. So if a hose or the system failed as long as the cylinder does not fail the load will not drop or can not be lowered either. Easy to test, extend the cylinder cut off the machine and work the system. You need it switched on to have the electric over hyd to work. Cylinder should have no drift in them. I am not 100% it is required to be on those machines but think it is, for they all lift loads and a sudden drop could be a major disaster. Now have limited experience on fel on tractors but not aware of any safety valve in those systems to prevent a sudden drop if there is a failure of hose or such in the hyd system, their load can drop suddenly and with full fall. Not good situation for person (or some materials) to be in or under.

Thieves are not as smart as you. I was a operating engineer running cranes. At night we would hang the welder from the crane. Come to work in the morning and hyd. fluid on the deck. During the night the hoses were taken off the boom cylinder trying to lower the boom and steal the welder.

 

[sandman2234]

Ever see how fast a front end loader can drop with a busted hose?

I don't think how fast the front end loader drops is a big deal, I would think the sudden stop at the bottom would be more of a problem!!
David from jax

 

[4570Man]

I don't think how fast the front end loader drops is a big deal, I would think the sudden stop at the bottom would be more of a problem!!
David from jax

A tractor FEL won't drop vertical and you'll get dumped out. A forklift mast will drop vertical and you'll survive the fall without injury assuming nothing else bad happens.

 

[Mace Canute]

As a furnace repairman for many years, I commonly got access to hanging furnaces in warehouses and such by sittin on a pallet lifted by a forklift.

Some businesses had constructed more elaborate variations on this theme, which constructed a sturdier platform together with railings and such ---still lifted by a forklift.

Are there attachments for tractor front shovels that would perform a similar function?

Using a tractor with such an attachment for cleaning gutters, painting houses ---even picking fruit, would seem to be useful.

I'm supposing such things are out there. Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction.

I did something similar this summer and here's a link to my posts about it.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/380923-work-platform-loader.html

 

[crazyal]

And a ladder can slip or you could reach too far to one side from a ladder and fall. Sure a hose could fail but the likelihood isn't that great. First off it's unlikely that you are putting a lot of weight in your loader compared to what it can lift. Secondly you can inspect the hoses before you use your tractor (should anyway) for damage and dryrot. Finally almost every time I've had a hose failure it was because something caught it while moving. While I have no problems using a basket on a loader I would be real leery of having anyone in the basket and moving the tractor with the basket close to the ground. Lifted to maximum height and driving any distance would be foolish in my view. The trade off is a stable platform to work out of that has railings. If you're not comfortable doing it I would say you shouldn't.

 

[MESSMAKER]

I guess there is danger involved but I have picked up thousands of things and have never dropped one due to a busted hose. I think both that I have broken happened when I was trying to fill the bucket. I believe I would go on and do it if that was the best way. A guy I work with just fell of a ladder and broke his back so a ladder is not without danger. A good bit of tractor work involves some risk. You just have to think about what could go wrong and be as careful as possible. I think most accidents happen when you have no experience,no patience or you let your attention lapse. I know most of the time I get in trouble, my mind was somewhere else.

 

[comancheflight]

My manlift uses the forks. The forks slide into the platform and is pinned to the forks (www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kioti-owning-operating/361606-man-lift-revisited.html?referrerid=282553 ). It can not slide any direction and has a safety harness attached to the lift with a lanyard.

 

[Rmart30]

I have no idea on a forklift but would assume they have some safety device to stop the mast from lowering if the hyd system is off or were to fail. But whether they do or not I know such as cranes and excavators have what is called a holding valve that will prevent the cylinder retracting without pressure on it. So if a hose or the system failed as long as the cylinder does not fail the load will not drop or can not be lowered either. Easy to test, extend the cylinder cut off the machine and work the system. You need it switched on to have the electric over hyd to work. Cylinder should have no drift in them. I am not 100% it is required to be on those machines but think it is, for they all lift loads and a sudden drop could be a major disaster. Now have limited experience on fel on tractors but not aware of any safety valve in those systems to prevent a sudden drop if there is a failure of hose or such in the hyd system, their load can drop suddenly and with full fall. Not good situation for person (or some materials) to be in or under.

Manlifts and reach forklifts use holding valves. That means you could raise it all the way up and cut the hose into and it wouldnt go anywhere.
Straight mast fork lifts use "velocity fuses" Which are valves that go in the lift cylinder and control, slow, or stop the dumping of the hyd oil and sudden descent of the carriage/forks.
Tractors have none of this. You up in air and hose blows its coming down or the forks are tilting down.

 

[muddstopper]

I am not a fan of using a fel as a man lift, but am guilty of doing so a few time. Hose blows, bucket comes down, how fast just depends on how fast the oil leaks out of the hose. If, I was planning on using a fel as a manlift, I would at the very least add a orifice at the cyl base port to prevent the oil from leaking out very fast. This considered a metered out method of oil control and will slow the cyl down, but wont prevent it from going all the way down. Most manlift devices use a counter balance valve (the holding valve already mentioned)to prevent the cyl from retracting and falling. These valves are usually built into the cyl, but you can buy seperate to add to a existing cyl. A CBV is a normally closed valve that requires pilot pressure from the opposite end of the cyl before it will open and let oil out allowing the cyl to retract. No pressure, the valve remains closed and you can remove the hose and it still wont retract. If you want to use a fel as a manlift consider buying the external CBV and adding to the lift cyl, at the very least install a small orifice at the cyl port. The external CBV must be connected directly to the cyl, dont plumb it in using hoses between the valve and the cyl. Also be aware if you add a CBV to the existing cyl, your loader will no longer float