pallet forks

[roxynoodle]

What brands of pallet forks do you guys/gals have? I am interested in picking up a pair for my FEL. There are a couple guys on ebay selling them fairly cheap. Has anyone bought those? Any advice, recommendations or condemnations welcome.

[Neophyte]

Do you have any type of quick attach on your loader arms?

[California]

I just built these forks from a 'relay rack'. (two uprights that had held a service-band radio transmitter.)

The back chains are welded to the forks. The front chains pass through a slot (three drilled holes, then filed) and are secured by a tempered bolt (with nut) that is as long as I could fit side to side under each channel. Lifting stress is borne by the bolt head and nut near the outer edges of the channel to get the stress away from the slot. I considered putting a short length of bar stock under each channel to further spread stress but decided it wasn't needed.

After the photo I added a short piece of angle across each fork as a shield between the sharp cutting edge of the bucket and the front chain.



I used a pair of HF 5400 lb load binders but after getting this set up, I think the 2200 lb binders would have been sufficient.

The forks work great, but the project revealed the first problem I have encountered on this 25 year old tractor in the three years I have owned it: one of the Great Bend Loader curl cylinders had sweated occasionally at the lower seal but this new stress caused more significant leakdown. Friday I pulled the bad curl cylinder and took in for rebuild.

[Timber]

Well this is what I bought and couldn't be happier with them. They are on my tractor all the time but I palittise everything

[MadReferee]

If you want the bucket clamp-on style, and you can weld, then you can build your own for $50-$75 in steel. I offer plans to build your own. The plans contain detailed step by step instructions, a cut list, and much more. Just PM me with your real email address. Over 300 satisfied TBN'ers have already gotten their free copy.

[roxynoodle]

My loader is not quick attach. In fact it is probably pretty old and is Japenese like the tractor. Kanzaki is the make and it is an industrial type bucket with teeth. Pallet forks would have to attach between the teeth. I would like them because it would be easier to stack hay (figure I probably wouldn't drop any bales this way), move materials longer or wider than the bucket, and yes, get pallets out of my truck on occaison. Although for pallets I'm not sure how much rear weight I would require on the back of the tractor. Might also need a ballast box for that.

[Timber]

When I bought my tractor the thing I wanted my forks for were to load my loft with hay and sawdust bails. I did bails a ballast box out of a 55 gallon drum and about 750 pounds of cement



I wanted to stack my bails on a pallet and lift them into the loft and be able to stand on the pallet too

[Casco1]

I used my forks for the first time this week and so far I think they're the best attachment I have. I had to move a pile of cut logs from one side of my lot to the other. i started by chaining them to my bucket dragging them into the clearing rechaining and moving them. After 3 or 4 I decided to try my forks, I had never used them, I swapped the bucket for the forks ,maybe 2 minutes (ATI quick attach). I moved the rest of the pile without getting out of the seat.

[lawn_king]

I have a set of crank on king cutters, they are rated for 2000 # they ran $450.

[Timber]

Yea I think mine were something like that too. I love them, I would be lost without them