Yet one more set of forks....

[HC-80]

After building a welding table out of the old farm equipment sitting around, I decided to build a set of forks based on the ideas I have seen in other bucket fork projects. I have used these to move a lot of brush, modified the design to keep them from turning on the bucket, and I have now given them a coat of paint. However, while painting, I decided that I will strengthen the top bar so I can get some pressure on the rear bolt that will help to take the remaining 1" of play out of them and possibly take some strain off the front bolts and distribute the load more evenly.

I will post more pictures, hopefully better ones as well, as I progress.

Jeff

[jimmer2880]

It's kind of hard to make out the details in the pic. But - the look nice. Let's see more pic's with them on the tractor

[HC-80]

I got the forks painted and put back on the tractor.

A few more details: The bottom part of the forks are made from 1/2" x 3 1/2" steel from an old New Holland baler. The tops are from 3/4"x2" steel from an old new ground plow. The forks extend 36" beyond the edge of the blade, and to the back of the bucket underneath. They were placed along the places where the bucket had reinforcement bands running underneath. They have the T-braces to keep them from turning. You can see the scratches in the bucket where they twisted on the test run before I added them. The braces keep the movement down to less than an inch when they loosened up, and no movement at all when tight.

The scraps I used to make them just happened to have old bolt holes that lined up well, and I will be able to make some hooks to hang them easily when not in use.

Again, this is the first thing I have ever welded up, except the welding table discussed in another post. Seems to be holding up well so far.