Picking concrete with FEL

[willysmb]

I am buying a tractor and a house. The house has some old concrete sidewalks that I want to remove. Obviously this would be easy work with a backhoe but I am pretty sure I am not going to purchase the backhoe with the tractor. I was thinking that perhaps some type of fork or spike on the front of the FEL would make this easy work as I could push the spike under the concrete and then lift the concrete up from underneath.

Anyone have experience with this or recommend a good attachment? Would normal forks work fine?

 

[Zebrafive]

Forks, not the type that clamp to the bucket, but the type that replaces the bucket. Make sure the fork is rated for the breakout capacity of your tractor.

 

[willysmb]

Forks, not the type that clamp to the bucket, but the type that replaces the bucket. Make sure the fork is rated for the breakout capacity of your tractor.

Thanks, that is what I figured. Yes I will be getting a set of real forks for the tractor. I have about a million other uses for them as well.

 

[willysmb]

Forks, not the type that clamp to the bucket, but the type that replaces the bucket. Make sure the fork is rated for the breakout capacity of your tractor.

Hey, another Michigan person!

 

[jk96]

A grapple works very well also. I've moved a lot of concrete with mine as well as a little bit of everything else. You can grab pieces easily large and small with one.

 

[rswyan]

Just pray that there wasn't rebar embedded in it when the concrete was placed.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt ...

 

[GManBart]

Thanks, that is what I figured. Yes I will be getting a set of real forks for the tractor. I have about a million other uses for them as well.

One caution is that you want to be very careful about loading one side of the FEL, and not the other....easy to do with forks. What happens is you lift up, or push, on one side and it bends the torque tube between the left and right sides of the FEL. When that happens it's no longer level, and you have to try bending it back, or cut the torque tube, level everything, and reweld it.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I think Id be saw cutting through the slab pieces big enough to get into the bucket and carry them away that way. The concrete saws are cheap to rent, just get a dusk mask, ear plugs, and glasses.

 

[willysmb]

I think Id be saw cutting through the slab pieces big enough to get into the bucket and carry them away that way. The concrete saws are cheap to rent, just get a dusk mask, ear plugs, and glasses.

The pieces are all small enough to pick up with the bucket, I just need to get underneath them and get them out of the ground. I figured it would be easier to do this with forks rather than the bucket.

 

[k0ua]

The pieces are all small enough to pick up with the bucket, I just need to get underneath them and get them out of the ground. I figured it would be easier to do this with forks rather than the bucket.

It should be...
First rule, be gentle.

Then start forks at edge of concrete piece at a more steep angle, then curl and apply just a tad of pressure on the hydro forward pedal as the curl continues to level This should get under them fairly easyily. Make sure that your load will be evenly distributed (not a lopsided load).

When under them, curl back and lift. Don't lift them very high, just get them off of the ground. When carrying heavy loads never travel with the load above the hood in any case. If you need to load into a dump truck or something high.. line up and make sure you are stopped then lift carefully.

Traveling with a heavy load too high is the #1 reason for rollovers.