BRUSH FORKS for BX24

[reed52]

Made set of Brush Forks today for a BX24, they work great. Dropped into the bucket with 2 pins, one on each side and ready to go. The forks extend out 42 inches from the front edge of the bucket and the rest remains in the bucket to the back for support. The forks will lift up in the bucket if set on the ground, they pivot on the 2 pins. I did not want to lock them in, thought it would be safer and less chance of damage if they move. If it does not work out I will put a front bolt in and lock them down. Put 400 pounds on the end of one piece of the unistrut, seems strong enough for brush.

Reed

 

[bx24]

Those look great. I did something similiar but with just 2 "tines" (on each side of the bucket). My setup folds up as well. Mine works OK for brush but I am working on my house so most of the time I am carrying boards and plywood - the setup works great for carrying material

Yours turned out really nice

 

[Workstead]

Hi Reed,

I like your design and am getting ready to make one based on it.

My use will mostly be for leaves that I will rake up with my landscape rake off of my 10 acres of oak & hickory rolling property. I used to use my Grasshopper mower with a catcher but it is beating up the mower and takes forever to dump the mulch onto my mulch pile, especially when I make one pass too many and fill up the tube leading to the hopper and I have to get off and clean it out manually.

I was thinking of moving the Unistrut tines closer together, maybe about 7 1/2 inches apart, to fit into my 5ft bucket. I would rake the leaves into a big pile and then slide under the pile with the "leaf forks" and drive to the mulch pile.

My questions for you are:

1. Are the angle braces necessary with the front and rear braces?

2. Would Unistrut work for the braces rather than angle iron? I have plenty of Unistrut but my angle iron is 3 X 3 and it would probably be overkill, and heavy.

3. Does the angle iron in the back and side prevent the unit from tilting up? It looks like the angle iron at the side of the bucket might hit the back of the bucket before it lifts very high. Do you have some closeups of the part of the forks?

Thanks for sharing your design.

Clem

 

[radioman]

to Workstead- angle braces is not necessary, but a great idea to prevent twisting,it should help with abuse use. for the weight of adding those braces is so minimal- its no brainer to use it. you can absolutely use unistrut instead- after all its has a 90 degree metal formed to it similar to angle iron. granted unistrut metal is thinner but will work just fine leaves and brush.

 

[reed52]

Will try and post more pics shortly. The angle iron prevents twisting and unistrut would be fine for bracing. It folds up all the way in the bucket, less chance of damage.
Reed

 

[Workstead]

Thanks, Reed.

If you have some photos of your "hinge" arrangement I would appreciate them also.

Clem

 

[chuckd1277]

Those look great! I think its time for me to learn how to weld/fabricate. How much do they weigh?

 

[magicheater]

That is one "Edward Scissorhands" looking set of brush forks! :thumbsup:

 

[kco]

Very nice! I've saved a couple of your pictures and will look into having a set fabricated using your ideas.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[reed52]

They probably weigh around 60 t0 70 pounds. I have never weighed them but I do pick them out and lay on the ground to install. They are not too bad to move around. I lean them up against a wall for storage.
Reed