Can it pick this up?

[JoeL4330]

forgot to mention necessity of rear counterweight or implement, but I'm sure you know that...

incidentally, you can split the load onto two pallets and vertically stack the pallets in your bed, ...maybe a piece of tarp over lower pallet to avoid abrasion... and some thought given to the height and stability maybe cargo net/straps

if you customize your second pallet (the one onto which you offload onto), it can be wider than 48", which you would load first and which will add some stability and lower the total load a little.

I don't think it's practical to load two pallets, one behind the other...taking the forward-most back out would involve pulling the pallet toward you 'cause your forks can't reach...

finally, you won't regret a set of QA forks; you'll be surprised how much you use them.

 

[jinman]

My LA854 specs are rated to lift 1878 lbs at the bucket center and 2489 lbs at the pivot pin. What I don't know is whether this is more than the system can handle with a set of forks like these:http://www.skidsteerexpress.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=ATTA1FORKS

What are the physical dimensions of the pallets (length/width)? Your forks will probably weigh around 250# and that will be mostly close to the pivot pins. Your load will be centered much further out than the bucket center because your pallet will be 42" to 48". So your load of 2200 lb will be centered out at 21" to 24" and that makes it far more than your loader can lift to the height of a F350 bed. My guess is you may be able to coax it off the ground, but surely not much higher than 6" to 1'. I think you will have to partially unload the pallets to another pallet so that your average weight is somewhere in the 1600# range. You can reduce the loads of three pallets enough to make a fourth pallet and your tractor can handle the load. If you were removing the load from a flatbed and lowering it to the ground, you would probably be okay with enough rear ballast, but raising this load from the ground to your pickup bed will not be something you can do with your loader in my opinion. My loader has similar specs to yours and I would never try this. You need a much bigger tractor to be able to manage the weight of pallet forks and 2200 lb of palletized materials. Our tractors just cannot compete with forklifts.

EDIT: I have once lifted a 1-ton weight by removing my pallet forks and bucket so that only my quick hitch adapter was attached. I made a cradle of chains (you could use straps around a pallet and load) and lifted the load centered at the pivot pins. If you could figure a way to attach the staps to the loader and lift this way, you might get that pallet into your pickup. It will be a challenge for sure.

 

[texasjohn]

I can lift 2800 lbs with my LA 853, but this is right at the limit... I did it as follows.

1. had the dealer install a shim to raise the relief valve pressure to a tad over max specifications (it was substantially below spec initially)... I convinced the mechanic that I was extremely careful thus since he didn't have a slimmer shim he left it at just over max spec PSI. This was mandatory, without it I could not lift off the ground.
2. I removed the bucket and used chains to attach to my load thru the center brace pipe, thus bringing the load BEHIND the QA pivot point and removing weight from the FEL.
3. Put an additional 1000 lbs on my box blade for rear ballast...critical else you will nose dive when lifting the weight.
4. filled my front tires to exactly max PSI...critical since all the weight is on the front tires...if low, they will roll off the rim.
5. Make sure the QA is curled all the way toward the driver.

with all the above, i can lift 2800 lbs about 1 foot off the ground before the relief valve pops. Further, it is possible to get a tad more height if you try lifting and SIMULTANEOUSLY have someone put upward pressure on the load...although the relief valve will hiss, you can get a few more inches this way depending on strength of the person lifting. The hydraulics will hold the load at the height achieved when you let up.

My net...you are at the limit of what is doable, but by being clever you may be able to do it...let us know how it works out.

Try all the above tricks, then off load a bag at at time until you are there.

Good luck!!

 

[JoeL4330]

Get a foot off the ground? You would only be shy about 3 feet to slide a load into my F350 ...and hoisting with a chain? the chain would have to be as high as the pallet load is, plus the four feet to the bed ...how high can your loader lift (and, how would you feel with a ton that high up?

There is, of course, another alternative: build a loading dock and get the tractor up even with the bed ...I believe that with my 853 (same specs as I recall) I could just manage to slide the pallet in and out ...the dock would have to be about 7 feet wide (tractor wheel width with some maneuver) and have a pallet landing space of 4 ft plus the height of your tailgate (which you could take off, of course, to make the job easier) so, say 6 ft plus the length of your tractor lengthwise and, as mentioned, 7 ft wide...all quite doable if you have the space (in the right place), the fill (or a natural hillside you can cut into, ditto a place you can approach with the truck) and some HD landscape timbers.

You might find uses for it after the snow season is long gone.

 

[crazyal]

If you have access to a welder and some other tools I bet you could make a couple pieces of pipe you could slide through the slots for the forks in the pallet. You then could attach a chain on each end of each pipe to make a sling. Like others have said if you don't have the bucket or forks on the tractor and just run the chains up to the QA and you should be able to lift the pallet.

 

[texasjohn]

Johnbro.... try the crazyal sling scheme along with my suggestions....this creates the least weight up front allowing for maximum actual payload weight. Don't underestimate the benefit of getting hydraulic moved to maximum spec pressure....there are numerous reports of shipping from the factory with settings below spec, and it makes a REAL difference in your lifting capacity which is only noticed when seeking to operate on the edge of what is possible.

Worst case, I predict you will only have to offload one or two bags to do the lift. We're beyond the range of what can be calculated....it's determined specifically by your particular tractor, it's relief valve setting, position of load to be lifted, height you need to lift to, and weight of FEL attachment to pick up the load and exact weight to be lifted.

By the way... it cost me only $35 to get the relief valve checked and shim inserted at the dealer, plus my time and cost to trailer tractor to dealer.

 

[Johnbro]

As always, this forum is great! Thanks to all for the very useful input.

My takeaway is that 2000 lbs on a pallet is too much to safely transport and load on my truck. Therefore I might as well split my loads--I might be able to get my dealer to split one pallet across two (1000 lbs each) which should be easy to load. I have to be extra conservative because no, we don't have a flat level place to do this but I'm an old fart so I'm way past the "watch this!" stage of my life.

the alternative (which sounds better and better) is to have them put a pallet load in the truck, re-install the tailgate spreader, and just leave it in there until we run out. Even if I'm only loading and unloading over the side of the bed using a pallet is better than the bucket--we already ran a "test" unloading half a load (20 bags) into the bucket and then stacking those from the bucket. the tractor handled the load fine (1000 lbs) but the bolts securing the digging bar were a real threat to tearing the bags. I don't want to remove the digging bar all the time (I use the loader a lot) so pallet forks would be handy. Think I'll get them. Question is, 42" 48" or 60" ?? any experiences out there?

 

[Fxfymn]

I have 48" on a much smaller tractor than yours. Never wished they were longer.

Once you buy them you will wonder how you ever lived without them. I use the pallet forks equipped with a home made grapple for 90% of what I do with the tractor.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I also use mine 90% of the time. I went with 48 which are perfect most of the time. Only time I need longer is loading/unloading pots and it was easy enough to build an extension for that.

Rick

 

[KubotainNH]

I made my pallet forks, they really add to the usefulness of having a loader. There's tons of posts on here about making them, which bucket mounted ones work best and how to fix them so they don't slide around too much.