Kens Bucket hooks Price worth it?

[pat32rf]

I keep seeing hooks fastened to the top of JD buckets. When I got my 4300 I did the same thing until the first lift. I then straightened the top of my bucket and reinforced it with a piece of 3" Chanel Iron from one side to the other. I've bent the lip under it, but the top of my bucket is still straight ten years later.

 

[gumshu]

WHERE DO YOU GUYS BUY kEN'S BUCKET HOOKS?

 

[Willl]

Ken's Bolt on Grab Hooks

 

[gumshu]

Thanks Will

 

[ATP]

Just ordered a set,,,, i moved a small tree the other day... and thought there has got to be a hook i can buy to make this work easier.....
can't wait...looks like a very high quality product,

 

[hodge]

Most of the stuff we buy is made by the tens of thousands or more at a time by the cheapest labor that can handle the job. We get spoiled by this efficiency and expect it in everything we buy. With a small market like bolt-on hooks, I doubt if Ken is getting rich.

You are right. I make telescoping stabilizers for tractors. Most small tractors don't come with them, and the manufacturer doesn't make them. So, I first met my own need, revised them, and eventually started making them for people. I have to keep a lot of different sizes of steel in stock here at the house, welder, plasma cutter, high quality cold cut saw, etc. I also stock lots of hardware- different length and diameter clevis pins, cotterless pins, etc. I make many trips to the post office, 20 miles round trip. I make each set individually. I get lots of emails, and about half decide to buy them. I assume that for the others, they think my prices are high. I have worked it out this way- material costs, labor, shipping. I don't mark up the material; I know how many hours I spend making and painting a set, so I don't have an hourly figure, but rather know whether I am making a fair hourly amount; and shipping, which I charge what the post office charges me. In other words, I try to keep the costs fair, while being sure that I have made some profit. So, I am confident in my price, both in what I make and the value that the customer gets. I would imagine that Ken is in the same place; you make a custom product, you price it to be profitable, but not price yourself out of reasonability. Being that there is no other product like it, that makes it fair. You are paying mostly for his ingenuity and the convenience. You are paying for a bolt on hook, so that you don't have to repaint your nice bucket after welding a hook on. You can also remove the hook and transfer it to another spot, or another tractor. You can reinforce it easily, which you can't do with a weld on hook.
From one small business fabricator to another, I think his price is fair.

 

[oldballs]

Buying Ken's was the only way to go for me, a non-welder. And on the BX bucket the top needed extra plates to raise the hook for clearance over the narrow lip as I recall. Anyway they worked great with the height raised and a set of backer plates. In fact, I put a set on the Pallet fork frame for moving large brush piles when falling dead pine trees.

When the BX was traded for the B2620, I removed the hooks and bolted them to the new tractor. I'm happy. Mike

 

[bullopa]

Did you get/use them yet? I love mine - have pulled about 50 stumps up to 15" in diameter with them. Makes life much easier.

 

[ATP]

Got them in the mail yesterday,,,, nice product...
will bolt them on tomorrow and head to the farm for some tree work... i will bost some work in action photos....
Fast service...thanks...:drink:

 

[jeff9366]

PHOTOS: Ken's Bolt-On Grab Hooks At Work.​

In this case holding 3/8" chain. Ken's 5/16" hooks grab 3/8", 5/16", 1/4" and 3/16" chain securely.

I consider 5/16" chain optimal for use with my 33-hp/1,800 pound Kubota. If I ever run across 1/4" GRADE 70 chain I will buy 10' to try. During warmer days here in Florida chain gets really H E A V Y in the afternoon.

I use 3/16" chain only to pull out 1" - 1-1/2" saplings. Smaller chain grips saplings and shrubs better than heavier chain, which often slips on small stuff. I try to pull everything by the roots so I can mow easily, later.

I have one of Ken's grab hooks bolted on the cross-drawbar which is convenient when I want to pull something relatively heavy, which could stress the FEL.

I used the rear cross-drawbar Ken's hook to pull out the timber in photo #1 + #2 from under a large mass of "mother" wild grape vines. Trunk was 5' longer when it came out, but one section broke off when I lifted the whole thing with the FEL. This was a max lift without rear counter-balance.

I have a big Speeco pivoting grab hook for the traditional center drawbar but I hate to mount it for just one or two pulling tasks. Cannot leave the Speeco mounted because it will swivel around and bend the "check chains"/sway limiters when the three-point hitch is raised and lowered. ((Ask me how I know!))

Payne's clamp-on aluminum debris forks visible in photo #1 + #2.

Ken's bolt-on hooks, made in Maryland, are TOUGH.