Members home made attachments / improvements

[MossRoad]

In relation to the title of this post I am working on making a useful tool out of this for my PT 422. Somewhat of a challenge but I gave a song for it and have use for its lifting height. 14 ft and 4000 lbs at the forks. Granted I wont lift the full weight but I want the height for a man lift.

If you put some outriggers in front of it that will help with keeping the PT from tipping forward. Also, if you put a quick attach plate on it, make sure that the quick attach can pivot horizontally, like the QA's on the mower decks. If you do not and the attachment wheels get onto a different plane than the front wheels of the PT, you could bend the lift arms.

There are some forklifts made for Toro Dingo's that look very similar to that lift. They have wheels out front that support the weight of the load. The Dingo just pushes it around and provides hydraulic power and a bit of counterweight.

 

[MossRoad]

Interesting with great potential. I'd be a bit concerned about counterbalance though, especially with a PT. How do you PT guys deal with adding ballast given the lack of 3pt attachments and small wheels (not worth loading I'd guess)?

You don't add ballast. If you do, you risk damaging the center pivot, the wheel motors and the roll over linkage on the FEL. The problem with PTs are the hydraulics are crazy strong. You can easily lift the rear of the tractor off the ground if you hook an implement on something. The operator can use that as a guide as to when they are exceeding the unit's rated capacity. However, many operators see how strong the hydraulics are and think the tractor should be able to lift more without the rear end coming off the ground, so they add ballast at their own risk. Some owners have added weights to the rear, filled the rear tires with fluid, etc... and have gotten good results. The jury is still out as to if it damages the shafts on the wheel motors as some have failed without added ballast.

As for adding fluid to the front tires, it will do zero for a counterbalance to the front mounted implements, since the point of rotation is the front wheels. It will aid with traction, but not counterbalance.

The PT400 series is only about a 1500 pound unit with a single range hydraulic fluid drive. It is geared for 0-8 MPH, which provides good gound speed for loader work, mowing and transport from point A to point B while carrying a heavy load. It does not have low enough gearing for ground engaging implements like a plow, ripper, etc... no matter how much ballast you add.

As for something like a man lift... if you put outriggers out in front of the attachment and make the attachment carry the weight instead of the tractor, you could theoretically make an implement really, really large as long as the PT has enough power to push it AND stop it on a slope.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a link to the website of the company that makes that Ag Krane. There is a nice video on their homepage that shows it in operation.

Agkrane - Home

The wheels are only for transport, it appears, so you may have to beef them up if you want to lift lots of weight.

If you want to use it as a man lift, I would definitely do some testing while it is attached to your PT to see how much it can support before tipping the PT. All you would need is some barrels to fill with known quantities of water and see how many gallons it takes to hold it down and lift the PT.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So, you engineering geniuses. What is the math on devices like these in terms of tipping point. How far out can you extend and at what weight given a 1500lb tractor or a 4000lb tractor.

I look at these designs and wonder if some sort of front stabilizing jack would not be in order (Something that pops out from the front to keep you from tipping on your nose).

 

[J_J]

Carl,

The lever principle center point is your front wheels, so if you have 3000 lbs behind the front wheels, then a front load of 3000 lbs will be balanced, but add another 50 lbs, to the front load, and the PT will tip forward. I have already mentioned the 55 gal drum full of water test. Pt has apparently done this kind of test, and have stated the safe lifting load, for each PT.

I think everyone knows the cylinders have more lifting power than is being used. You can cheat some by adding extra weight to the back.

I think if you look at the Agkrane, they are not lifting a load greater than the load behind the 3pt pins, meaning the rest of the tractor.. There is a lot of tractor that has to be overcomed, but if the boom is extended, it might get into a tipping situation. If the load is brought closer to the 3pt pins, the tipping load is less, and may not occur. Just a casual observation on my part. Other answers are encouraged.

 

[MossRoad]

So, you engineering geniuses. What is the math on devices like these in terms of tipping point. How far out can you extend and at what weight given a 1500lb tractor or a 4000lb tractor.

I look at these designs and wonder if some sort of front stabilizing jack would not be in order (Something that pops out from the front to keep you from tipping on your nose).

That's what I was getting at with my remarks about front outriggers.

 

[woodlandfarms]

sorry, I thought you were going for a side ot side concept on the outriggers...

 

[MossRoad]

Here is the website of the Forkster. It has the forklift with outriggers I was thinking of.

Forkster Attachments increase the capacity and productivity of your Compact Loader, Mini Skid, or Skid Steer Loader.

 

[stray]

That Forkster looks interesting. I have often thought of making one much like it out of an old forklift front. But I came up with this thing first. Here is a crude drawing that might give you an idea of how I intend to design this ag lift thing. It will be designed to unhook and still readily hook up to a large tractor. The tongue may need to incorporate some kind of weight brackets. Also I only need to idiot proof this thing for me not the worlds public market. Thanks Guys for your interest, thoughts and ideas.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Stray - Way cool.

So, how good are you at pulling / pushing a trailer with your PT. Frankly I am terrible but my skill sets are not that of other peoples on this group. The whole tongue thing is what throws me.

Second, that is going to be a lot of force on that tongue.

Finally, the trailer idea fails for me because you cannot push the device into anything. I am not sure what you are picking up, but even when I am just grabbing up pallets of stuff I have to use some grunt to get the forks under (usually from being mis-aligned and lazy).