Work platform for the loader.

[Egon]

I look at those platforms and think how useful they could be. Then the thought of the tractor fellow sneezing or some such thing and involuntarily moving the joy stick makes me want two feet on the ground!

 

[rodnok]

Here's a pic of my buddy on the platform and I'm in the driver's seat. That's my JD 3010 with a 148 loader with 6 foot bucket.

That picture makes me shudder. Having worked in construction for 45 years and having seen all manner of unsafe work platforms yours ranks right up there with the most unsafe. A front loader is not built to raise a work platform and does not have safety valves in case of a hydraulic failure. If you blow a hose that platform is going down and real quick. Also there is not a safety rail all the way around the platform. There also should be attachment points for a safety harness. Take that thing off and go rent a manlift from a rental shop.

 

[bigtiller]

I like it Mace. I made a handrail for the snow bucket on my 3020. They come in pretty handy occasionally.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I bought three stages of scaffolding several decades ago. With aluminum planks, guard rails, heavy duty casters, adjustable feet etc. It is much safer than ladders and needless to say, also safer than these scary loader platforms. It is fast and easy to set up and move around. The cost is not much initially and has now been amortized over 30 years! One of the best work and safety investments I made.

 

[Redlands Okie]

I bought three stages of scaffolding several decades ago. With aluminum planks, guard rails, heavy duty casters, adjustable feet etc. It is much safer than ladders and needless to say, also safer than these scary loader platforms. It is fast and easy to set up and move around. The cost is not much initially and has now been amortized over 30 years! One of the best work and safety investments I made.

Very good point, stuff can be bought used at most rental stores and then sold if needed. It's pretty darn cheap to rent

 

[Mace Canute]

That picture makes me shudder. Having worked in construction for 45 years and having seen all manner of unsafe work platforms yours ranks right up there with the most unsafe. A front loader is not built to raise a work platform and does not have safety valves in case of a hydraulic failure. If you blow a hose that platform is going down and real quick. Also there is not a safety rail all the way around the platform. There also should be attachment points for a safety harness. Take that thing off and go rent a manlift from a rental shop.

Like I said in my first post "We also discussed the potential for a failure of the loader's hydraulics and know full well the hazards of using a loader for a man lift and I believe that hazard is much less than alternative work-a-rounds."

I worked for 35 years as a Lineman for the provincial electrical utility operating a variety of equipment during that time including boom trucks and bucket trucks so I am well aware of pilot operated check valves. I guess climbing poles, steel transmission line towers, and doing rubber glove hot work on 25KV lines has given me a different perspective on what's hazardous and to what degree it is.

 

[crazyal]

When I use to do lead abatement we often used telescoping forklifts with baskets to work near the abutments. Often they were steeply sloped and neither staging nor a man lift could get close enough. We did have scaffolding that could hang off of the I-beams but it was not easy to set up. Sure you could break a hose but it's more likely to have an extension ladder's feet slip and fall or to fall while climbing up staging. In some ways using a platform on a loader is safer than staging or a ladder. For example while building the house we often would put heavy items like bundles of shingles in the basket to lift them up with us. Climbing up a ladder while trying to carry something means using one hand. Not to mention the extra stress on your body or the number of trips up and down a ladder. We were also able to put the platform to the exact height we needed. Everything is a risk, you just have to balance the risk vs the benefits.

 

[stuckmotor]

When my grandson was born my wife told me not to take him up in the loader bucket. I told her I was hoping he'd take me up in the bucket.

 

[Todd727]

First, I've climbed up in a bucket many times.

Second, I've had a lift hose rupture, not when anyone was in the bucket, and I was astonished at how fast it happen and the force with which the empty bucket returned to the ground.

Third, my ex-father in law was killed when the hydraulics failed while he was changing a light bulb on his mercury-vapor pole light.

I no longer climb in a bucket based on my experiences. Do what you want, but be careful. It can happen and it happens fast.

 

[oosik]

I worked for a company that used hydraulic lifts all the time. One of our electricians was UP in one when something or other failed. It came CRASHING DOWN and being the closest to the situation, I was somewhat hesitant to go look. Surprise, surprise - he was nowhere to be found in the wreckage. Then we heard this voice, from on high. "Get another lift and get the H*LL over here". He had grabbed a large electrical conduit, as the lift collapsed, and was about 18 feet up in the air hanging from the pipe. Its good he had strong arms because it took a while to push the wreckage out of the way and get a new lift under him.

We were never told why the lift crashed down - supposedly there are safety mechanisms that prevent this. If there are - they sure failed in this situation.