Forks For Moving Bush >> Need Ideas

[airbiscuit]

I once saw a video of a grapple with a scissors type manual linkage that opened when the forks were tilted down, and closed when the forks were tilted back. It looked to be pretty functional

 

[WranglerX]

I don't have a grapple and its probably not a good finance decision to buy one as it would probably not be uses very much.... Remember this a small operation of 5 acres with a SCUT... And and clearing is probably mostly for fire protection... Although we recently has sever wind storm and brought down a couple of large trees and three is a quantity of brush to remove "now" but don't expect it to happen a lot in future...

I have a pair of kludged together forks (2 tines) and about 60% percent of what I try to lift falls through.... Thinking 4 prongs in stead of 2 and a little better spacing (together)...

THE tines I have now are about 3 feet beyond the front lip of FEL, and kind of wonder if that is to long, wondering if about 2 feet beyond lip of FEL may be enough... Just wondering as what materials (dimensions) I need for my build list...

Was kind of impressed with this build from another threads, but maybe instead using 1-1/2 X 1-1/2 x 1/4 inch square stock in stead of Unistrut

Dale

 

[pmsmechanic]

I have a homemade manure fork that I use for cleaning corrals. The teeth are around 7" apart. It works great for branches. A bit of a grapple would be nice though.

 

[airbiscuit]

As a frame of reference, these forks extend 21" beyond the bucket edge.

 

[Xfaxman]

I once saw a video of a grapple with a scissors type manual linkage that opened when the forks were tilted down, and closed when the forks were tilted back. It looked to be pretty functional

Here is one brand with no hydraulics: westendorf brush crusher - Image Search

 

[airbiscuit]

I have put a video of the brush buster below. I liked the one I saw better (it was on an auction site). It was a SSQA skeleton rock bucket that had a couple of long and skinny C shaped manual grapples mounted on pivots on the top of the bucket. As I recall, there were brackets attached to the lower loader arms with bars that attached to those C shaped grapples above the pivot point (kind of like the arms on a self leveling bucket). What I liked about that design is that the rock bucket functioned conventionally in terms of tilt. As you tilted the bucket from slightly above level to tilted forward, the grapples scissored open. As you tilted the bucket back, the grapples closed. It was slick.

 

[shooterdon]

Dale,

Since you have forks already spread them out as far as you can, fabricate a frame that fits between them and put something in the frame (like chain link fence?) to keep stuff from falling through. Place the frame back from the ends of the forks. The frame needs to take a bit of in-line force but the weight will be carried by the forks. I would be worried about the Uni-strut tines design you showed will get bent up with use.

I got frustrated using forks to clear brush as I spend a lot of time on and off the tractor; but for limited work they will do the job. I wound up buying an MTL grapple for $1000 but I use it for firewood processing as well so I could justify it.

 

[WranglerX]

Dale,

Since you have forks already spread them out as far as you can, fabricate a frame that fits between them and put something in the frame (like chain link fence?) to keep stuff from falling through. Place the frame back from the ends of the forks. The frame needs to take a bit of in-line force but the weight will be carried by the forks. I would be worried about the Uni-strut tines design you showed will get bent up with use.

I got frustrated using forks to clear brush as I spend a lot of time on and off the tractor; but for limited work they will do the job. I wound up buying an MTL grapple for $1000 but I use it for firewood processing as well so I could justify it.

The thing is what I have is kludged together from junk and I really don't have "material" to modify what I have, thinking is to start over and make something with new clean material and hopefully better design...

Dale

 

[senecak19]

I built a set out of scrap 1"x2" box steel (as did someone else who chimed in here). They bolted on the bucket just like the image below. For the tips, I cut a steep angle on the 1" side of the steel and used a sledge hammer to bend the top plate down creating a sloped tip. Then just welded the sides up. You would've been amazed at the size brush piles it would pick up! Steel is pricey these days, but for what you need, it shouldn't cost you more than $100. If your like me and frugal as could be, I pick through our dump steel bin all the time. Folks there are happy to let folks take what they want and there's always good stuff in there!

 

[WranglerX]

Well bought steel today, going with design concept that is the picture in post #12.. Going to have 5 30 inch tines/forks/prongs.....Going to start cutting and tacking things together tomorrow...

https://cdn-0.tractorbynet.com/foru...549925-brush-forks-bx24-brush-forks-00001-jpg

Dale