I made one quite some time ago in less than (2) hours by hooking the end of a 3 pt lift boom to the top link position on a pond scoop. I attached (2) lengths of heavy angle iron between the tractors lower links, and the lower attach points of the scoop. After you lift up the scoop, you pull a rope to dump it. This setup worked suprisingly well. I had it on a 2wd ford 2000 and it actually worked better than a front loader on this tractor. Having the weight over the rear drive axle allowed the tractor to dig well out of a hard pile, while it instantly lost traction with a front loader. The 2000 had plenty of hydraulic power to lift a heaping scoop of gravel or topsoil, but I used it mainly on manure, to load spreader. It would lift high enough to load a spreader, trailer or pickup truck. I even used it to load a dumptruck when the rear tires were in a ditch to lower it a bit. My old 8n could barely lift the empty scoop on the end of the boom due to a lack of hydraulic power. A couple suitcase weights on the front of the 2000 helped stabilize the rig. You can probably build one of these yourself today with a boom and scoop from TSC for around $500.
