any experience with clamp on bucket forks?

[jeremiahdr]

Does anyone have any experience with clamp on forlift bucket forks? I'm wanting to get them to move pallets around the yard, move 2x4s around etc......anyone klnow the best place to buy the forks and and good and bad about them.....

thanks!
Jeremiah

 

[JoeCirig]

I bought mine from my dealer and use them to move my snowblower attachment in and out of storage at the beginning and end of the season. No complaints, but I haven't lifted anything too heavy. The weight is far out in front of the tractor, so weighted wheels are helpful.

 

[botalvr]

I don't have any experience with them, but last time I was at the dealer (big dealer) he mentioned that they tend to "spread" or move around.
Hopefully that is not true for all mfgs of these, and nothing that a brace couldn't fix.
Sure would be handy, they are on my list after I get a toothbar.

Good luck!

 

[grandad]

I recently bought a set of medium duty forks from an outfit called Payne's... this is not a plug for them, but I think they advertise here on TBN. They are exactly as advertised, made of heavy steel with strong screw-on clamping brackets. I have lifted everything from a 100lb. picnic table to a porta-john that had to be moved to logs weighing upwards of 1,000 lbs. with them (the med. duty ones are rated for 2,000 lbs.), with no sagging, shifting or weakness.

One nice feature of these is they fit over a toothbar, which gives added strength to the lip of the bucket.

They are not as nice as having a quick attach on the loader so you can remove the bucket and add a true fork lift attachment, but they are perfect for the occasional user.

I've seen only 2 potential drawbacks: Too much weight can bend the bucket; and they demand slow, careful operation. They project 'way out in front and a snag can poke a hole in anything that gets in the way, rack the loader arms or even flip the tractor.

 

[MadDog]

I have a set of Paynes "light" duty bucket forks that I use over my toothbar. They are extremely useful not only for loading and unloading pallets, but for greatly increasing the amount of brush, etc. that you can move around with your FEL, for moving palletized firewood, etc. I also use them for loading and unloading when taking my palletized 30 gal diesel fuel drum to be filled with off-road diesel.

The Payne's forks are very beefy and have large clamping screws and levers, so that you can get them on VERY firmly by hand tightening. Once tightened, I haven't had any problem with them spreading.

I have used them to unload pallets with tractor attachments up to 1000# from long distance trucks and they handle whatever your FEL can lift w/out a problem. You do want to be careful to have sufficient ballast on your 3ph and loaded rear tires certainly help. For the 1000# pallet (had a large PTO-driven chipper on it) I put my subframe mounted backhoe on and loaded the biggest boulder I could find in the backhoe bucket. That seemed to be plenty of ballast! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Ricco]

If you want to use your tractor as a forklift, I highly recommened that you purchase a lift carriage and forks from your tractor manufacture. I also highly recommend that you have your dealer install it. Material handling equiptment such as forklifts are very dangerous and unless informed of the lifting capacitys of such attachments in respect to your tractor, can be an accident waiting to happen. Especially if you have people working for you using the equiptment. Aftermarket attachments such as clamp on forks are not usually recommended by tractor manufactures. I have personally been involved in a lawsuit involving an aftermarket fork attachment that didn't fit the tractor perfectly and wasn't installed correctly, causing a load to fall on an employee of the tractor owner. The tractor owner sued the dealer that sold the aftermarket attachment, the aftermarket attachment manufacturer and the tractor manufacturer. The tractor manufacturer was released of all liability, because the aftermarket attachment was not recommended by them. The attachment manufacture tried to blame the dealer and say that they weren't installed correctly. Anyway, I guy broke his hip and leg and had a hell of a legal mess, but I think he eventually got compensated by the dealer. Remember, a salesman will sell you anything if you ask and also remember that salesmen are not as knowledgable about the equipment as you would like to believe. Take the time to talk with a mechanic or service manager at your dealer when considering aftermarket attachments and implements.

Also like I mentioned, if you do put a fork attachment on your tractor to please weight your wheels if they are not weighted. Water ballast and wheel weights together. And remember, just because you put forks on your tractor, doesn't mean that you instantly have a 5000 lb capacity forklift.

Not to be the voice of doom, just speaking from experience.

 

[grandad]

That's good advice!

 

[AndyMA]

I bought a set and mounted them on my Ford 2120 bucket. Used them about a week and returned them. I like real tools and found they had too many limitations.

Too far out reduces lifting capacity and decreased stability, also makes tractor too long

Forks tend to wobble around and sometimes turned to be paralled to bucket. Even when out front didn't feel secure.

Bucket doesn't serve a good back to pick up load

Poor visibility because bucket is in way.
Basically I found them dangerous. I suppose they would be okay for very careful, occasional work. But they're not cheap.

I returned mine and got an ATI Quick Attach adapter and a set of Woods skidsteer forks-- love them. Nothing toyish about them. I have put 10 foot extensions on them and picked up 3500 lb sheds. Excellent for moving large rocks. I can easily pick up a car with my TN.

Andy

Andy

 

[TORQUIN]

I want a set for my 3830, at some point. My Dad has a little IH 234 (13 whole HP) 2wd with no PS and a generic FEL which we modified to fit the tractor after he bought it used off another CUT. He has a set of "poor man's forks", holes though the bucket and through angle iron. When I lived there I wore them out and Dad still wears them out. Not a lot of weight, but enough that they have been bent and straightened out many times. Carried engines, generators, rear ends, and just about anything else the bucket would lift.

Chris

 

[MadDog]

Andy: I agree that pallet forks are potentially dangerous and require great caution when using with anything heavy, as opposed to just carrying more brush on your FEL.

Most other tractor attachments (certainly a BH, tiller, chipper, etc., even a boxblade) are also potentially dangeous, each in its own way, if not used carefully and with respect for the limitations of both the attachment and the tractor. For me, that's not a reason to avoid them; just a reason to be real careful!

The three obvious considerations with pallet forks are (1) the lifting and curl capacity of the FEL, (2) careful installation to make sure that the width is accurately matched to what you are lifting and that they are firmly clamped on and pointing straight and parallel to eachother and (3) the terrain that you are going to be going over (you sure don't want to be bouncing up and down or tilting from side to side with a heavy load on the forks /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif ).

That granted, I sure get a hell of a lot of use out of my pallet forks. They are "rated" for 800#, which is well below my FEL bucket capacity, and I don't think that they would bend under normal use with anything the FEL could lift. I'm hard put to think of any add-on that has given me more value for the cost ($290). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend 'em.