Anyone drilled a hole in the end of a pallet fork

[goeduck]

My Titan forks came with holes in each fork.

My Titans did not. Must have been an option?

 

[Xfaxman]

To accept a trailer ball for moving trailers around? Sounds like a reasonable idea unless I'm missing something.

A lot of better ideas: trailer ball for forks - Google Search

No wrench needed:

 

[bigtiller]

I put a 1 & 1/4 inch hole in the fork of a 4000 lb. rated forklift with an annular cutter in a mag drill. It went through like a 3/4 spade bit through a 2x4.

 

[Deere Dude]

A lot of better ideas: trailer ball for forks - Google Search

View attachment 566414


No wrench needed:


I made almost the same style, fits over both fork and has tube for stinger. Slide it on for the strength of both forks, chain to back plate and uses lever style load binder. On or off in a minute and very secure. The hardest chore for the setup is moving the forks into position.


Moving heavy loads using one fork IMO would tweak the fork.

 

[LD1]

Dont know about the whole legal vs not-legal thing. But will say that the towlift tech that works on our lifts at work....I specifically asked him about this.

His exact words were....drilled hole is okay. Torched or plasma cut holes....he is required to take lift out of service.

I have drilled many forklift forks. They are not as hard as people think. Really not much different than just drilling steel of similar thickness.

Figure out the size drill bit you want to use....pilot hole just slightly larger than the web of the drill (if chisel point)....then right to size. No problem at all.

 

[goeduck]

Dont know about the whole legal vs not-legal thing. But will say that the towlift tech that works on our lifts at work....I specifically asked him about this.

His exact words were....drilled hole is okay. Torched or plasma cut holes....he is required to take lift out of service.
.

I can image a fork failure on one side under an extreme tip load would be dangerous. Propagating cracks would come more from irregular holes.

 

[LD1]

I can image a fork failure on one side under an extreme tip load would be dangerous. Propagating cracks would come more from irregular holes.

And there is a big difference in drilling a hole for a ball to move a trailer....or for a pin to prevent something from sliding off

vs

hanging a shackle or clevis on there and lifting for all she's got

 

[Industrial Toys]

Oh, she's got more than that! And I am always mindful of fatique and possible failure at any time. As it sits, I have been doing that for about fifteen years with no sign of trouble.

I built the sleeve for the fork end with a 2" receiver. It's kind of sloppy despite adjustment bolts. A two fork thingie would be MUCH better. Depending on what you are pushing or pulling around, the single fork thingie is hard on the fork carrier.

THIS is a bit much for a single fork receiver.

 

[Ritothebull]

If the OSHA people ever saw some of the crazy stuff people do with forklifts they would probably outlaw them completely. :confused2:

 

[4570Man]

We’ve picked up forklifts with bigger forklifts usually because we got the little one stuck in the parking lot. We overload them and tip them forward pretty often ( all overloads are low to the ground where tipping forward is pretty much the only bad outcome) and using a pallet to change a shop light bulb is the “best” way.