Anyone use tomahawk skidsteer attachments?

Wild Bill the 2nd · May 23, 2015

Anyone have their rock bucket? How is it holding up? Saw one for $650 new. Not sure if they have different grades of rock bucket. Seems too cheap to be true.

Apsterbobed · May 23, 2015

sixdogs said:
Do you recall what those 42" SSQA forks sold for and are you happy with them?

The bidding ended at $400 but there was an auction fee and I had to go pick them up in New Hampshire, 4 to 6 hours round trip I think. With fees and fuel (I also got a grapple so the fuel was splt) added together about $500 maybe less.

As far as liking them, for what I paid and how much I use them I'm happy with them. If they were some thing I was using alot I would get a better set, but the construction quality is very good. They fit the ssqa nice and tight with no slop, the forks slide nicely on the rail, and all the welds look good. At work we have a set of bradco 48" on the skid steer, they are much nicer (about twice the cost as well) and much more lifting capacity. The tomahawk forks are rated at 2800 lbs evenly distribution witch may turn out to be a little light for my FEL but I don't intend on digging or anything like that. I wish they were 48" but only because I can't see the tips without standing or leaning to the side, I really don't know if the 48" would be any easier to see as I have never tried them. The only real complaint about the construction of the forks is that the ssqa is 90 degrees to the forks and I run out of roll back if I'm working on a down hill slope. All in all I would recommend them as either light duty or for a FEL with a lower lifting capacity. They are fairly light weight as well, I can slide them around and put them on their dolly by hand, I don't know what the poundage is.

sixdogs · May 24, 2015

Apsterbobed said:
The bidding ended at $400 but there was an auction fee and I had to go pick them up in New Hampshire, 4 to 6 hours round trip I think. With fees and fuel (I also got a grapple so the fuel was splt) added together about $500 maybe less.

As far as liking them, for what I paid and how much I use them I'm happy with them. If they were some thing I was using alot I would get a better set, but the construction quality is very good. They fit the ssqa nice and tight with no slop, the forks slide nicely on the rail, and all the welds look good. At work we have a set of bradco 48" on the skid steer, they are much nicer (about twice the cost as well) and much more lifting capacity. The tomahawk forks are rated at 2800 lbs evenly distribution witch may turn out to be a little light for my FEL but I don't intend on digging or anything like that. I wish they were 48" but only because I can't see the tips without standing or leaning to the side, I really don't know if the 48" would be any easier to see as I have never tried them. The only real complaint about the construction of the forks is that the ssqa is 90 degrees to the forks and I run out of roll back if I'm working on a down hill slope. All in all I would recommend them as either light duty or for a FEL with a lower lifting capacity. They are fairly light weight as well, I can slide them around and put them on their dolly by hand, I don't know what the poundage is.

There are a whole bunch of them coming up at an auction so that info is good to know. Think I could pick up 2,000 lbs with one? it is rated 2800 lbs so would you feel comfortable?

Xfaxman · May 24, 2015

sixdogs, you can use the price on eBay as a comparison: Brand New American Made Tomahawk Fork Attachments for Skid Steers Tractors | eBay

sixdogs · May 24, 2015

Xfaxman---thank you

ishiboo · May 24, 2015

Wild Bill the 2nd said:
Anyone have their rock bucket? How is it holding up? Saw one for $650 new. Not sure if they have different grades of rock bucket. Seems too cheap to be true.

I have a Versatech, same as the Tomahawk. It's an awesome bucket. In a pinch I picked up a 2500 lb slab of concrete with it once.

It's great not just for rocks, but leveling/sifting/sorting/etc.

Apsterbobed · May 24, 2015

sixdogs said:
There are a whole bunch of them coming up at an auction so that info is good to know. Think I could pick up 2,000 lbs with one? it is rated 2800 lbs so would you feel comfortable?

Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to really load the forks up but I did catch a large root while loading logs and tried to lift it with no ill effects. I would buy them again, any down sides are out weighed by the low price and none of the down sides are that bad (we will see about the low capacity over time). As far as lifting 2000 lbs I wouldn't hesitate to try and have no reason to think they wouldn't work, usually lifting capacity ratings are very conservative for safety. If the manufactures say 2800lbs bending and breaking are still along ways off if you are moving pallets, my fear is getting one fork under an immovable object and either lifting or moving.

Apsterbobed · May 25, 2015

I finally got some time to get some wood split today and loaded up my first portable wood pile.

It's a little more than 1/3 of a cord of green maple, I figure about 1500 lbs. This is the main reason I wanted to get forks, to cut down on the handling of fire wood.

The tomahawk forks lifted it just fine. I could see and feel a little flexing as I lifted the wood but not much different from the bradco forks at work. After I moved the stack I checked the forks and rail they attach to and everything still looks nice and square.

Xfaxman · May 25, 2015

That looks like a good first test. :thumbsup:

I don't recall any bad reports on Tomahawk stuff.

Apsterbobed · May 25, 2015

Xfaxman said:
That looks like a good first test. :thumbsup:

I don't recall any bad reports on Tomahawk stuff.

I looked for some reviews before I purchased and couldn't find much good or bad, so I figured I would give as much info for anyone else looking at tomahawk attachments.

britbike2001 · May 31, 2015

I just picked up a Tomahawk rock bucket / grapple combo. Not the ruggedist implement ever but it is well made. I was looking at the heavy duty units but then realized that my tractor just can't lift up all that much anyways, so putting a 700# grapple on it will really reduce my capacity. Also, the there just isn't that much tractive force with these mid sized machines and I'm not one to ram stuff, so it looks to me like this is a pretty good attachment for small to midsized applications.

I'd be nervous about running on my larger machine, I think that one would bend it like a pretzle.

The price on these is excellent (paid $1000) and the quality is higher than the purchase price as far as I can see.

Only real downsides that I see is the paint is not great, chips off, but I can fix that, and the pivot points don't have any way to have them get greased, but I can fix that too.

I'd say I'm pretty happy with what I got.

Apsterbobed · May 31, 2015

Looks good! I'm interested to hear how it works for you. I thought about getting that style because I have more rocks than I know what to do with! I may get a rock bucket in the future or I might fix the broken homemade screen, not sure too many projects and wants not enough time and money...

stihlsawyer · Jul 1, 2015

TOMAHAWK ATTACHMENTS website now up!!!

tomahawkattachments.com

Check us out, and call or email with any questions!

Xfaxman · Jul 1, 2015

stihlsawyer said:
TOMAHAWK ATTACHMENTS website now up!!!

tomahawkattachments.com

Check us out, and call or email with any questions!

It is good to see that they sell a fork frame, without forks. That topic comes up a lot here.

But I didn't see what class or size forks fit it.

431511-anyone-use-tomahawk-skidsteer-attachments-tomahawk-fork-frame-04-jpg

aeblank · Jul 6, 2015

I like the website. I'm likely in for a grapple and a set of pallet forks. Both look nice.
Only suggestion I have is to put weights on the website.
Prices are very good, which I'm a huge fan of. =)

drivadesl · Jul 7, 2015

Hey Britbike. On What machine did you install the rock bucket? I see these advertised locally on Craigslist and was thinking of looking at one for my 70hp TN-70.

Sounds like they might be a little light for my machine but I wouldn't use them all that much, just on a few projects. How well do you think they would work on clearing field shrubs?

For the price with a grapple seems like a decent deal.

britbike2001 · Jul 7, 2015

I have mine on a Kubota L4610, so about a 46hp machine, and about 4,000lbs. I've got about 50 hours on them now and it's been purely land clearing, so moving brush, stacking logs (big ones too), re-grading, moving rocks, and so forth. I don't ram things, just slow power so with that in mind I have yet to bend or break anything. The teeth are pretty good for rough grading if you stand the bucket on end and leave the FEL in float and back up with a little angle on the bucket. I've found that's a good way to gather up all the small loose stuff too. So far, so good.

I was hoping it would be good for sifting out rocks and sticks but it doesn't work all that well unless you're picking up very small loads. Not very efficient.

I have a much larger machine, essentially a 100hp tractor, and would be hesitant to use the grapple on that but for my mid sized Kubota, I think this is perfect. Not so heavy that it impedes my lift capacity but rugged enough for land clearing.

The joints can't be lubricated with a grease gun, so that has to be fixed and also the bearing areas are not smooth, just a few pieces of metal with holes drilled in each, then welded together, so this will get sloppy in no time, but again a small thing and not really an issue for a long time. I started out by taking everything apart and packing with lithium grease as well as I could.

After the work I've done with this rock bucket grapple combo, I'd be happy to recommend the purchase of one.

Hope that helps some.

drivadesl · Jul 7, 2015

Thanks Brit, that is an excellent overall assessment. I like how you apply the bucket to different situations and make it work,for you. I will keep the Tomahawk in mind as I shop for implements.

metalcaster · Jul 7, 2015

I picked one up on an auction site this past week. With buyers premium it was $827, and I had to pick it up. My Malinda is 38hp and the grapple looks solid enough for it. Ive yet to mount it as I don't yet have the hydraulics up front. I should have checked this thread before bidding. There were 4of these in the sale with some variations. All sold around the same price. Makes me wonder if someone from the manufacturer was bidding against me to get their price?

seymojo536 · Jul 8, 2015

metalcaster said:
I picked one up on an auction site this past week. With buyers premium it was $827, and I had to pick it up. My Malinda is 38hp and the grapple looks solid enough for it. Ive yet to mount it as I don't yet have the hydraulics up front. I should have checked this thread before bidding. There were 4of these in the sale with some variations. All sold around the same price. Makes me wonder if someone from the manufacturer was bidding against me to get their price?

That wouldn't happen to be the auction company "king of the jungle" but with a Y? They don't get their price, load em up and take em to the next sale.