Are Forks for 410 Loader Useful

[keeney]

I am planning to purchase a 410 loader for my 4100 for use during our house-building project. I was also contemplating the JD fork attachment as well for moving and load/unload of building materials. I thought I saw a number somewhere that the capacity with the forks was only 276 lbs. This seems somewhat non-useful to me.

Does anybody have the JD forks on their 410 loader?
How much can they really lift?
Do you find them useful?
How much did you pay?

- Rick

 

[PLOWER]

I was told when I had my 4100 that they could only lift 276 too. I thought that was strange. When I got the price it was like 700.00, Kinda expensive. Cliff

 

[kevinro]

I have the forks for my 4500 with a 460 loader. They are pretty nice. The rating is 1660 pounds on the 460, though I managed to determine that 2300 or so is possible when I have the backhoe attached for counter weight. I say this because you may end up seeing the same situation with your machine in that it might lift more than the rating depending on the counter weight.

When I originally went tractor shopping, the forklift rating was important to me. I remember that the smaller FEL wasn't very capable, which is why I went with the 4500. The 410 loader didn't come close to my needs. The 460 was closer on the spec, and more than enough in reality.

Kevin

 

[Cdash]

I don't have Deere's forks, but I made my own. They can lift quite a bit. What I have learned: The first set was built out of 42"x4" forks from a fork lift (very heavy, my setup weighed 300#) was able to lift 600 to 700 with only a back blade for counter weight.

See picture in below post.

42" in front of the loader is a LONG way. Lesson learned! Need smaller forks and less weight.
I found a set of forks in a scrap yard off a hand truck fork lift, like the ones shown in this link:
http://www.wescomfg.com/lift-prod.html
$10 and 5 minutes later, they went home with me. They are 27" long, 3" wide and much, much lighter. I am really happy with this set!!

See picture in below post.

This is really the way to go. I think these forks are the perfect size for the 4100/410. They are big enough for most tasks. The forks themselves had a 1000# capacity on the hand truck, so strength wise, they are well matched to the capacity of the loader. The fork attachment that deere sells, IIRC, weighs near 500#, and the carriage itself is rated for, I think, 3000#. So you buying a lot of weight for capacity you cannot use with a 4100, I won't even mention the price. The only down side, is that I have not made a backstop/carriage as nice as the deere ones.

But to answer your question, they are worth having!!! Not sure if they are worth buying Deeres brand. I use them for firewood (made a pallet with sides, fill it up at the pile and drop it off next to the house), landscaping stuff, moving logs, will try ripping out stumps in the spring (never thought of trying it), moving stuff!! It's just like anything else. Once you have it, you find many things to do with it, and you'll wonder how you lived without it. And if your not handy making stuff yourself, I would guess you could buy the pieces and have someone put them together for you for about $250 or so.

I can provide better pictures and details if anyone wants to undertake this project. Its really a simple build if you have the base skills. I welded it, but it could be done with bolting too. Feel free to email me for details!

Craig

 

[Cdash]

First set I made.

 

[Cdash]

Second set, I am really happy with the size, weight and capacity of this setup.

 

[jimgerken]

I think forks are second only to the loader iteslf for versatility. My dad has a set of quick-attach forks for his Case skid loader and he handles many different things with them on the farm. He also runs a small sawmill and the tines are unbeatable for that too. His skidloader is an 1845C (its a bigger one), but the day they came with shingles on a truck, he could not unload them all on one pallet. But, another pallet was thrown down on the truck bed, a few of us jumped up there and transfered half from the first pallet to the second, and then dad could lift them. And move them up to the garage (24x48), and later lift them up to a nice working height for transfer onto the roof.
I think your idea is a good one, there is nothing as productive looking on the jobsite as the off-road forklifts you see. As far as capacity and cost, I can't help. I like the other advice you got, to obtain the forklift tines, have built or build yourself a frame for them to quick-attach. I bet even custom-built frame with junkyard tines will cost less than 700.
Take a look at my setup for ideas too, on a 4100, if you havent seen them yet. Under "Attachments", a thread called "combo base frame / ..." of a couple days ago. May be some ideas you can build from.

 

[cooker]

I also have a set of custom forks. I like what Cdash has done, It is simple and strong. I believe the 410 has an 800# load rating at the tilt point. The farther you move away from this the less weight you can carry. I opted for the custom forks (I will try to post a picture later). One thing I do know and have seen posted by others is the angle of the forks is not parallel to the ground when the forks are on the ground. (the end of the forks point into the ground) One day I will modify my setup to take this into account. Once you see my settup you will notice 4 hold in the center of the mounting base. The fork setup was only half of what I was looking for the second half is a boom for setting trusses on our new barn. (again I will try to post a picture.) The boom was made of two 10' square tubes that slide into one another. Any way they would reach up to 18 feet + the lift of the loader. With the combination of the fork and one boom section (forks turned upside down) we lifted the 4x8' sheet of partical board up to the roof (13" side walls) It got the sheets just high enough to grab and pull up. Good luck