Big rocks, small tractor.

[rambler]

Pipe, like angle iron, will bend, droop, & twist. You need solid pieces of steel shaft that is hardened. It won't pay to build it out of pipe - won't last 2 rocks - I garrentee. Digging in dirt & lifting rocks is very hard work. The axle shafts is a _real_ good idea.

For my round bale fork lift, it has a clamp-on top link eye that can be slid high or low. As with any 3pt linkage, if you set it up 'right' with the exact same hieght difference between the upper & lower arms on both ends, and you make the top link the proper length, the 3pt will lift up perfectly parallel to the ground, full motion.

But, you don't want that - you want it to angle down a little to get under, and you want it to angle up a little to carry. Just like picking up round bales....

A hyd top link will do it for you, but that costs money - a lot of you need to plumb the tractor for it first.

You can just mount the top link on the implement several inches higher. If the distance from the lower pins to the upper pin is _greater_ than the distance from the lower pins to the upper pin on the tractor side of all arms, then the lift will automaticlly tilt down when the 3pt is down, and automatically tilt up when the 3pt is up. This can be slightly refined by adjusting the top link length as well. Generally a too-short top link will make it tilt up a lot, while a too long upper link will make it droop down when raised.

It would be best to allow the upper link to be adjusted up & down on your implement so you can find the 'sweet spot' you want - it will depend on which catagory hitch you have (1 I'll assume) and how long your tractor arms are, etc.

Just a note - some tractors have relatively weaker lower arms, and are not so good about backing up into a heavy load - they are designed to pull on the 3pt arms, not push. I've seen a few posts here on the forms about bent lower arms from pushing too hard. Might want to keep that in mind - shouldn't be a real issue for you, but a heads up for not getting too aggressive...

--->Paul

 

[Egon]

Uh- It just could depend on the type and size of pipe or angle iron used.

Egon

 

[rambler]

Not really, since he specified placing them 3" apart, that limits their size.

Angle iron is (somewhat) strong in 2 directions, weak in the other 2. Digging into dirt & lifting 2' rocks will certainly stress the angle iron to bend it in those 2 directions, if not all 4.

Pipe is hollow & I'm not sure there is any hardened pipe available? It is stronger than angle iron, but not so strong when only anchored on one end. Pipe makes a pretty good bridge between 2 anchors, but too flexable for a cantilever, crumples at the anchor point.

Digging in dirt is amazingly hard on a tine. A person catches a root, or foces it past bumps on a rock, then lifting forces. It's hard to believe the force on the end of a 2' long tine.

We used solid 1 1/4" square shaft for 'new' tines on the manure bucket. Took about 3 dumps to see which ones were hardened (old disk harrow shafts) and which ones were _not_ hardened. That was 12 years ago, the hardened ones are still in use, the others are interesting sculptures on the iron pile. This is on a real old tractor with 900# hydraulics, not exactly a lifting brute.

I realize how hard this rig is used will determine how strong it needs to be, but I'll still bet the tines need to be hardened steel to last.

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I have been wrong before tho! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

--->Paul

 

[keeney]

You want to lift one big rock at a time, or a bunch of medium-sized rocks all at once?

If its one big rock at a tiome, what you want to build is sounding a lot like a 3-point forklift assembly.

The cheapest way to get one of those is go down to the local forklift repair shop and see if they have any junk fork tines and carriage assemblies.

A 36" setup might cost you $250.

Weld on som tabs with holes for the 3-point hookup on the back of the carriage, and you are all set.

Adjust the forks to slip under each side of the rock, and maybe add some chains around it to hold it on and hold the forks tight together (depends on the fork adjustment mechanism).

I moved some fairly large rocks around on my property with similar setup on my loader arms. Some of the rocks were too heavy for the loader to lift, but pulling up on them as much as the loader could manage made them light enough to skid and drag to where I wanted them.

- Rick

 

[Egon]

I beleive the openings were specified at about three inches. This is different than center to center measurement.

Have you ever seen a piece of sch. 160 three in. pipe? The angle iron does not have to be placed with one side vertical. Several cross braces would also change things.

Many different ways to build things.

Egon

 

[slowzuki]

Sorry to be a simpleton but why not put the rock in the loader bucket and drive backwards with it on/near the ground for the downhills?
Ken

 

[gmason]

I moved these rocks with my tc35d 16la FEL. They were putting in a sewer line up the road and hit rock. They blasted them up some then dug these up. They were looking to get rid of them and I got them delivered for free. 5 truckloads later I filled in a pretty good gully.

gary

 

[SPIKER]

gmson:"

Nice rocks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

here are a few I've personally dug up using box blade and FEL and chains. most were slightly exposed in the creek and needed to be removed for gravel excavations. that is my JINMA 284 there besides them. (they look better now all rain cleaned! lol. anyway photo is older. I still have about 6 more to get most are bigger than the big one that is there. so back hoe to dig around them forming a ramp out. that one was really hard near the front still has chain on it. it was in the creek with rocks all around and water to help wash sand & gunk back around it each time I moved it a bit. I TWEEKED that box blade about 1~2" on the right by backing into the rock to dislodge it. that is a 6' HOWES boxblade I THINK I got it close out at TSC and it didn't have any names on it about 2002 Nov.

Mark M

 

[CVHoss]

How about this. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hoss

 

[B7510]

Wow Hoss, thats looks like one heck of an implement! But bit out of my price range. If you buy one, can I barrow it?

To me that looks like one of those "throw your house keys away" purchases. Thats where you know you can buy it, but if you do, you might as well throw away your house keys, cuz they ain't gonna fit the front door anymore by the time you get home.