Bucket mounted on pallet forks - am I crazy?

[Fallon]

Linear actuator for power SSQA?

It worked great. I have a hydraulic 3rd function on the new L4060HSTC, so will be doing the new one with hydraulics rather than a linear actuator though. A linear actuator is cheap, easy & good enough for most users though.

 

[fried1765]

I work alone. On firewood duties I like to scoop up a bucket full of rounds and raise them to the wood splitter height so to avoid lifting rounds onto the splitter table. But, there are too many times during the course of the day I need the pallet forks and it gets old swapping between the two.

I'm wondering about cuttin slots in the back of the bucket and welding fork/tine sleeves to the top side of the bottom of the bucket. I can use the log grab of the forks to hold the bucket from falling off the tines when tipping the bucket.

Good/bad idea? Any issues you can see with it?

Wish I could post a picture for you, but I am 1300 miles from my forks.

I had a welding shop plasma cut two large hook like pieces from 3/4" plate.
Had those welded to the top of the bucket.

Then took two used single forks, and welded a short piece of pipe at the top of each.
Slid those two forks with the pipe piece tops added, onto a 6' solid steel bar, and added end caps, to keep forks from sliding off.
Works great!
I just drive up to the forks, curl the bucket, and lift the forks (they are now extended from the front of the bucket).

When I want the forks off, I just set them down, and curl the bucket to unhook.
Only problem is that my lift capacity is reduced by both the weight of the forks, and the fork distance forward of the bucket. I can only lift 1000 lbs., but that is enough for me.
Much easier than quick attach.
I never need to get off the tractor to add or remove forks.

 

[PILOON]

I suggest a pair of clamp on forks and then U make a dedicated 'pallet' to load the firewood.
Said pallet could have removable or fixed sides to hold even more wood.

In my case I made up a dedicated welded 'basket' that hooks onto my bucket and that more than doubles the bucket capacity.
(I'd post a pix but it is out there somewhere under about 4 ft of snow.)

 

[KiwiBro]

What about clamp on bucket forks?

View attachment 588950

Thanks for the suggestion, however, I'm handling logs and the log grab is attached to the pallet forks. I'm hoping to leave the forks and grab on and find a quick, easy way of scooping up rounds once I have cut them from the log, that doesn't require detaching the forks.

Would a set of forks for the three point hitch do the job?

Not really, as I prefer facing forward when picking up logs, etc.

Google forklift tilt bucket. We use them at work with 2 or 3 yard hoppers. Would work well for firewood.

Good idea, thanks, but I will also need the FEL bucket for general other work at which time it will be attached to the FEL in the conventional manner but for firewood duties there are times it will be on and off many times a day. Also, I don't want the bucket there when doing log work.

That, or build a "box" that fits on the forks. Then you can roll wood into the box, or set it down and use the pallet forks to push rounds into it.
Another idea might be to make your quick hitch a powered one (with a cylinder or electric actuator). Then you can change attachments without leaving the seat.

Aaron Z

I have in the past just strapped a sheet of plywood to the forks to act as a tray to roll the rounds onto but it's not quite as usefull as a bucket when trying to drive into a pile of rounds on the ground. The powered hitch idea might work but Id still have to unhook the third service for log grab every time I took the forks off, negating the ease of staying on the tractor and just picking up the bucket with forks.

IF you keep swapping between bucket and forks during day you are not working efficiently

Horses for courses. Too often on a mobile felling and firewood job, I'm constrained for space and can't do a big blitz of cutting logs into rounds, rather need to just do a cord or so, then split them, remove the split firewood, rinse and repeat.

A common "implement" for forklifts.

forklift bucket at DuckDuckGo

View attachment 588974

Bruce

Thanks for the image. The bucket would not be much good for general ground work though, so I'd need to own and sometimes drag around with me, both.

Wish I could post a picture for you, but I am 1300 miles from my forks.

I had a welding shop plasma cut two large hook like pieces from 3/4" plate.
Had those welded to the top of the bucket.

Then took two used single forks, and welded a short piece of pipe at the top of each.
Slid those two forks with the pipe piece tops added, onto a 6' solid steel bar, and added end caps, to keep forks from sliding off.
Works great!
I just drive up to the forks, curl the bucket, and lift the forks (they are now extended from the front of the bucket).

When I want the forks off, I just set them down, and curl the bucket to unhook.
Only problem is that my lift capacity is reduced by both the weight of the forks, and the fork distance forward of the bucket. I can only lift 1000 lbs., but that is enough for me.
Much easier than quick attach.
I never need to get off the tractor to add or remove forks.

Thanks for that suggestion, which is certainly more along the lines I was thinking. However I have a log grab on my forks so rather than dangle forks off a bucket (ingenious way you've done it though), I'm thinking better in my case to mount a bucket to the forks so the log grab is there when I need it.

 

[cre73]

Didn't read all responses. I personally put pallet a on my forks, then place a bunch of rounds on the pallet. Works very well with all the rounds right there at working height.