DIY Front End Loader out of Shop cranes?

[james4465]

Hello everyone, I'm looking at building a front end loader for my JD 455. I'm thinking the cheapest way to actually do that is to hack up two harbor freight shop cranes. It seems that a minimum amount of fabrication would be required to make this work. My target bucket capacity is a little over 600lb, which I've heard is about what the model 40 is reasonably capable of at 1000 PSI.

So I've done some rough calculations and it seems possible with the existing lift points, I'll just need to use some stronger hydraulic cylinders.


My question at this point is, has anyone else seen a shop crane adapted for this use? Is there some obvious drawback that I'm not seeing?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Seems very ambitious. Have you built stuff like this before? I just find that making stuff is frustrating. You only want to make one, but it really takes making twenty to get it only halfway right.

 

[crashz]

The dog-bone might be the hard part to re-create. I feel like you may be better off starting with square stock and plate, and make some detailed drawings first. Its likely that you will spend so much time modifying the shop cranes that it may be easier to start from scratch.

 

[james4465]

Hi Industrial Toys, I've done a few but nothing this big. But I'm not going in half-cocked, I'll have a mechanical engineer review the plans. I'll probably make a mock-up out of wood first, and honestly this is more of a passion project than necessity for me.

The dog-bone might be the hard part to re-create. I feel like you may be better off starting with square stock and plate, and make some detailed drawings first. Its likely that you will spend so much time modifying the shop cranes that it may be easier to start from scratch.

Is the dog bone the crossmember that connects across to the two lift arms? The part I'm currently most concerned about is welding the tractor mounting bracket. The mounting bracket and the bucket are the only parts that I think I'll need raw materials for. I think the pivot point on the crane end up a bit higher than other loaders I've seen, so that could induce instability with a load.

Drawing up plans is my next step next step, I'm currently at the stage of "is this really as dumb as it sounds".

 

[Gofast]

Have you seen this web site? pf-engineering
Gallery - Category: Customers Pics: The "Micro Hoe" for small tractors
Before I bought my CG1710 I was thinking about making one of these for my old tractor.

 

[Ivan49]

If you are going to be making a font end loader I think you will find that the HF stuff uses junk steel and it is usually light weight. I think you would be better off buying a 20 foot piece of steel tubing. I built a loader for a compact Ford tractor I had and I used 3/16 wall thickness for the lift arms. It is still in use 20 years later by my SIL

 

[radios1]

I think you have to consider the danger of this, and what happens when it breaks with a heavy load in the bucket!.:shocked:

 

[WranglerX]

From fabrication stand point I have found working with clean straight "virgin" material is always easier than trying to rehash something because in rehash there is always "something" that is not right, exactly where you need to make a cut or weld.....

And after the rehash I find it has cost me twice as much more then If I had started with new....

Dale

 

[TractorGuy]

You would be better off to start from scratch with raw materials. Almost nothing in a shop crane resembles a FEL. You can't use the cylinder, you need greasable bushings in the pivot, and you need to make the curl and lift functions double acting.

Before all that I would search the junk yards for a used bolt on solution if your tractor had a loader option.

 

[4570Man]

I agree with start from scratch. The hoist would have to be completely cut apart and that’s pretty expensive tubing. And it’s a pretty big fab job. I think you’re way under estimating it