NewLight
Bronze Member
My current project, hopefully this will beat trimming trees from the bucket.
FEL carrie all, and work platform
- Thread starter NewLight
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jeff9366
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FEL work platforms are NOT approved man lifts. If an employee is injured in any way while working from the FEL you are toast in the legal system; good-bye land, good-bye retirement investments or pension, good-bye bank accounts, etc.
Some problems: no fail-safe mechanism to prevent catastrophic bucket drop in case of a hydraulic line failure or other type of hydraulic failure. Rail height, working space and tractor instability are further issues. With large rear wheels and smaller front wheels, tractors are inherently unstable. Approved man-lifts are engineered to address these issues.
Chainsaws are often associated with serious accidents involving FEL buckets.
Liability insurance will not protect you.
Some problems: no fail-safe mechanism to prevent catastrophic bucket drop in case of a hydraulic line failure or other type of hydraulic failure. Rail height, working space and tractor instability are further issues. With large rear wheels and smaller front wheels, tractors are inherently unstable. Approved man-lifts are engineered to address these issues.
Chainsaws are often associated with serious accidents involving FEL buckets.
Liability insurance will not protect you.
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stuckmotor
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Jeff,
Why won't liability insurance protect NewLight?
Why won't liability insurance protect NewLight?
TripleR
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One of those things a lot of people do, but few will recommend. I can find them in use around here pretty much any time. There is a thread somewhere on here about how to fabricate padded locks to place on the cylinder rods, but I can't find it right now.
drajj5
Gold Member
I see you will get a LOT of concerned people responding on this thread. However; I feel that if you are going to get in the bucket and trim trees, this is a safer alternative. It looks as though you have put some thought into your project for sure. Just as a bit of added safety I would slap some ratchet straps on the outside edges help secure it within the bucket.
You seem handy with wood. Just a suggestion, but you could fab some sort of ladder with a platform and attach it to your 3pt hitch and transport it as such. Think of it as a "portable fixed scaffold" in a manner of speaking.
I will confess that I am also guilty of climbing in the bucket to get to those hard-to-reach limbs. I am even stupid enough to let my teen aged son work the loader while I am in it. I can see a, "mischievous look in his eyes" when he touches the loader controls. Yep I am looking for a death sentence....from that boy!!
Safety is a big deal; but I was raised doing things that should have killed me. Yep, I was one of those kids that loved to ride in the bed of the truck running 70mph down the Interstate. Waving at a "Cop with no seatbelt on" pass us in the fast lane- Chips Patrol just started on TV and I was a fan.
Somehow...... I am still here.
You seem handy with wood. Just a suggestion, but you could fab some sort of ladder with a platform and attach it to your 3pt hitch and transport it as such. Think of it as a "portable fixed scaffold" in a manner of speaking.
I will confess that I am also guilty of climbing in the bucket to get to those hard-to-reach limbs. I am even stupid enough to let my teen aged son work the loader while I am in it. I can see a, "mischievous look in his eyes" when he touches the loader controls. Yep I am looking for a death sentence....from that boy!!
Safety is a big deal; but I was raised doing things that should have killed me. Yep, I was one of those kids that loved to ride in the bed of the truck running 70mph down the Interstate. Waving at a "Cop with no seatbelt on" pass us in the fast lane- Chips Patrol just started on TV and I was a fan.
Somehow...... I am still here.
TripleR
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Here is another thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...t-work-platform-build.html?highlight=platform
Jeff, you are indeed right about the legality's. The good new here is that this is strictly for personal use by me on my property. When I posted this it was a quick before bed at the end of a busy day scenario. So I didn't give any other info or planed ideas, sorry:duh:. I have made some progress that I will show in an upcoming post. I have already considered the things you mentioned and I intend to incorporate an appropriate solution. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate the input.
I expected I would get at least a few, there are many safety related things involved with doing things like this.
A safer way to trim trees was the driving force for this idea.
The ratchet straps is actually what I ended up doing to anchor it into the bucket.
I promise this a learning process, I'm not sure handy is the right word, but I'm working on it for sure. That is a good idea with the scaffolding, I have enough wood lying around I may explore the idea in the future. And I survived riding in the back trucks too. Crazy we made it this far, right?
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