FEL Crane

[Justaplain]

Has anyone built or bought a Crane like device to mount on the bucket, not permanent? Saw one years ago on a big loader that was sort of a tripod made up of heavy pipe. One [main] spar to the lip of the bucket and then 2 to the back top of the bucket. bcs

 

[karmakanic]

I've never built or see one for the front end loader, most times guys use those "gin" poles that connect to the 3ph lift.
Course they don't get as high as one off the FEL would. But I'd also be concerned about the angles involved lowering the safe lifting capacity if you were to extend the lifting point out there too much. Maybe ok for a heavy industrial tractor, but risky with a CUT. Definitely would need some rear ballast.

If I was gonna built one, I'd make it the opposite of the one you saw. Two spars connecting to the bottom corners of the bucket and one to the top lip. Seems to me, that would be a lot stronger.

Dave

 

[Justaplain]

You may be right on the way it was set up. It was 20 years ago. But by rolling the bucket you are going to control the boom angle, thereby control the lifting capacity. My counter wieght is a 55 gal plastic barrel on a 3Pt carryall, filled with water. Easy on,easy off just dump it. Figure 500# more or less. bcs

 

[jimgerken]

Like this?

 

[jimgerken]

I built it last winter. Here's an action shot. It has a single lower tube and two small upper tubes. If you build one, remember to keep it light. Every pound it weighs is one less you can lift. You run out of hydraulic power pretty quick on the end of an extension gin pole. As far as counterweight, if you presently have enough to keep from lifting the back wheels off the ground when you load the bucket beyond what your hydro can lift, you have enough for an extension.
The lower tube carries the load in compression so it must be stout. Mine is braced at mid point by the very small (1/2" square! it's so small and cute) braces. This way it can resist bending better as it is compressed. The two upper tubes are in tension, so can be smaller. Could be rod in fact, but I like tube for more welding area. A small amount of steel will support a great tensile load.
My loader is quite small, with only 6' lift. The gin pole got me another 6 feet for raising headers and beams, and it worked absolutely fantastic for setting poles in drilled holes in the ground.

 

[Hydraman]

I put a "stinger" for a FEL bucket out of 2 7/8" oilfield tubing, The lifting capacity was greatly reduced. Also with a 10ft extension out past the end of my bucket- when I curled my bucket very,very small amounts- the end of the pole would move about 3 ft!! So minute control is out! I think if I needed to do something like this over I would go with the 3 point attachment. Hope this helps!

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Here's one I made for my JCB165HF. It fits on the forks and has a winch. When the forks are lifted full up and the boom is at full extension the shiv is twenty six feet off the ground. It can set a forty foot telephone pole or life a twenty four foot piece of six inch pipe in place for an overhead over a drive way. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/wroughtnharv/vwp?.dir=/Iris&.src=ph&.dnm=MVC-002F.jpg&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/bc/wroughtnharv/lst%3f%26.dir=/Iris%26.src=ph%26.view=t>Here</A>

The biggest problem with mounting a crane on your FEL is the multiplier of leverage. You have a two thousand pound limit with filled tires let's say. You put a ten foot jib on your FEL and you attempt to lift a five hundred pound object. That ten feet out might have multiplied the weight by five fold and you can't move it. Or even worse you might have multiplied it by four and it's when the load is over the wife's favoritest car of all time when the lifting mechanism fails. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[Justaplain]

That looks like what I could use. Could you send a close up shot. Even if it is not mounted. Thanks. bcs
PS Sorry didn't get the pic when I wrote this. Now I am set. Thanks

 

[Spencer]

Here is a picture of my version. I can quite easily set a post all by myself with this setup. I think it will also work great for setting the trusses. I had inspiration from both Jim Gerken and Wroughtn_Harv. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=implement&Number=158132&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1>Here</A> is a thread in which I explained the way I did it.

 

[jyoutz]

Jim, What type of PHD do you have on your 4100? Does the 4100 handle it well?