FEL Fork lift Carage and Forks

chriswheeler · Dec 18, 2004

Thinking about building a fork lift carage and forks for the FEL on my small tractor. ( tractor weighs 2600 lbs. ) I have a Koyker 160 with a max weight lift of 1500 lbs. Highest lift is about 9'. Looking at bucket forks, looks like loads could bend the bucket with that much weight. ( don't know that for sure, just a guess) Forks look like they are made from 4" U channel or 2 X 4" square tube. Has anyone here ever tryed to make a carage with forks to replace the bucket on a FEL and if so was it successful?? Did you buy or make the forks?? I would like to use this thing for picking up hay bales out in the field and loading into a trailer to transport to the barn. I could buy or build a 3 point lift and do the same job. Think the FEL mount version would work better in the barn lifting bales higher stacking the hay. All comments appreciated, thanks,
Chris

F100Panel · Dec 18, 2004

I'm NO expert but my own personal expierences tell me a loader has much less lift capacity as a fork lift than as a bucket. Problem does not lay in loader lift capacity but physics & the fulcrum point.. Front wheels being the fulcrum, as the loader raises the weight gets pushed out further away from the tractor. Ever notice how close a real forklift keeps the load to the front axel? Theres a reason for that...Add to that the pallet fork attachment pushes the weight even FURTHER forward from the tractor making that rear end VERY light... Some years back I had 60HP skidsteer with a 3500pd rated lift. I stuck a beam in the bucket that gave me a hook about 3 feet in front of the bucket. I hooked onto a 1956 Ford 292 V8 engine & raised it up & headed for my pickup truck. One bounce & the rear wheels came off the ground. Engine maybe 700 pounds complete/ready to run & the skidsteer rated at 3500 pounds I never DREAMED that would happen.. When you extend the load out in front of the tractor your giving the load leverage & dramaticaly increasing the weight on that front axel/your carrying your load & equal load transferred off the rear wheels by the fulcrum/front axel & then magnifying the load with the leverage. I hope I spit that out in some sort of sense... I think an 800 pound rated set of forks for most CUT's under 3000pds would be more than adequate... Just my experience/not saying ya can or should take it a gospel..... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

ronjhall · Dec 18, 2004

Chris
Pallet fork projects are common on TBN. Do a search. Here is one thread. Click Here.

kraigWY · Dec 18, 2004

Here is the way I built mine. 2 in sq. 1/4 in walls. It just hangs on the pivite bar for my gaffle. The loader bucket does the work. I like this better then the ones that slode onto the lip of the bucket. Lets see if the picture takes.

chriswheeler · Dec 19, 2004

The link to the JD project was great and almost exactly what I have in mind. F100panel l has a good point, well worth considering. I think wht I'd be using this thing for would be well under the limits of the bucket and FEL. I know the bucket limit is 1500lbs. Most often I can picture lifting about 4 bales of hay at a time and transporting to the trailer. ( under 500 lbs. ) I've lifted 900+ lbs already with the FEL, but I didn't travel with that load, moved the truck out and set the load on the ground. I know that works. ( might not be safe though ) A fork truck that is rated at 4000 lbs will quite a bit less on the end of the forks and this is the same principal. Think I need to start looking at some steel scrap yards for some old forks and go from there. Thanks to the both of you, and I'm going to print the pictures in the link RonJhall provided.
Chris