Forks for my FEL

[EddieWalker]

I saw these forks in the Norther Tool catalog that look pretty handy for picking up branches and small trees with my FEL.

Paynes Forks 48in. Debris Fork | Forklifts + Pallets | Northern Tool + Equipment

I have a grapple, but it has a few flaws in it that I'm working on, and until then, I need something quick and simple that my Dad can use to move material to the burn pile. These things look like they might be what I'm looking for.

Northern Tool wants $650 for one that's smaller than I'd want, plus another $100 for shipping, I decided to build my own.

Two sticks of 2in by 4in steel with 1/4 inch walls was $200 here in Tyler. They cut them in half for free, so I had 4 ten foot pieces to work with. The inside width of the FEL bucket is 7 feet, but I have a cutting blade on it with bolts. That gives me 6 ft, 8 in for my width. I want the forks to attach to the bucket as close to the outside wall as possible for maximum strength. The one at Norther Tools attaches too far away from the bucket sides for me, and I'd worry that it might bend the bucket.

I'm also going to run the middle fork back into the bucket to give myself three points to attach it, instead of two. I don't know if I need that third point, but it sure can't hurt!!!

To attach the forks, I bought three one inch, fine thread bolts and nuts. I'm going to weld the nuts to the steel and then tighten the bolts to hold the forks onto the bucket. Cost of the bolts and nuts was $12.

So far I've drawn up a plan, measured everything out and cut the steel to length. There will be five forks, and they will stick out three feet for picking up material.

In the picture of the steel for the forks, you can see a street light I'm building for my driveway. It's about done and ready to start painting, so that's why I'm starting this new project.

If anybody has one, or has seen something like this in use, I'd sure appreciate your advice and comments. For all you welders out there, I'd also appreciate anything you'd like to offer. I'll be welding it with my AC/DC arc welder using 6011 rod. And of course, all comments, questions and suggestions are always greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[dtd24]

I was at the scrap yard last week and I spied a bunch of forks laying around. Made me do some thinking.

 

[schmism]

dude you need one of these

 

[crbr]

dude you need one of these

Don't be making fun of the man's saw...

 

[mjncad]

I have a Grizzly like this one and I am very pleased with it. Well worth the $495 + shipping. Jet is now selling the same saw with Jet colors and some minor cosmetic changes here and there; but it's still the same universal Taiwanese band saw. The best part is that this saw can do miter cuts, 45-degrees one way, and 60-degrees the other way.

If you buy one, I suggest you get a 1/2" split collar for the material stop and a brass thumb screw to replace the material stop set screw. When I get the material stop set the way I want, I then push the split collar up behind it and secure it into place. The split collar doesn't mar the shaft and neither does the brass thumb screw. If anyone wants a picture of what I rambling on about here, let me know, and I'll post one. I just need to get a PowerTwist belt for the saw to complete it.

G9742 4" x 6" Metal-Cutting Bandsaw w/ Swivel Head

 

[alchemysa]

Depending on the shape of your bucket you may be able to build something like the ones I made. These are about 5"x2'' tube. I push them onto the bucket and then slide them sideways behind the plates welded to the bucket. (Takes about 10 seconds). These were designed to carry pallets, sheets of iron, timber etc. They have been invaluable. We even attached a lightweight 4 foot extension to them so we could carry 12 foot x 4 foot floor panels 'lengthways'. (We carried 2 or 3 at a time then 'pointed' the panels up to the upper story of a house we are building where we then dragged them up off the forks). I think this fork design is good because it spreads the stress a bit. The bolt on forks I have seen look like they put all the strain on the cutting edge of the bucket.
Our only real problem with these is that we have discovered they are way 'over-engineered' and their capacity far exceeds the ability of my little Kubota. In fact if I'd made the forks lighter I probably could have carried quite a lot more. One other thing about these forks is that nothing but gravity holds them in place, although the geometry of them stops them from falling out when the bucket is in the dump position. For extra safety a chain or two welded to the forks might be useful. (I'd hate to see them go flying back into the driver if he threw the bucket into a rapid curl position). Because they are not actually bolted to the bucket, the tips can swing up (up to about 12 inches) when the bucket is on the ground. This is handy because even if the bucket is not perfectly horizontal I can slide the forks under pallets etc without the points digging into the ground. (I've noticed since that most forklift and brick tractors have forks that also swing up when necessary). Sorry I havent got a pic of the forks on the tractor (it's 150miles away) but my photochop pic give you an idea of how they look and fit. The real forks were just visible in the corner of a couple of other pics that I have, so I have cropped and included those too. The quality of those pics is pretty poor but at least you can see these forks really do exist.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'd sure love to have one of those saws!!! One of the things I hate most about working with metal is cutting it. My chop saw does the job, but it's a pain and I also seem to get the tastes of the metal in the back of my thought. I don't know how to describe it, but it's not something I enjoy and it makes it tough for me to get too enthused about cutting metal.

I just don't do enough metal projects to justify spending that kind of money on a saw that will get used about once a year.

alchemysa,

Those forks are very clever!! Not something I've ever seen before, or would have thought up.

One of the problems I have with forks is they have to be tied down in order to dump a load. I wanted to avoid that and be able to pick up trees or piles of debri and dump them on the burn pile, or in my dump truck.

I also want multiple "fingers" to be able to get as much of a pile of branches as I can without any dirt. It's a guess as to how many that is, but since the one at Northern Tool as five, I'm gonna give that a try.

Eddie

 

[schmism]

I just don't do enough metal projects to justify spending that kind of money on a saw that will get used about once a year.
Eddie

HF makes one thats about 125.... and once you have it youll find all kinds of uses for it

 

[Renze]

HF makes one thats about 125.... and once you have it youll find all kinds of uses for it

Very true, in the half a year i've owned the 1991 7x12" band saw i bought on the internet, i've earned half of the 150 Euro investment back by savings on grinding disks.. one cardboard box of 230mm grinding disks 50 Euro each, one saw band that outlasts at least 4 boxes of grinding disks, 19 euro....

 

[alchemysa]

One of the problems I have with forks is they have to be tied down in order to dump a load. Eddie

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but my forks dont fall off if I put the bucket into dump. They are held behind the orange plates. And the fork uprights (A) are longer than the bucket height (B) so the only way they can come out is if they slide sideways, which has never happened so far. But if I was doing a lot of fast scooping and dumping then i'd probably do something like weld a chain to point C that could hook onto a ringbolt in the bucket. Or put a bolt through point (D). Note that his is just a drawing. The real forks aren't quite as bulky as these.

5 tines seems a bit excessive to me. I'd have thought that 4 would be plenty but you know your task better than me. One thing you should think about is the tine spacing so you can pick up common size pallets. If you've got 5 'wrongly' spaced tines you may find it very hard to get the tines through a pallet.

 

[EddieWalker]

5 tines seems a bit excessive to me. I'd have thought that 4 would be plenty but you know your task better than me. One thing you should think about is the tine spacing so you can pick up common size pallets. If you've got 5 'wrongly' spaced tines you may find it very hard to get the tines through a pallet.

I wasn't clear. The forks are not for pallets. I want to pick up trees and either carry them to the burn pile, or load a dozen or so into my dump truck and drive them to the burn pile. I also use my rake to pile up branches into piles. Getting those piles of sticks and twigs to the burn pile has proven to be quite the challenge.

If this works out, it will become my new favorite toy!!!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[mjncad]

HF makes one thats about 125.... and once you have it youll find all kinds of uses for it

How very true. Once I got my Grizzly I found all sorts of uses for it. Granted, one pays for the miter capabilities; but being able to make miter cuts easily was worth the extra $$$$ to me.

Plus a bandsaw doesn't make fire starting sparks the way an abrasive chop saw does.

 

[mjncad]

Nice concept on the forks alchemysa, I may have to look into your design further as I want forks; but like you I don't care for the clamp on units for the same reasons you don't like them.

I also got sticker shock today when I priced out a set of Frontier forks for my JD 420 loader...$840 USD.

 

[alchemysa]

I wasn't clear. The forks are not for pallets.

Eddie. I understood what you meant - that the forks were for brush. But I was just pointing out the pallet situation because you never know when you might want to use them for that too. The bit I didnt understand was when you said the forks have to be "tied down for dumping". What does that mean? Have you already got some kind of forks?

 

[EddieWalker]

alchemysa,

My experience with forks on a tracotor are those that are mounted to the top of the FEL. They are attached to a rod that is held onto the bucket with a set of hooks.

For lifting straight up, they are great, but if you have something on them that you want to dump, they don't work so good because of the way they are mounted. To fix this, I've seen straps attached to the forks and the bucket to hold them tight. This way they don't rotate, or stay level when trying to dump with them.

I'm not sure how your design holds your forks in place if your bucket is in the dump postion?

If you can, I'd love to see some pics of them in operation. Maybe dumping a load of brush or a tree?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[heymack]

Getting those piles of sticks and twigs to the burn pile has proven to be quite the challenge.

Thanks,
Eddie

Do what I do, have more than one burn pile.

 

[alchemysa]

alchemysa,

I'm not sure how your design holds your forks in place if your bucket is in the dump postion?

If you can, I'd love to see some pics of them in operation. Maybe dumping a load of brush or a tree?

Thanks,
Eddie

The forks can't slide out because they are stuck behind the top plates that are welded to the bucket. And they can't swing up or down and fall out because the angled upright of the fork is longer than the vertical height of the bucket. So in effect they stay wedged behind the top plates no matter what direction the bucket is pointing. Its not perfect by any means but its very fast to fit or remove and requires no tools. And the whole fork assembly is a single unit so the spacing and alignment of the forks is always good. I'll try to remember to get some pics when I'm back at the site in a week or two.

 

[orezok]

Interesting and inovative design, but how did you engineer out the shadow?

 

[heymack]

The forks can't slide out because they are stuck behind the top plates that are welded to the bucket. And they can't swing up or down and fall out because the angled upright of the fork is longer than the vertical height of the bucket. So in effect they stay wedged behind the top plates no matter what direction the bucket is pointing. Its not perfect by any means but its very fast to fit or remove and requires no tools. And the whole fork assembly is a single unit so the spacing and alignment of the forks is always good. I'll try to remember to get some pics when I'm back at the site in a week or two.

How much do the forks weigh and how easily are you able to get them in and out?

 

[Corm]

alchemysa - that is a really innovative design on those forks! Building a set of forks has been on my to-do list for quite a while. I've been holding off because I've been searching for a design that suited me. Until I saw yours, I didn't know what the design I wanted was, but I do now! Would you mind if I copied it for a set of my own forks?

Corm