Lift pallet of wood pellets with front loader hack?

[RoyJackson]

Keep in mind that a skid of pellets weighs 2000 pounds. You need real pallet forks not clamp on ones and a fairly good sized tractor too.

And probably weight on the 3PH...

 

[bcp]

Gantry crane, or a few RR ties and a pile of dirt.

Plus

Three-point forks.

Bruce

 

[5030]

^This!

I unload my wood pellets with my Kubota M7060HDC12 every year. I have to have my rotary mower on the 3-point hitch or all I do is lift the back of the tractor in the air. Keep in mind all that weight is several feet in front of the front axle - tremendous leverage taking weight off the back of the tractor. And if I don't pump up the front tires to at least 30 psi, when I lift the pallet the tires look like they've gone flat.
View attachment 765990

Either one of my M9's will lift and stack (I stack then 2 high in the barn) no issue with nothing on the back end, never been a problem. I do have it in FWA however. No loaded tires either but I do have the factory cast centers in the rear wheels. ATI SSQA pallet forks. Never had issue one with front bearings either and I'm regularly shuttling 4x5 round bales around fiekds and loading them on semi trailers too. All that has ever been replaced is one king pin and bushings on the left side of the open station M9 last year at 5500 hours.

 

[dodge man]

Counter balance is very important. Pallet forks? I always heard people rave about how great they are. When I got my JD I bought a set and am surprised how often I use them. Very handy.

 

[RoyJackson]

Counter balance is very important. Pallet forks? I always heard people rave about how great they are. When I got my JD I bought a set and am surprised how often I use them. Very handy.

I agree...and a lot depends on the size of the tractor. Even with filled tires, a heavy enough load on the FEL could transfer weight from the rear to the front axle (becoming the pivot point). That's not a good idea.
I have a sand filled ballast box, but if I have an implement on the 3PH already, that's what I use most the time.
That said, most my lifting isn't really that heavy...500+/- a bit

 

[cwbyeng1300]

No problem rigging pallets to lift - just make sure you put the lifting straps or chains under the pallet runners & not under the top planks. Connect straps to the beam behind the bucket if the load is greater than the loader will lift from the bucket lip. You can tell when the rear end is getting light - make sure the load can't shift forward, be gentle, pucker up & get 'er done!

 

[FERLING]

According to Tractor Data your loader can lift that weight "At the pins".
I always look at the load path to the ground to find the weakest link. You have 2K hanging out front of the pins so let's adjust that to say 2400 pounds for leverage. We can then add the weight of the loader itself of about 750 pounds, we are now at around 3150 pounds. Then add the tractor weight of maybe 1500 pounds to get to about 4650.
Now the weakest link, start with your tires, are they rated for 2325 pounds each (that will be on the tire)? Then the front axle (2335 on each axle end)? Then the single center pivot pin that supports the tractor on the axle for 4650 pounds? Etc. If you can answer yes at each point then just be careful and use a counter balance.

TractorData.com LS MT342 tractor dimensions information

www.tractordata.com

Also bear in mind unless you are in 4wd you will have nearly NO braking ability with the rear axle "unloaded".

Just remember your rear wheels are the only wheels that have brakes on a 4 wheel drive tractor. Try this out with forks loaded with tractor facing downhill. Lock your brakes like you would for 'park' position. Slowly raise your forks with the load and watch rear tires raise off the ground. Let me know how long it took to reach bottom of hill or you quickly lowered your forks with the load back to the ground.

 

[jyoutz]

Today my neighbor asked me to help him unload a one ton pallet of pellets from the back of his truck. I put my pallet forks on and still had my rotary cutter attached. Tried to lift the full pallet and couldn’t, so we unloaded one row of bags, then I could lift the pallet and take it to his barn. I could feel that I was at near maximum weight capacity for my loader (2400 pounds), considering 1800# pallet plus the forks (4-500#). Afterwards I got to wondering if the MX could have lifted the pallet at higher RPMs. I was only puttering at 1800 RPM.

 

[Jstpssng]

Today my neighbor asked me to help him unload a one ton pallet of pellets from the back of his truck. I put my pallet forks on and still had my rotary cutter attached. Tried to lift the full pallet and couldn’t, so we unloaded one row of bags, then I could lift the pallet and take it to his barn. I could feel that I was at near maximum weight capacity for my loader (2400 pounds), considering 1800# pallet plus the forks (4-500#). Afterwards I got to wondering if the MX could have lifted the pallet at higher RPMs. I was only puttering at 1800 RPM.

Doing it at lower RPMs allows you a margin of error though.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Today my neighbor asked me to help him unload a one ton pallet of pellets from the back of his truck. I put my pallet forks on and still had my rotary cutter attached. Tried to lift the full pallet and couldn’t, so we unloaded one row of bags, then I could lift the pallet and take it to his barn. I could feel that I was at near maximum weight capacity for my loader (2400 pounds), considering 1800# pallet plus the forks (4-500#). Afterwards I got to wondering if the MX could have lifted the pallet at higher RPMs. I was only puttering at 1800 RPM.

I wasn't able to lift the rated load with forks on my MX5800 either. I checked the hyd pressure and found the dealer had it set 10% low for "safety reasons" they say. I reset it to spec and now get the rated 2400# lift at the pins.