JCByrd24
Gold Member
Hi all, here was my weekend project. Started out as a pile of new steel, around $250 dollars worth plus a couple of pieces I had around. I have a pile left over, probably enough for another set so I may make a set to sell. I designed the forks to lift full capacity of loader (650lbs) at the tips (not taking into account that the tractor won't actually lift 650lbs that far out). Then I went up a wall thickness size from 1/8" to 3/16" (2" x 3" tube). The heel is reinforced with 1/4" flat bar on the sides and back. The frame is mostly 2.5x1/4" angle, except the outside plates are 4"x1/4" flat bar. Backstop is 3/8" x 2 flat bar, bent on my homemade press brake. Pipe is 1-1/4" Sch40 welded at top of forks (nice fit coped inside 2" rect tube) which slides over the 1" pipe crossbar nicely. I made a pin on because with only 650lb lift capacity I wanted to drop the weight of the bucket and get the leverage advantage. The added visibility is nice. It's not QA, but I added pull rings onto the factory yanmar pins (modified grade 5 bolts). You can barely see but I welded in a small strip against one side of each hex to ensure the pins rotate in the loader arms and cylinders where the bearing area is much larger as opposed to the thinner frame plates. The weight ended up a little more than I expected, guessing around 150lbs, but it is slightly lighter than the bucket. It's also stronger than originally planned though, very little deflection when test lifting against my trucks receiver hitch about 4" from the fork tips with the loader in relief. I can likely modify the frame someday when I move into a more modern tractor with a higher loader capacity.
