Finally some pics! A couple to show how I made them and a couple action shots.
As I said before thanks to Zick who`s idea I copied. The vertical and horizontal pieces are "C" channel, roughly 3" by 1.5" in size, the forks are 42" long.
At the base where they join I extended the fork back and then welded on a triangular piece cut from 1/4" steel.
On the bucket I bolted down 2 hooks that came off my Jeep, both hooks rated for 7,000lb's each. (that should do it?! lol)
The steel tube that hooks into those hooks is 1/4" thick wall so no fear of that bending..
Then I got another steel tube slightly larger in diameter to slide over the first one, cut 2 chunks off and welded the 2 plates that join it to the vertical "C" channel.
And that was it done! I do plan on doing a bit more welding to it for extra strength but given to date it's handled all the loads I've put on it with no problems that's probably unnecessary - but I can use the welding practice! lol! I plan on welding up on both sides where the "C" channels meet a plate on both sides just to help the strength in that join, on both forks.
I'm also thinking I might box in around the sliding collar.
The only thing I would do different if I did this again is the 2 plates that come off the "C" channel and connect to the collar I would extend those back far enough that I could then weld another plate vertically between them making that whole connection stronger.
I'm also going to weld onto the top of both forks a slotted piece of plate steel so that I have some where to hook a chain, that would be handy.
Of the 2 action pictures - the barrel is full of sap, 220L worth, plus the weight of the barrel (not much) and the wooden frame - so approx. 480lb's for the sap and another 60-70+lb's for the barrel and frame. and of course the weight of the forks themselves but I'm not sure what that is although having had to lift them by hand I'd say they are easily 75lb's probably a fair bit more. So all told over 600lb's conservatively.
I don't anticipate having to lift much more than this, the tractor easily handles it, especially with the concrete barrel I've got off the rear of the tractor, at no point does the tractor ever feel light in the rear end.
The forks come on and off with a simple roll of the bucket.
The forks themselves can slide across to set at any position, I'm debating making some kind of locking mechanism for them. The steel tube they slide on cannot slide out of the hooks because the bolt heads that anchor the hooks down get in the way.
For light duty work these are really great, the original need was to move the barrels of sap but they are already getting used for other tasks. (moving wood to the evaporator as can be seen!
) Obviously they are not as strong and can't lift as much as a set of "real" forks in place of the bucket. But unless I need to be able to max the lifting capacity of the tractor I don't see the need for that. The only other downside of course is that you're carrying the load that much further in front of the tractor which in tight corners can be a pain as you need that much more space to maneuver.
Lastly yes they will get painted unfortunately it was too cold when I made them to paint them plus I needed to use them right away so painting will wait till after maple syrup season is over!
E.
