My Manlift

[Stampeder]

Here's my take on a manlift I'm building. I've got lots of tall trees to be trimmed, a 15 foot high gate that needs painting and a bunch of other tall projects to do so I've been wanting to get this done for a while.
I'll post pictures as this progresses but here's the first of them:

This is the beginning. The base is 2x2 angle. The bottom has two 6 inch channel iron guide for the forks on my front end loader. Because my forks are 4 inches wide and 2 inches high at the root I had to weld on 4 inch pieces as you can see below to form boxes. A side benefit of this is they will become the mount for casters I will be adding so moving this around in the barn will be easier.

This is a side view so you can see where I welded the additional channel pieces.

Here the floor is added as well as the floor cross bracing. The floor is of expanded steel mesh. The uprights are 1.5x1.5 angle.

I may add a quick change front end to this so I can just hook up to it rather than having to use the forks all the time. The jury is still out on this one though.

I'll take some pictures today as I'm a little further on than in these.

Enjoy.
Glenn.

 

[BayouMan]

Hey Stampeder,
I just put a loader on my tractor and was thinking about a personnel box to mount to my forks. I really want mine to be 6' wide to allow a little room to move about for limb trimming and other things. I know the safety police do not like to see these, but how are you planning to secure the platform to the forks?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[LBrown59]

Hey Stampeder,
I just put a loader on my tractor and was thinking about a personnel box to mount to my forks. I really want mine to be 6' wide to allow a little room to move about for limb trimming and other things. I know the safety police do not like to see these, but how are you planning to secure the platform to the forks?

Thanks,
Mike

I'm suprised thay haven't shown up yet.

 

[shane]

That looks real nice. Wouldn't mind having one like that myself. I just use a wood pallet.

 

[EddieWalker]

Glenn,

Where in East Texas are you? I'm near Winona.

When building my deer blind, I built a platform out of lumber and the attached a portable set of stairs on it for some extra height. One day, I'd like to build a better one from steel like you are doing. If and when I do that, I'd be sure to include stairs or a type of ladder at the end for additional height. You will always want more height!!!!

Eddie

 

[mjncad]

Looks good Glenn, keep the pictures coming.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Glen,
It looks real good to me, Im thinking it could be real handy for a number of jobs around the house and barn !

While your welding, you could probablly incorporate some tool holding brackets on the rail also !

 

[DanD78]

There are always ways to get the extra height yo need.

Dan

 

[wedge40]

There are always ways to get the extra height yo need.

Dan

And not a single one wearing safety glasses.

Wedge

 

[rtdiggr]

Glenn the lift looks like it is coming along nicely. Keep the pics coming.

Shane

 

[jinman]

Glenn, I hope your Montana's hydraulics are better than most CUTs. If not, you'll need someone on the tractor constantly to keep the basket from drooping. My tractor droops much too quickly for use without an operator in the seat. You might also consider a clamp so you can hold the basket on the forks even if it gets a downward angle. Good luck and be safe.

 

[nhkabotab7800]

i have used a man lift for a rough terain fork lift " Lull " the tubes the forks slid in have extension ears that you slid a pin in behind the back edge of the forks so that it will not slide off. easy to do and much safer.

 

[Stampeder]

Got the top rail on Friday night:

The end you are looking at is where the forks slid in.

The chain will be installed on the left side mid way up as a safety device. I will use a carabeener to secure it. I have the neatest little wire loops we use around here for fencing that weld on. I use them for all kinds of eyelet projects. If there is interest I'll post a picture of them.

There is a railing yet to go around three side about half way up. It will be welded in and will be 1 inch square tubing. I went with square because it will be easy to manufacture tool hold, bucket holding, etc brackets.

One other thing that will go on the front is a set of 4 inch fixed casters. They will be used as bumpers to protect buildings before the lift itself would hit them. I really hate replacing R panels that get accidently dented in.

Hydraulics. My Montana hydraulics will have no problem with this. I've used a pallet up til now and have left things hanging from my forks to test their holding properties. One thing I do is I don't shut the tractor off when I have stuff up in the air, it helps keep the hydraulics up. I have three ways of taking the tractor out of gear so I have no fear of it slipping into gear. It would have to do a lot of gear shifting to do that.

EddieWalker:
I live about 28 miles NE of you. About a mile outside of Golden. We go into Tyler all the time shopping.

As to mounting the lift to my forks, my forks have a removable extension top that mounts with four only 1 inch bolts. I made a T post driver the bolts onto it using these 1 inch mounting holes. I am going to weld a railing with a mounting bar that will let me slid two or more bolts through the mounting holes and securely fasten the manlift to the forks. I am also considering adding a skid steer quick change mount, but I want to see how much a hassle the bolt on system is first. It will be plenty secure. I'm real big on making things safe.

I've been around ships on the Great Lakes a lot of my life, my dad was welding foreman at the ship yard and I've seen lots of chain ladders. I think that is what I'm going to try first as it is pretty easy to build these and you just throw the whole works over the edge of the lift when not in use. Also, if you happen to bump something while moving with the ladder down it will just bounce out of the way. I'll post more pictures when I get it mocked up.

I'll keep you updated with progress pictures as I'm off to the barn to do some more on it.

Cheers.

 

[mjncad]

Glenn:

I assume your Montana has a loader lockout lever to prevent accidental movement of the loader lever.

Please post pictures of the eyelet you mentioned earlier. Also I'm looking forward to seeing your chain ladder.

 

[radioman]

Looks like it coming along . please pardon my question - why is the railing fenced in at the top instead of having a door entrance ? As for me, I hate bending down to go under the railing. Standing all day cutting limbs in one place would make me stiff and I can imagine trying to get out .

 

[Stampeder]

Made some more progress on manlift.

As you can see above I temporarily secured it with a chain. You can see the holes in the forks mount plate where the one inch bolts go in. I discussed this earlier as to how I am going to do the securing on a permanent basis.

This is the opposite side from the entrance.

Here is the entrance side. It works really good getting into it from a ladder with a solid top rail as you have something really solid above your head to grab on to. It works even better getting down.
I have some pictures of it in operation while I cut a limb off a tree. But like anything, no matter how high up you are it always seems just a bit too short. I'll post those pictures in a day or so. I use my box blade as counter weight and it all works absolutely great. Feel very safe.

Have some casters to mount yet, a bit of weld cleanup and paint. I'm seriously considering adding 4 foot legs to the bottom. I'm thinking of drilling 1 inch holes in the bottom 6 inch channel pieces and then adding 2 or 3 inch square legs with 1 inch boles welded to a end cap plate that will secure the legs to the manlift. That way they would be removable. I will then weld a quick release mounting to it at the base of the legs.

Chain ladder will have to come first though.

For now I will be going with it as is. Need to get painting done and fields need work right now.

mjncad:

I'll get some pics of the clips today and examples of how I use them.

Enjoy the pictures.