My Personnel Lift Project

[wroughtn_harv]

Spence why are you buying attach plates?

Heck you can make your own and chances are most likely they will be stronger and much more better than the production ones cause you're not going to be obsessed with cutting corners.

I made the set up for my back hoe thingy and I've hooked it up to Bobcat without a problem. Monday I'm going to attach it to a Case 1845C and I'm sure there will not be a problem.

It isn't magic. It's just a set of measurements. Do it!

 

[Spencer]

Harv,
I was going to ask you if you made your own, if figured you did. Any plans, pictures, or ideas?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Spence,

I haven't given you much input on this project because I've never been much into this kind of thing. You see I work and just about always have by myself.

For me the concept of having a personnel lift on the front of a tractor seems to involve one person in the lift and another in the tractor. I can stretch but not that far.

You were talking about using this for a pole barn. I've done one or two. And I've never used a personnel lift to do it. I probably did it different than the way it's usually done and maybe wrong.

I don't mind ladders. I'm comfortable on scaffolding. And I've always been lucky that when I fell it was in such a way that I ended up mostly with the pride hurt more than anything else.

So on this project I'm watching and taking notes. There might be a test later.

 

[Spencer]

Harv, we were just about to leave today to go to the in-laws so I didn't have much time to write. What I mean't was that I thought you probably made your own quick-tach plates, not a personnel lift. I was wondering what type and thickness of metal you used? If I made on it would be attached between the 2 levels to the 2" square tubing on the 60" side of the lift. It looks like the top and bottom of these quick-tach plates are at a 45 degree angle and I wondered what method you thought would be best for fabricating that.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Harv,
I also do a good bit of work by myself. I still find some jobs, the lift is very handy for. I have a multi-level platform, about 9' to top platform. I just lay a short extension ladder on the lower platform, travel to job site, lay the ladder off, position the lift, set the ladder up to lower platform to reach the ladder on the side of the platform.
with one of my tractors, I think it puts my platform above 20' working heighth. It is still short enough to take down the street without taking the safety rails off & get under wires.

Search for "9' between platforms" to see attachment.

 

[rotr]

Spencer

I personnally think that the uin-hitch is the way to go. You can fabricate your own attach plate for the "cage" .

Also, you might think about adding an access hatch in the floor of the upper deck so you can (if need be) reach below to the bottom level. Just a thought!

Ron

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Neil,

I looked at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/33-147252-WorkPlatform.JPG>all the pictures</A> of your personnel lift. I'm curious as to what kind of work you do with it.

Last year I installed a massive job at the new Cooks Medical Center in Ft Worth. All the blue fencing around the new parking garage. We had a scissor lift that went forty five feet high there. It was invaluable. But then there was just one man and myself installing panels that weighed two to four hundred pounds by ourselves at times.

Someone mentioned a small bit of timidity at height in another thread. That scissor lift at full extension was shakey enough to stop a strong heart at times. But then not everyone gets the opportunity to go to work and send the pulse rate through the ceiling without a physical effort or a female in sight. It was Six Flags for pay in a way.

Some of those panels were sixteen feet wide and twelve feet high and built on a bias. First we put them in place to mark where to drill the anchor holes. Then we removed the panel and drilled the holes and attached the brackets. Then it was back up with the panel and then installing it into the brackets. Each panel was made for each opening. On a bunch of them they were off just a bit. That bit was a bite that bit and bit and bit and bit somedays.

 

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>I don't think I will be concerned about slipping</font color=blue>

I'm glad you have the required traction.

The stuff I was talking about <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.gripstrut.com/>gripstrut</A> is different than diamondplate. Diamondplate would have been slipperyer than the expanded metal.

Looking forward to seeing your project when it's completed.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Harv,
Mostly just use it around the farm. Repair security lites. Trim trees. Work on tv antenna. Repair wires on telephone poles, ETC. Have used it few times to set air conditioners on top of 2 story buildings. Hang gutters, etc.
I just feel safer on it, than on a ladder leaning against a telephone pole.

 

[Spencer]

RadMan,
Thanks again for the tip on the Bobcat quick-tach plates. I did find a dealer and picked one up today. The cost was 78 plus tax. I wish I had known I could get one for that kind of money before I started the project. I guess I should bounce all my ideas off you guys before I act on them. The Bobcat plate will have to be modified a little bit. The square holes for the locking pins will have to be enlarged to accomodate the spacing of the pins on my Kasco Uni-Hitch.

Here is a pic of the Bobcat Quick-Tach plate.