Need advice on building forks

[jerrykn]

Howdy, I found some 48" forklift forks a shop had taken off to get longer forks, unused and fairly heavy duty.

I have been looking (online) at some that have a frame that uses forks so you can adjust the width (need that feature) and can be mounted either 3 point cat 1 or by removing the FEL bucket and use the same mounts for the forks as the bucket.
I can fab something that will work the same but I sure would like to make it a bit quicker to attach/remove from the FEL than the standard pins.
I've got a Kubota L35 so no quick attach, I'd like QA but right now I don't have the extra $600 + that it would seem to get the QA adapter to mount on the loader arms and a couple of brackets.

I don't want something that attaches to the bucket. That would make everthing stick out too far and I expect would lower the lift rating due to the extra weight and distance out from the pins.

So please- share your experience and thoughts.

Jerry

 

[tommu56]

I got some used forks too.
I got a used side shift carriage that the forks fit on.
only get the the 1st plate not the carrage with the wheels.
Then I welded angles on it for my 3ph the only problem I have is when its lowered its level and as I lift it up the fork tips start to tilt down.

top and tilt is next on my list to correct that.

tom

 

[3RRL]

If you don't have QA and don't want to attach them to your bucket, you are stuck with removing pins from your loader arms. That's what I'm going to do. The frame for the forks will need to fit the loader pin locations. I thought about making a QA, but didn't want that extra length my bucket and forks would be sitting out there. I don't plan on switching that often, so it's no big deal to me.

As far as the fork frame, make it so you have connections for the 3pt.
I guess that's what you're wanting to do, right? Just add those connections to the back of the for frame. They shouldn't get in the way of using them on the loader.

I too have the side shift frame and cylinder for it but man, each of those frames are super heavy!
I'd like to have the side shift feature since I have hydraulics up front and in back, but that added weight bums me out. Perhaps I'm over reacting since my loader lifts 2500lbs anyway? Maybe, for what I'll be unloading, the added side shift frame weight won't make any difference? I'm not sweating the 3pt because it's a lot stronger than the loader.

 

[witterbound]

I just added a QA to my FEL, and bought a loader pallet fork attachment.

My forks were about $200 less because the shop didn't have to fabricate the pin part of the pallet fork attachment.

If you're going to switch between attachments very often, bite the bullet and switch to QA.