Need to build a clamp on blade for my loader for digging short trenches and holes to

Fallon · Aug 13, 2019

k0ua said:
But somehow, those of us that have actually built and operated these clamp on shovels in some pretty nasty ground conditions have managed to Not bend our buckets and our curl cylinder rods. I wonder how that could be?:confused3:

I managed to bend the bottom of my SSQA pallet forks frame back dragging with my fork spade on. Luckily it was just the fork frame & I was able to heat & beat it back in good enough shape with a sledge hammer. Would have been a lot worse if my curl cylinders had been the weak link when doing stupid things.

I've seen plenty of posts here on TBN about people bending curl cylinders, so they are a weak link in general. Most damage occurs when back dragging with the front end off the ground. That compresses the cylinders/rods. And with no lateral support they bend. Exactly what I did when breaking my fork frame actually. Pushing the bucket edge down like when driving a bucket spade into the ground pulls on rods/cylinders. There is really no no latteral force there so something else will break rather than bending the curl cylinders.

In short as long as you arent back dragging or forcing the bucket lip up you probably wont break things. But you can develop some unexpected forces in unexpected directions depending on how you are using your bucket spade.

k0ua · Aug 13, 2019

Well... You have to use common sense when doing almost anything with anything. Or you get an expensive "lesson". Best to learn things the easy way from others mistakes. Although some folks like to learn things the "hard and expensive" way. I have broken stuff too by doing stupid things. But I would like to think I have learned better and safer ways of doing things. The old timers used to call this "wisdom". As a kid I used to wonder just what that meant. Trouble is when you get old enough to actually have some you are about ready for the boneyard. But I am not there yet, and I do still learn things to "work smarter not harder" every day.

Fallon · Aug 14, 2019

k0ua said:
Well... You have to use common sense when doing almost anything with anything. Or you get an expensive "lesson". Best to learn things the easy way from others mistakes. Although some folks like to learn things the "hard and expensive" way. I have broken stuff too by doing stupid things. But I would like to think I have learned better and safer ways of doing things. The old timers used to call this "wisdom". As a kid I used to wonder just what that meant. Trouble is when you get old enough to actually have some you are about ready for the boneyard. But I am not there yet, and I do still learn things to "work smarter not harder" every day.

I'll 2nd that.

Although backdragging with down pressure causing issues isnt something that's obvious to most people, even if they are mechanically inclined.