Optimal Shape of Brush Fork tines?

[2manyrocks]

Many have built their own brush forks at TBN for years now sticking to pretty much straight lengths of stock probably for ease of fabrication, ready access to straight tubing, and cost.

Looking at the way grapples are being built, many have curved tines that would seem to resist bending and would seem to better nestle material than plain straight forks. Similar curved tines for brush forks could be cut with a plasma cutter.

I'm seriously thinking about making a set of forks and wondering if curved tines are the way to go?

 

[Vigo327]

I suspect the curve serves multiple purposes, the two you mentioned PLUS just not being as likely to suddenly dig in and try to 'pole vault' the thing when you are just trying to skim along the ground.

Technically you could accomplish much the same thing with a simple angle/bend on the front of a straight piece. I suspect the curve is nice but not enough better to justify the extra work of creating it vs just putting one angle in the front of your otherwise straight simple forks and then just tilting the bucket down so that part is parallel to the ground when driving it under the pile you are trying to lift.

Definitely show us what you come up with!

 

[old and tired]

...and wondering if curved tines are the way to go?

Depends on what you need to do with the forks. If you need to rip things out of the ground, yes curved tines would be stronger and better. If you are picking up large piles of brush, longer straight ones work better.

I have a landscape rake to get things into a pile but does nothing to pick up the piles...

What do you need / want the brush forks to do???

 

[jeff9366]

Grapples have curved tines that would seem to resist bending and would seem to better nestle material than plain straight forks.


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[2manyrocks]

My needs are simple. I just want to be able to slide the forks under light brush, pick it up, and move it without it sliding off. The forks will be used on a 25hp Kubota L2501. So no heavy logs.

I have used straight forks. They are good for penetrating a pile of brush, but I am bad about digging them into the ground while trying to get under the pile. I've bent some lighter duty forks doing that.

Another option as mentioned by Vigo327 is to incorporate a retention tip like this one on the MTL Attachments grapple. https://www.mtlattachments.com/atta...pple-hydraulic-brush-grapple-attachment-wk53p

For me, it's no big deal to cut a curve with a plasma cutter. I would cut the profile on a piece of wood and then use it as a cutting template with the plasma cutter.

Part of what I'm wrestling with is using suitable tine material. I thought about hay spear points, but they seemed overpriced relative to what I can buy scrap metal for. The more I looked at various grapples, it seems that I should be able to make some pretty strong tines by using 3/8 thick metal and cutting it to an appropriate width for the length of the tine. Say 3/8 x 3 1/2 x 36.

The other design aspect I want to incorporate is some kind of headache rack to keep the material from sliding back onto the tractor. I have a front brush guard made with expanded metal, but I believe the headache rack feature will actually let me carry more material in bulk while keeping it further away from the tractor itself.

I believe the standard Kubota bucket is 240 lbs. Would like to keep the overall weight in that neighborhood. I suspect Kubota's engineers have already carefully thought through the weight issues.

 

[Vigo327]

I have heard i think Ted at EA mention that part of the reason there is a round pipe set so close to the end of the tines is not just for strength but also as a 'depth stopper' so that you don't accidentally feed the tines far enough into the ground to 'hard stop' the tractor and potentially bend the loader. So the fact that it is round pipe and not just a flat/square/angle bar actually helps it serve as a sliding 'skid shoe' sort of thing in that role. So you may want to design in some kind of depth stopper pipe thing as well to keep from accidentally digging in too far if you're not trying to build a digging implement.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm glad you brought that up. Traditional spaced tines would penetrate a brush pile more easily, but the round pipe you mention does act as a stop as well as reinforcing the tines. Tines that are cut to a curve from flat material would have resistance to downward bending, but I suspect have less resistance to sideward bending unless reinforced with tube and gussets. There seem to be some grapple designs where the tines only have gussets on the sides for more penetration. So there is that aspect to consider.

 

[Renze]

When i bought my front loader bucket 15 years ago, i cut out five 2x1.5" bars which the previous owner intended to push silage up a clamp with. I kept these bars all these years to make a brush fork from them. My idea is that i want short tines, stuck through and welded in a square tube, and that my clamp will have a high hinge point so that the grapple clamps more horizontal than vertical, and pulls more brush on the forks, and not quite clamping down.

I will be following your efforts, as i have a tractor to restore, and a log splitter to build first

 

[old and tired]

So my brush forks were a wee bit long but you can pick up a ton of stuff. It's rusting away (not sure where) once I got my grapple, these were forgotten about....

 

[2manyrocks]

Honestly, that's a good design and a great example of the kind of forks that many have built here. Do you remember how long these forks were and what wall thickness of tubing you used? The details are worth noting here for anyone else thinking through the design issues.

Because I keep stabbing the ground, I'm sort of leaning towards a design that would act as runners that could be run on the round under the material but have a round tube to limit the depth that I could run the tines into the ground. I'm also thinking that I want something with a curvature to act as a cradle so when I tilt the tines backwards for transport, the material is going to want to stay in place. I would also incorporate a retention tooth at each end of the tine.

I think I need at least one center tine to keep from bending the front tube. Maybe two center tines?

I should have mentioned that my L2501 has the quick attach loader. My intention is to build forks for the QA mount so I am not limited by having to adapt forks to the Kubota bucket.