Pallet Fork Length

   / Pallet Fork Length #31  
Captain Dirty said:
Clamp some boards to your bucket about where the forks would be (laterally), then paint stripes 36", 42", 48" from the SSQA plate to indicate where the fork tips would be. Climb into the operator's seat to get an idea of their visibility. (Note that the spacing of the bars on the fork frame varies from model to model and will have some impact on visibility. It will surely be different than your bucket.) I find it agravating to instinctively stand to get a better view and then kill the engine when I touch the pedal with an unweighted seat.
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Wish I’d had this advise when I bought my 48” forks!
Cabbed L4740 & haven’t found a body position that allows me to see the fork ends when trying to grab a pallet off the ground.
Couple of other considerations, I might be better off with 42” that don’t extend so far past the pallets, plus the top “notched adjusting rail” can sometimes be a pain. Neighbor has a set for his J D that has a round rod for the forks to slid on, looks a lot easier to adjust fork spacin.
 
   / Pallet Fork Length #32  
droy said:
Wish I’d had this advise when I bought my 48” forks!
Cabbed L4740 & haven’t found a body position that allows me to see the fork ends when trying to grab a pallet off the ground.
Couple of other considerations, I might be better off with 42” that don’t extend so far past the pallets, plus the top “notched adjusting rail” can sometimes be a pain. Neighbor has a set for his J D that has a round rod for the forks to slid on, looks a lot easier to adjust fork spacin.
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42" forks were always considered the handiest, after all you only need them to be over the pallet center of gravity.

The round rod system was often a detriment as when swinging in a tight aisle they could catch and become misaligned requiring the driver to dismount and reset them.
The notched were preferred in factories where all pallets were the same size while the sliding ones more popular where many sized pallets were more common.
 
   / Pallet Fork Length #33  
I like 48" for most things. 48" allows for me to set things further back in truck beds, or the center of a trailer. I can lift more logs / pipe / etch with a 48". They allow for me to get further under what I am lifting such as a trailer. In the woods or barn, I just watch what I am doing. I am not in that tight of quarters normally. However I am used to using machines that have 2500lb+ lift capacity.

A friend has 42" forks on his TC31DA and they seem right for the lift capacity. The shorter forks allow him to keep the load closer when working them under a heavy log, or something that you want to wedge under. So my vote go with 48" if you have lift. For OP I would strongly consider 42" due to limited lift on a Kioti CX2510.
 
   / Pallet Fork Length #34  
I have 48" forks, and for me they work great. I like being able to pick both rows of pallets off of the same side of the flatbed when I'm unloading pallets or IBC totes.

I got the 3000 lb frame and fork set, so there's less chance of me tweaking something if I'm a little rough digging something out of the ground with them.

No nanny-safe seat switches here, so if I need to stand up or sit forward to see, I can do so without a problem.
 
   / Pallet Fork Length #35  
RjCorazza said:
I have 42" forks that I can't see well. For this plowing season I installed front and rear cameras which will make seeing the forks easy - just haven't tried them with camera yet.
View attachment 731237
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Rj,

Not to derail the thread, but who's front blade attachment is that on your loader?

Link if you have one?
 
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