Forks Pallet forks: How much weight can the tips handle?

[Gypsy Rose]

As I understand it, the weight rating for pallet forks is for a load on both tines at the mid-point. My question is, for a given mid-tine rating, how much weight can be put on the tips of the fork without bending or otherwise damaging them?

I plan to use a set of 1800 lb forks to place rocks on a stone retaining wall. While I may end up using slings for some of the stones, I'll probably place most of them by simply lifting with the tips of the forks.

Have any of you managed to bend your forks by overloading the tips?

Kevin

 

[lawn_king]

Forks bend easier than you would imagine. I myself have bent several trying to pry small stumps & rocks out of the earth! You are only going to be lifting, so you should be ok if you work smart? Use the sling on real big rocks or lift them in the middle of the forks and tilt/manhandle them onto place.

 

[niemeyjt]

Using the tip one fork (60 x 60 x 6 mm angle) to prise some stones out with a low power KBF200 loader I still managed to put a twist in the bar that runs across to which loader arms attach on one side and forks on other.

It may not be the bit you think that 'goes' first.

J

 

[Gypsy Rose]

My loader's capacity is only 800 lbs or so, and I've seen lots of comments about overkill with regard to capacity (i.e. buying forks with a 2K rating for a loader with less than half that capacity), but it seems that the rated capacity on the forks may be misleading if they're used for tasks other than lifting an evenly loaded pair of tines. Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else bent their forks?

 

[wkpoor]

I have a set of Bradco's I use on my JD 520 loader with at least 3xs the lift capacity you says yours is good for and I have been unable to bend the forks. I would say a CUT can't hurt any decent set of forks. In fact I have 8' extensions I use and haven't bent them yet either.

 

[Gypsy Rose]

That's good to know. I recently ordered a set of Construction Attachments forks (1800 lb capacity). (I went back and forth between those and the HLA (Horst). It would have taken more than a month to get the HLA's made up for my loader (not a QA), plus the price for the HLA's was a couple hundred dollars more.)

Before taking on the retaining wall (big stones), I wanted to find out if there's potential for damaging the tines by lifting the load out near the tips.

Kevin

 

[bstrom]

These forks are only rated for 600 lbs, which has got to be conservative. I'm pretty far out on there and did pry this rock up with the tips too. Don't know what it weighs but it's pretty darn heavy. I haven't bent them yet!

 

[Dargo]

Forks are generally pretty tough. I've pretzeled (I made up that word, okay?) some in the past, but I was really, really abusing them. I was using a 40k rough terrain lift to remove old railroad tracks from an area. It seemed to go pretty fast if I used the big life to pry out as big of a section of track as I could rip out and then come back with a D6 dozer to shove the gravel and ties our of the way. I never disconnected any of the track and just used the rough terrain lift to rip sections apart where they were connected. It saved time from getting a torch and cutting them apart. The scrap company didn't care if the track was all twisted up, they only went by the weight.

It went well for until I decided that I could go twice as fast if I ripped both tracks out at a time rather than just a single track as I had been doing. By yanking and jerking in an attempt to rip both tracks off I managed to twist up the forks. Still, I was money ahead with the time saved vs. what the forks cost but in no way was I using the forks in any manner for which they were designed. If you don't yank, my guess is that you wouldn't have any issues.

 

[lawn_king]

I bent a set of 36" king cutters with my kubota B3030 trying to pry out a small tree stump.

 

[beenthere]

I haven't bent my Deere forks (quick attach to 430 FEL) and I've pried with the tips to the max capacity of the curl to curl and the loader to lift. Don't know what they are rated at, but have felt I've gone overboard a few times. Dig boulders, try to lift boulders too big for the FEL, and pry 30 ft spruce tree stumps out. So far so good.
Anyone know what the forks are rated at?

Dargo. Some pics of that project would be great.