Pallet forks suppose to be loose or SSQA bracket improperly made?

Fallon · Dec 19, 2013

I just picked up a Quick Spade & when I went to test it out I noticed my forks were really loose. When I actually looked, the pins for the SSQA on the tractor had over a half an inch of space between the pins & the holes on the bottom of the fork frame. Are they suppose to be loose so they will self adjust a little when you are grabbing or dropping a pallet, or is an manufacturing problem? I hadn't had any issues with the forks previously. Thinking back they were a bit loose, but I didn't pay any attention. Now that I'm actually looking at things now & I'm thinking that slop will be beating up the SSQA pins or popping loose here sooner than later. The lever on the SSQA is all the way down in this pic & the pin engages tightly on my bucket. The frame on the forks does't look beat up, twisted or tweaked at all, so I'm pretty sure it was made that lose, right or wrong.

They are a set from palletforks.com & I seem to recall some people complaining about some problems with a SSQA on some forks from somewhere a little while back.

k0ua · Dec 19, 2013

They are supposed to be tight. You need to weld in some shims.. easy peazy fix.

sscrob · Dec 20, 2013

I have the same set and mine are just like yours. It does seem a little loose to me also but I moved over 1000 4x5 round bales with mine this year and the clearance didn't change from new. Never came loose either. I've thought about welding a tab over the hole to make it fit tighter.

k0ua · Dec 20, 2013

sscrob said:
I have the same set and mine are just like yours. It does seem a little loose to me also but I moved over 1000 4x5 round bales with mine this year and the clearance didn't change from new. Never came loose either. I've thought about welding a tab over the hole to make it fit tighter.

You should repair them. The grapples and forks, that were sloppy, have occasionally come off on one side and they usually twist the SSQA adapter. At least that has been reported here. My EA forks were just a little bit tight, I had to take a file to the hole to make the pins lock in easily. I would get out the welder and fix them.

James K0UA

sscrob · Dec 20, 2013

Never thought of it twisting the mount, that would be bad! Looks like a project for this weekend. Thanks for the motivation.

k0ua · Dec 20, 2013

sscrob said:
Never thought of it twisting the mount, that would be bad! Looks like a project for this weekend. Thanks for the motivation.

Yep better safe than sorry, What usually twists is the tube that goes between the two pads, Far easier to fix the holes with a shim than to fix that darn tube. Good luck

James K0UA

Fallon · Dec 20, 2013

Thought so, was looking for confirmation. Will get them sorted out here as soon as I can.

71bronco · Dec 20, 2013

Fallon said:
Thought so, was looking for confirmation. Will get them sorted out here as soon as I can.

I bought a set of forks off of Titan and mine are loose also. I guess I'll fix them this winter when I get around to it. You would think they would address this problem some time.

Jeff

TomSeller · Dec 20, 2013

For whatever reason SSQA manufacturers don't seem to be able to keep their manufacturing dimensions where these pins lock in within spec. Forks don't need as tight of a fit as say a grapple, but your's look to be quite far off of spec. Titan used to refund a dollar amount for you to get a local welder to fix it. I would contact them.

k0ua · Dec 21, 2013

TomSeller said:
For whatever reason SSQA manufacturers don't seem to be able to keep their manufacturing dimensions where these pins lock in within spec. Forks don't need as tight of a fit as say a grapple, but your's look to be quite far off of spec. Titan used to refund a dollar amount for you to get a local welder to fix it. I would contact them.

I don't understand why some of these manufactures cannot seem to keep the spec tighter. My EA manufactured Grapple was perfect. My Construction Attachment Forks which I bought thru EA had to be filed just a tad. It was a 5 minute job so no big deal. The 3rd party SSQA plate I welded onto my old Pin on Kubota bucket, fit my Kubota SSQA adapter perfectly but when I kept it and put in on the Kioti, I had to file it just a little bit also. So it seems there are some differences even in the adapters.

James K0UA

Fallon · Dec 21, 2013

We're sorry about the fit issue you are experiencing! I have a few options for you: if you know how to weld or know someone who does, some 1/4" shims welded in the top bracket of the pallet fork attachment should make it nice and tight. We could refund you some to offset the cost/ time of doing this. We can also do a frame swap for you. This won't be able to be set up until Monday and the holidays would delay the shipment of your new frame. Please let me know how you would like to proceed. Thank you for the picture too. It is always informative to be able to lay eyes on the issue.

Nice prompt response. Need to figure if I want to deploy my meager welding skill on it or have em swap em out.

wmonroe · Dec 21, 2013

My welding skills are somewhat limited but if it were me I would take the partial refund and weld shims in myself. Nice to see a quick response and good customer service these days, seems like an almost lost thing.

k0ua · Dec 21, 2013

Fallon said:
Nice prompt response. Need to figure if I want to deploy my meager welding skill on it or have em swap em out.

why dont you get some 1/4 inch materiel and practice making some lap joints. and then go for it. Did you see Chucke2009 posting his welding series yesterday? He covers lap joints. It will be less hassle to do it yourself, and you will feel very good about doing it.

James K0UA

TomSeller · Dec 21, 2013

Fallon said:
Nice prompt response. Need to figure if I want to deploy my meager welding skill on it or have em swap em out.

Good, they did step up as I thought and as they have for years. I have 3 of their devices and two were perfect, one was not.

It still blows me away as to why Titan and others don't just put some quality control in place, it would have to be less expensive for them.

Paul Thornton · Dec 21, 2013

Had the same problem with mine, Titan bent over backwards to resolve the problem.

L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake

TomSeller · Dec 21, 2013

Paul Thornton said:
L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake

How do you like your landscape rake? What do you use it for? I have been thinking of getting one.

ovrszd · Dec 21, 2013

As to your welding skills. In this case it won't take much to hold shims in place. If you can goober up a bead on each end/side of the shim it won't move. Not like it's carrying any load and is being smashed into place when the forks are loaded.

Herkypilot · Dec 21, 2013

This post http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/206260-gator-grapple-fix-kubota-ssqa.html has some detail about adding shims. I also did about the same thing to the lower brackets except I used a couple of 1/4" x 2" pieces instead of a whole bracket welded on top of the original. Fixed it right up and now it's tight.

ozley · Dec 21, 2013

I as wanting to get a pair of pallet forks & bail spears form PalletForks.com but with so many saying they need to have them fixed before they use them by welding on a shim I haven't done it. I have no way to do that or take they to be done. I didn't want to take the risk with my SS check.

71bronco · Dec 21, 2013

ozley said:
I as wanting to get a pair of pallet forks & bail spears form PalletForks.com but with so many saying they need to have them fixed before they use them by welding on a shim I haven't done it. I have no way to do that or take they to be done. I didn't want to take the risk with my SS check.

I wonder how many others read about the problems and decide to buy elsewhere. You would think that it would be a priority to fix the problem.

Jeff