POST YOUR PICTURES OF FORKS?

[Mark_in_NH]

Neal,
Nice work. You just have have to love a creative mind.

 

[jdrotert]

Neal, I have a mission for you. Post pics of ALL your homemade attachments in a new thread, ASAP!! I needed a brush fork just like in your pic this last weekend. Now I will make one! Needed a little encouragement I guess.

 

[JRP]

Well thanks for all the replies to this post. I got some good ideas. My forks are almost done, for now. They use pin type connection for the forks. The are hell for stout because they are now used on the 3pt of my M6800. I put them under an oil fiels skid and picked up the fron tires of my tractor, so they are strong enough. I need front balast shaped like a loader.

I still have a guard rack that fits on top. It will bolt on, probably tomorrow if it stops raining. One inch yesterday, four inches today!.

When I get a loader I'll convert this with a bobcat type quick hitch. Then it will be on the front instead of the back.

Thanks for a great forum.

JR Pokes.

 

[JRP]

A side vew.

 

[OkieG]

The variety of fork set-ups pcitured in this forum has been interesting and entertaining. My version is homemade clamp-ons, but different from any I've seen elsewhere. Originally, my forks were a single fork scavenged from a steel scrapyard. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

OkieG

 

[OkieG]

Sometimes being able to apply a little down-pressure is a good thing...to help flatten a brush pile, etc.

 

[OkieG]

Bottom view...just for fun.

OkieG

 

[knucklehead]

Okie - I'd like to know how you split that fork, if that is what you meant by Originally, my forks were a single fork scavenged from a steel scrapyard. Bandsaw? Plasma cutter? Did you have to do a lot of grinding?

 

[JerryG]

Here are my forks. They are not as clean as the most that have been shown. I made them about three years ago and have used them a lot on the farm. They are unique in that the retaining bolts don’t clamp on the bucket. There is a 3” x 10” channel that the bolts clamp on. That way the bucket doesn’t have dimple marks all over it.

 

[OkieG]

Mark,
The forks were originally just one fork. The original was 6" wide, 52" from tip to inside bend at the elbow, and just over 1 3/4" thick. With the forks next to each other you get a good sense that they were once one fork, but I don't know if the picture conveys that very well.
To split the fork I used my trusty circular saw with a metal cutting abrasive blade . The blades come in 7-7 1/4" sizes which fit a circular saw perfectly (blade leaning against saw). Just clamp an upright 1x4 along one edge of the fork to use as a fence. Use a piece of wood as a spacer between the saw and fence to center the saw blade and away you go. Tiip: Check the blade for squareness to the base of the saw frequently to assure a perpendicular cut. Another Tip: Very shallow cuts work best.

Advantages:
1. Narrow kerf...not much fork width lost in the cutting process.
2. The cut is very straight, the edges are smooth.
3. NO grinding required.

Disadvantages:
1. Time consuming.

The process is NOT hard to do, just time intensive. As I recall, it took 8-10 hours to split the fork and the saw went through a half dozen blades or so. I did all my cutting on one weekend. A friend built a similar set and cut an hour at a time over a couple weeks.
If you decide to tackle the job, you won't be disappointed with the results.

OkieG