Quick lower bucket edge straightening

[Car Doc]

I discovered another use for my clamp on forks today. I had bent my lower bucket edge last weekend moving a large brush pile and hit a stump bending my bucket edge.

It was bent more than I was willing to live with so today I got the bright idea of trying one of the forks upside down and putting down pressure on the bucket it worked and I mean quick be careful it surprised me!

I wish I had a before pic but I had it straight before I could think about it I hope this helps someone wondering what to do about those dang bent buckets they drive me nuts!

 

[Deere Dude]

I discovered another use for my clamp on forks today. I had bent my lower bucket edge last weekend moving a large brush pile and hit a stump bending my bucket edge.

It was bent more than I was willing to live with so today I got the bright idea of trying one of the forks upside down and putting down pressure on the bucket it worked and I mean quick be careful it surprised me!

I wish I had a before pic but I had it straight before I could think about it I hope this helps someone wondering what to do about those dang bent buckets they drive me nuts!

I'm glad it worked out well. I was looking for a set of forks and I was concerned about clamp on forks bending my bucket. I suppose if it straightened yours easily, they would probably bend my bucket just as easily.

 

[Car Doc]

I'm glad it worked out well. I was looking for a set of forks and I was concerned about clamp on forks bending my bucket. I suppose if it straightened yours easily, they would probably bend my bucket just as easily.

:laughing::laughing: Yeah they will you have to be sensible about it but look at it this way you can turn them over and fix it!

I wasn't using them to move the brush pile I had the bucket curled under and pushing it with that btw.

I see you have 3720 nice its about the same size as my YM3810D you would find a lot of uses for the forks fwtw.

 

[clemsonfor]

you could always weld about a 1/4 inch piece of flat stock inside the bucket for structural integrity and would not hinder loading or digging to much, id think. Would not give as much strength as angle iron, but that would hinder loading of the bucket. Just a though, i dont have a bucket by the way.

 

[jtokc]

I'm glad it worked out well. I was looking for a set of forks and I was concerned about clamp on forks bending my bucket. I suppose if it straightened yours easily, they would probably bend my bucket just as easily.

I was also worried about bending my bucket with clamp on forks. I ended up getting forks that chain on. The chain runs from the back of the fork, under the bucket then back up over the top of the bucket and attach back to the fork using a ratcheting load binder.

 

[Car Doc]

What I do when I have a good sized load like a 4'x4'x4' box of firewood to bring inside the shop is use a chain from one bucket hook out and around the fork tips and back to the other bucket hook and binder it. That way the forks are not bearing the load completely.

Similar to what 1401's technique is.

I don't have it done yet but I have toyed with the idea of chains welded on each fork and a cheap binder that can stay on the forks but haven't had time to mess with it this winter.

 

[jtokc]

Here's a picture of the chain on forks

 

[BurningBushFarm]

OK. Got me curious.

Hubby and I have already had a discussion about teeth on the bucket.

Can y'all give me some links ... for the chain on forks, clamp on teeth, whatever, so we could put some "teeth in our bucket," so to speak?

See? He's into my tractor. But still lets me do all the driving. :laughing:

 

[jtokc]

OK. Got me curious.

Hubby and I have already had a discussion about teeth on the bucket.

Can y'all give me some links ... for the chain on forks, clamp on teeth, whatever, so we could put some "teeth in our bucket," so to speak?

See? He's into my tractor. But still lets me do all the driving. :laughing:

Just do a search on "Loader forks" or "tractor loader" on ebay or amazon and all manner of tractor loader toys show up. I found mine on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Loader-Forks-Bu...854?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad1661516

 

[Car Doc]

I got mine from somewhere in Colorado found them on the internet they are the light weight 1200lb rated units and were about $395.

I may have posted something on here somewhere about it you could search there are a bunch of folks here that have them and what they think about them. hth

 

[California]

I ended up getting forks that chain on. The chain runs from the back of the fork, under the bucket then back up over the top of the bucket and attach back to the fork using a ratcheting load binder.

I made a pair of forks like that. They work great.

 

[BurningBushFarm]

Thanks. I was being a little lazy.

Question Car Doc - what's hth?

Second time I've seen it, and it's one of those I've missed -- or your initials?

California -- that's the kind of thing my husband will come up with. I'll show him the pictures. Thanks.

But we still want teeeth too.

 

[Car Doc]

BBF,

Hope That Helps!

 

[crash325]

I discovered another use for my clamp on forks today. I had bent my lower bucket edge last weekend moving a large brush pile and hit a stump bending my bucket edge.

It was bent more than I was willing to live with so today I got the bright idea of trying one of the forks upside down and putting down pressure on the bucket it worked and I mean quick be careful it surprised me!

I wish I had a before pic but I had it straight before I could think about it I hope this helps someone wondering what to do about those dang bent buckets they drive me nuts!

If you had a Hard Edge on your bucket, it would be really hard to bend it. The normal bucket edge will wear away fairly soon anyway.

 

[Car Doc]

crash,

Agreed, however I have a light duty bucket and am stuck with its weaknesses for now.

At least I can undo one of the quirks it has pretty easily with the forks. Now I just have to be more careful and had hoped to point that out to others with the same problem. :thumbsup:

 

[clemsonfor]

It will only bend so many times. Once bent it will easily bend back, will eventually streach and then will tear. Id weld something onto it to strengthen it if i were going to use those things much.

 

[Neat 1500]

after moving a ton of broken concrete,picking up large tree stumps,pulling old fences and posts out over the last couple of weeks my bucket looks a little worse for wear also. the fork clamps have almost pierced thru the bucket from the weight. need to straighten her up and reinforce it before they do break thru.

 

[Car Doc]

The place on my bucket where I usually put my clamps already has a 4" wide x 1/2" thick stiffener/wear plate welded in under the bucket at the spot where pallets have to be picked up at but even at that they put one **** of a lot of strain on it if there is a lot of weight involved.
(bad me):laughing:

The mod that mine needs anyway is pieces of rectangular tubing welded on the forks at 90 deg up to about the top of the bucket and chain from the tops of them back to upper bucket edge.

I bought the light set not knowing any better at the time but the medium and heavy duty sets have these braces already and the forks are just a bit longer to accommodate the extra 2".

With all that said its still one of the handiest things I ever had on a tractor.

I have done so many things with them that I didn't overload them that saved me getting on and off the tractor to hook chains up etc.