Your pressure needs to go up to lift it faster. Basically, you're using full flow, but only building about half of what a normal hydraulic system pressure would be. A smaller cylinder would lift the load faster and still be under the normal operating pressure of 2000 to 2500 psi.
Nobody can tell you what your driving horsepower should be because we don't know your tractor weight or what kind of terrain you are operating on. For just driving around on flat land moving a 4000lb load, i'd guess 5hp assuming you have a hydrostatic transmission and can creep very slowly. I would not make a forklift attachment for a geared tractor. 8ft is too high to lift without making it really unstable from popping the clutch.
Nobody can tell you what your driving horsepower should be because we don't know your tractor weight or what kind of terrain you are operating on. For just driving around on flat land moving a 4000lb load, i'd guess 5hp assuming you have a hydrostatic transmission and can creep very slowly. I would not make a forklift attachment for a geared tractor. 8ft is too high to lift without making it really unstable from popping the clutch.