What do you do with your forks?

[PILOON]

One thing for sure, he should refer to his tractor as 'HE' and not 'SHE' judging by rear wheel.
Good thing that pix wasn't taken near a fire hydrant.

 

[PILOON]

One thing for sure, he should refer to his tractor as 'HE' and not 'SHE' judging by rear wheel.
Good thing that pix wasn't taken near a fire hydrant.

 

[Xfaxman]

One thing for sure, he should refer to his tractor as 'HE' and not 'SHE' judging by rear wheel.
Good thing that pix wasn't taken near a fire hydrant.

Yep I also thought about a dog lifting a rear leg. :laughing:

He just likes to lift one rear wheel off of the ground, look at his Avatar!

-----

See, he did it again!

 

[Sodo]

See, he did it again!

Man if I had to go hook up the ballast every time a wheel lifted I wouldn't get anything done at all. And if I had to set a plastic fire hydrant for every photo,,,,,,

Where I was working yesterday I lifted a wheel maybe 10, 20 times, but it would be impossible for a larger tractor to get in there and do that work, so kind of a moot point. Small tractor is a blessing for some things, a curse for others.

I see some fellas with a large one and a small one, that's pretty handy, but it's more eqpt, more storage, more money all kinds of things. I'm still trying to justify having a (small) excavator (but winning) .

 

[aeblank]

What else is on the back? In other words, why can't you hook up the ballast and leave it there?

Along the same lines, get a QH. I went from blade to trailer mover to blade to trailer mover all within an hour. It was PAINLESS.
$100 at Harbor Freight well spent. =)

 

[Sodo]

What else is on the back? In other words, why can't you hook up the ballast and leave it there?

Not a chance ! Filled rear tires is becoming appealing
but the cost is not ($1,000 :shocked: ) and you can't get the value back at resale.

Along the same lines, get a QH. I went from blade to trailer mover to blade to trailer mover all within an hour. It was PAINLESS.
$100 at Harbor Freight well spent. =)

I might have to look at QH arrangements, everything I put on back there means in a few minutes I will need something else.

Depending on size of tractor and size of trailers, maybe you can put a trailer ball on your backblade.

 

[aeblank]

Seems like at some point you're tempting fate (and I'm not the safety police at all). Loaded tires will help, but as you probably know a counterweight is farther back (better).

Do what you will, but none of us want to see your face on the news........if you know what I mean.

 

[Sysop]

Seems like at some point you're tempting fate (and I'm not the safety police at all). Loaded tires will help, but as you probably know a counterweight is farther back (better).

Do what you will, but none of us want to see your face on the news........if you know what I mean.

+1 but I'd be saying also that it will increase the lifespan of the machine overall. Doesn't take much searching to see many of the catastrophic failures seen across all brands of tractors has been the front steering; almost all of which could be prevented by having not repeatedly overload the front ends. A front wheel assist tractor such as that isn't meant to propel the full weight of the machine plus load with the front axle all the time, and with the back tires off the ground there is no other way to move.

$1000 in loaded tires doesn't offload any weight from the front, but it does let you drive with the main drive axle (rear) and let the front assist just merely assist. How much are all the typical front axle components that could potentially fail? How much is preventing expensive downtime to you? I'd think of the $1000 is an insurance policy towards keeping it in operating condition.

 

[piercedtiger]

Not a chance ! Filled rear tires is becoming appealing
but the cost is not ($1,000 :shocked: ) and you can't get the value back at resale.



I might have to look at QH arrangements, everything I put on back there means in a few minutes I will need something else.

Depending on size of tractor and size of trailers, maybe you can put a trailer ball on your backblade.

Have you considered filling the tires yourself? I bought a $9 adapter off Amazon (http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V9T6YI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ), a 3' section of hose (free if you already have one, like a washer hookup), and used a submersible pump to pump wash fluid in my tires myself. The chart shows you how much to put in http://www.rimguard.biz/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Hydro-Flation-tables-2014-PDF.pdf I was able to fit an extra gallon in each of my rear tires above what they said, but it gives you an idea how much to buy anyway!

Also, my BB is a metal frame with plywood bottom, back, and sides. I have a couple logs in there now, with PVC on the side as tool holders. I can take the logs out and stack things in to carry everything, hang chains off it, carry shovels and rakes, etc. So it's more than just a concrete block that's not useful for anything other than dead weight.

 

[aczlan]

Seems like at some point you're tempting fate (and I'm not the safety police at all). Loaded tires will help, but as you probably know a counterweight is farther back (better).

Do what you will, but none of us want to see your face on the news........if you know what I mean.

Ayep. We had a tractor at work that went through two front axles this winter because it had too much weight on the front axle. We put a 2000 (ish) pound weight box on the 3 point and it took around 2500 pounds off the front axle (numbers are slightly fuzzy, but adding the weight box took more than its weight off of the front axle).

Aaron Z

 

[Sodo]

Having any tractor at all is dangerous. So are motorcycles, chainsaws, ATV, driving on 2-way streets, guns, snowmobiles, families you name it. Some don't do anything dangerous but let their health go to h***. :shocked:

Watch it they call that the 30-year self-injury, it's more dangerous than tractoring. If I'm permitted to offer safety advice I say any of you fellas need to turn that around right away don't screw around.

Some people do more some less and I'm havin' a good old time. Anyway I hear ya, I like to keep my wits and agility too while I've still got them (and all my parts). But I get stuff done thats why I have a tractor. It's a very versatile machine.

Plus its springtime - and we all know that in the springtime an old farts fancy turns to ,,,,,, tractoring!

I'm not that much of an old fart but I'm starting the training !

 

[TomSeller]

Curious why the middle hook is facing forward, or do you lift from the back of your bucket with that one?

 

[Sysop]

Curious why the middle hook is facing forward, or do you lift from the back of your bucket with that one?

Good eye. I was looking more at the treads in the last picture. Looks like the fronts are wore way more than the rears.

 

[Sodo]

Curious why the middle hook is facing forward, or do you lift from the back of your bucket with that one?

Yep I'm kinda limited to lifting power, can get a bit more at the back (but stuff gets close to the grill guard).

Not sure what this tractor was used for but with the front tires worn down like that either they came off another tractor or this thing carried a lot of front weight during its life. The seals are weeping. I got it at 900 hrs.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

What do you do with your forks?

My pallet forks are my MOST used tool, that goes on my loader... It's used for everything from cleaning the gutters with a man lift,

Lifting building materials, or in this case, setting a 30' beam,

Pulling boulders out of hay fields,

And "setting" them, when I get them home,

Picking and loading big bales,

Then there's logging,

And the firewood that goes with it,

There's loading logs on the BSM,

AND dealing with all the lumber those logs produce,

And dealing with all the slabs and scrap off the sawmill,

even pulling an engine,

geeeeeeze, I could go on and on and on! lol

SR

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Not sure what this tractor was used for but with the front tires worn down like that either they came off another tractor or this thing carried a lot of front weight during its life. The seals are weeping. I got it at 900 hrs.

That's a sure sign that it was run with the MFWD engaged all the time...and some of it on hard packed ground and pavement!

SR

 

[aczlan]

That's a sure sign that it was run with the MFWD engaged all the time...and some of it on hard packed ground and pavement!

And probably run fairly often with enough weight in the bucket to pick the back end up off the ground

Aaron Z

 

[Leejohn]

quote; Not a chance ! Filled rear tires is becoming appealing
but the cost is not ($1,000 ) and you can't get the value back at resale.

A $1000.00 to load your rear tires, no way I would pay that!!!!!! It only cost me $80.00 for my B7800, at a tire place.

 

[aczlan]

A $1000.00 to load your rear tires, no way I would pay that!!!!!! It only cost me $80.00 for my B7800, at a tire place.

Even loading with WWF, they will take around 21 gallons per tire (assuming a 12.4-16 tire), that would be $80 in fluid, plus an adapter ($10: Slime® Air/Water Adapter Kit with Bleeder Valve - Tractor Supply Co. ) and a drill pump ($9: Water Source Drill Pump - Tractor Supply Co. ).
Total $100+tag to add just under 350# to the back of your tractor.

Aaron Z

 

[jodebg]

Wooden forks passed the test again today.



I needed to lift and place some stones in the back of a garden bed. I set
the forks closer together and secured them with some wooden braces and straps.

Easily lifted and set the stones in place while not having to drive into the mulched and planted garden bed.
Great additional extension allowing me to work further ahead of the front tires and avoid damage to the finished beds.


Also used them to place flat stones higher up on a steep bank than I would have been able to with just the bucket.

Made the days work a lot easier and faster!!

Wooden forks did the job today.

Sold my MMM to a fellow TBN member in Arkansas and needed to move my it from storage in the icy woods, to inside my cargo van.
Not owning a set of forks, I had to fabricate a set out of wood.Today was the test run and they did great. Easily lifted
the mower with it positioned perpendicular to the bucket. Use one HD strap to secure them to the bucket, placed a scrap
piece on pressed board over the forks, slid the pallet on, View attachment 406646View attachment 406647View attachment 406648View attachment 406649View attachment 406650View attachment 406651View attachment 406652and off we went. Posted some photos below.