I have a line on a set of forks that might work for me. They are missing the top rod? What size should the rod be? And is it soild? The forks are 4foot tall / 4 foot long. The hole at the the top is a 2 ibnch hole. If that is not right . let me know. I've only seen pictures of them. My bucket had hooks but are bent over and would need to be built/bought.
My I believe factory Case forks for my 580 SE is actually 2 rods a 2” and a 1” welded together, not sure if someone added the xtra rod. I had to straighten the rods out and now they slip right in the hooks.
My forks are aftermarket, but made in the US. The bar is 2” solid. Made out of 1144 stress proof steel. I have five brackets on my 96” front bucket. It does limit the available spacing options, but haven’t found a situation where they didn’t work. I have seen so many of those 3 support bucket with a rod that looks like a pretzel. Just not enough support for the rod.
I've seen forks without the bar. I figure someone had to cut it to get it off the bucket. I like the support part but 1144 is a poor choice if welding caps on the end. It will go with more hooks. It sound like the rod is 2".
Don’t understand why anyone would want to weld on caps on the bar. What do you do if you want to remove the bar? I used double split shaft retainers on mine. For about $15 each (2” shaft) you now make the bar serviceable. I knocked mine out myself on my lathe and milling machine. The 2” ID ones you can buy only have a 3”OD. I wanted something giving more surface area where it bears on the outside of the bucket brackets so I made mine about 3-5/8 OD. Adjust their placement on the bar by leaving about 1/2-3/4” clearance on the bucket bracket. It can move but not much.
Good plan I like that in place of welding.