At some point or other we all wish we had a fork lift or a fork attachment for our skid or wheel loader. Looking at the yard, I realized that everything looked bulky and heavy. The use of the bucket on my Trojan 1500Z to do the work wasn't cutting it. Started shopping around the web and everything that looked good was priced between $5,000 and $15,000. NO WAY ... I then started looking at the scrap I had for a DIY Fork Attachment. I had a broken Alamo Mower that looked like I could build a carriage frame. The bucket modification would have to be done whether I purchased one or made one. Pickup some heavy duty forks on Purplewave for $105. The fork eye is 2-1/2" and weigh about $150 lbs each. Follow along as I build a truly a heavy duty Fork Attachment. I cut off part of the frame support from the mover as it measured 65" wide and with some modification, it would work as a carriage. I pickup some 2-1/2 shafts from a hydraulic shop. At this point I moved the carriage up to the forks to make some measurements for plates to attach to the frame and bucket. I made paper cut-outs for each piece to make sure they were accurate. The parts were drawn up on AutoCad to be plasma cut. The plates are dead on as far as dims go and the cuts were very smooth. The only grinding required was the the ID on the plates where the shafts go into the plate. There wa a slight burr where the plasma started and stopped. The forks and carriage were plumb and level. It is obvious that the Fork Attachment is being built in the field.
Continued to work on the Fork Attachment over the week end, Added additional support at the center where the forks meet. Also fitted as many of the brackets as I could. Looking at the assembly, it seemed as though were very several miles of welding a head. Next will be the bucket attachment
Haven't worked on this project in the last 4 days. Will try to get a full 8 hr day today and see if I can finish up and get ithe Fork Attachment ready for paint which I hate with a passion. The welding with Ranger 8 is is going well and runs smooth 95% of the time. It's the only labor I have on the project. More progress picks later today.
This is the AutoCad Dwg that was used for the plasma to cut out the parts for the fork attachment. All of the holes for the pins were tight to begin with and after the plates were welded in place, all the pins remained a slip fit. Apparently there was no distortion of the 1" material.
Made some progress on the Fork Attachment. The Fork Hook required a little more work. Had to cut down the lead on the hook to clear the pin on the bucket. In this photo the tube was cut down to the top of the first hole. Drilled 1" weld-plug holes on 3 sides to hold the hooks on to the tube. This photo shows how the metal on the tube was moulded around the hook. It gives the part a finished look. Still have a lot of wlding to do like fill in the plug holes and the 4 X 4's are only partially welded.
Mounted the Fork attachment to the loader bucket to see how it fit and functioned. Very happy with the results. Worth every bit of the time I spent building. Unless I purchased an attachment that replaces the bucket ($18,000) anything else would have to be custom built. Thanks for following along. All the structural steel was from scrap that I had in the yard. Total out of pocked cost was less than $500. Will post a final pic after the welding is finished, wire brushed and painted.