Homemade Attachments for Forklifts Skidsteers and Other Equipment

[Landslide]

I know that feeling.

Yeah I have a bunch of that going on here.

This is a boom/cherry picker stick I’m going to make next. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep it as long as it is or shorten it some. I’ll try it as is first I guess.

It came off of one of those old school construction warning signs. I got two of them 20 plus years ago. They were the trailer type and had jacks on all four corners of the trailer. The huge sign would be hydraulically raised up. The sign was lit up with black lights and had Florissent green dots they would configure to spell out the message they wanted. I still have the trailers and the lift cylinders. One trailer I converted over to my chassis fab table. When I’m use I level it out with leveling feet and when I’m done I put the tires and trailer hitch back on it and move it back outside under my leanto. The other trailer I’m going to convert into a small 5’x10’ flatbed trailer. I’m currently using my fab table

 

[Firstram]

Cool table but it makes my shins hurt!

 

[willis_racing]

45acp made a cool ass little addition to a tractor blade to move trailers around, so I took some pics of all the shit dad's cooked up over the years.

Full 3 point receiver

Other quick release 3pt has a 2 5/16 ball welded on the top for moving goose necks

Most recent one, a set of fork extension thingies with some slip fit on the end. Makes controlling the trailer kind of touchy, but it also makes it so you can practically back trailers around blind corners at a 90* angle or tighter.

 

[AKnate]

I whipped this together today. It slides over one fork rail on a set of pallet forks for my track loader. It’ll be used to move trailers around when needed and flip it around and use the chain hook for cherry picker work. The chain hook primary task is a safety chain hookup to the pallet fork headache rack to prevent the trailer from pulling the plate off of the fork when moving the trailer on a hill.

Once I get some time, I’m going to start on a boom attachment for the loader also. I’ve had the boom part for 20 years now and just picked up a skid steer loader blank mounting plate via some horse trading with a buddy of mine. I’ll post it up when the time comes.

Your track loader has a quick tach plate, must be a small machine?

On my 977, I have to hammer out the pins to switch from a bucket to forks. I have a bucket that the forks slip into as well though.

edit: was just thinking, we had 988 loaders with quick tach plates, so guess there's something like that. No idea how they held up, the plate on the arms was small compared to a bucket or snow pusher.

 

[PAE]

Anyone have this brand ?

Want the HD model but for cat1 pins.

Mfg is gearmore out of Chino California.

 

[[486]]

Your track loader has a quick tach plate, must be a small machine?

On my 977, I have to hammer out the pins to switch from a bucket to forks. I have a bucket that the forks slip into as well though.

edit: was just thinking, we had 988 loaders with quick tach plates, so guess there's something like that. No idea how they held up, the plate on the arms was small compared to a bucket or snow pusher.

"ctl"
'tracked skid steer'

 

[AlxJ64]

"ctl"
'tracked skid steer'

This brings up an interesting thing that literally struck a chord in my brain this week - the "nicknames" vs industry names for machinery.
Everyone calls CTLs generically Skid Steers, which is accurate based on the maneuvering function but CTL defines it further from being a tire mounted machine... right? That is my understanding. Skids are technically tire machines and CTLs are tracked skids.

I have a neighbor that calls my 331 Bobcat Mini-Ex (3.5T) a "Trackhoe" despite me calling it a Mini-Excavator in front of him a hundred times now. What is funny is that they are logging just down the main road from us and there was a JD 555 just like we had at the farm growing up... which is a steel tracked front loader, with a backhoe on the back of it. Growing up, that was a "Track-Hoe" as far as I was always aware; and I grew up in a family owned John Deere Dealership in Culpeper Va of all places. I mentioned being able to "hear the tracks clacking through the woods on that old JD 555 TrackHoe, and the neighbor says "ohh you mean the Bucket Dozer"... so I'm just like WTF, THAT IS A TRACKHOE!!!

Doing a bit of googling, it appears Trackhoe is a common name for an excavator but that makes me bonkers having grown up calling a track-loader... with a backhoe.. as a track hoe and an excavator is an excavator, but Mini is under 5T, and over 5T to 10T is a Midi, and then there are just Excavators. Just like a "Wheel Loader" is a rubber tire loader, and a back hoe is rubber tire loader with a hoe on the back... and a Track Loader, is a loader on tracks without a hoe...

Sorry, just a rant after seeing this situation arise here in conversation too.

 

[aczlan]

Anyone have this brand ?

Want the HD model but for cat1 pins.

Mfg is gearmore out of Chino California.

What do they get for them?

Aaron Z

 

[[486]]

Sorry, just a rant after seeing this situation arise here in conversation too.

"traxcavator"

 

[AKnate]

This brings up an interesting thing that literally struck a chord in my brain this week - the "nicknames" vs industry names for machinery.
Everyone calls CTLs generically Skid Steers, which is accurate based on the maneuvering function but CTL defines it further from being a tire mounted machine... right? That is my understanding. Skids are technically tire machines and CTLs are tracked skids.

I have a neighbor that calls my 331 Bobcat Mini-Ex (3.5T) a "Trackhoe" despite me calling it a Mini-Excavator in front of him a hundred times now. What is funny is that they are logging just down the main road from us and there was a JD 555 just like we had at the farm growing up... which is a steel tracked front loader, with a backhoe on the back of it. Growing up, that was a "Track-Hoe" as far as I was always aware; and I grew up in a family owned John Deere Dealership in Culpeper Va of all places. I mentioned being able to "hear the tracks clacking through the woods on that old JD 555 TrackHoe, and the neighbor says "ohh you mean the Bucket Dozer"... so I'm just like WTF, THAT IS A TRACKHOE!!!

Doing a bit of googling, it appears Trackhoe is a common name for an excavator but that makes me bonkers having grown up calling a track-loader... with a backhoe.. as a track hoe and an excavator is an excavator, but Mini is under 5T, and over 5T to 10T is a Midi, and then there are just Excavators. Just like a "Wheel Loader" is a rubber tire loader, and a back hoe is rubber tire loader with a hoe on the back... and a Track Loader, is a loader on tracks without a hoe...

Sorry, just a rant after seeing this situation arise here in conversation too.

I've always called them skid steers regardless if they have tracks or tires and that seems to be fairly widespread. It makes no sense to come up with a weird name when it has tracks vs tires, as it's pretty much the same machine. If anything, called it a track skid steer. Otherwise, one with tires should be called a wheel loader, and it's not. A compact wheel loader is exactly that, a mini loader.

A tracked loader aka a crawler loader is like what I was talking about, Cat 977, Deere 755K, etc. A loader on tracks.


One that annoys me is people calling a skid steer a skidder. I legit got confused one day when a customer called and wanted to see if we could bring out a skidder (Deere 648) to do some work. They got pissed when we started talking about being ~$500 to have it hauled, (needs permits for overwidth) They starting claiming they could haul it on their trailer with an F350 and have a bunch of times.

Uh... we are talking about a 35,000lb 11ft wide piece of equipment here! Talk about kill some school nuns pulling that with an F-treefiddy.

Finally figured out they were talking about a skid steer... and they were still adamant that it's called a skidder.

And wasn't just them, I've heard it multiple times over the years. Try correcting people and it's usually... "ok, whatever you want to call it"

 

[bgaidan]

JD 555 just like we had at the farm growing up... which is a steel tracked front loader, with a backhoe on the back of it. Growing up, that was a "Track-Hoe" as far as I was always aware; and I grew up in a family owned John Deere Dealership in Culpeper Va of all places. I mentioned being able to "hear the tracks clacking through the woods on that old JD 555 TrackHoe, and the neighbor says "ohh you mean the Bucket Dozer".

A tracked loader with a backhoe is a pretty rare machine these days. Without the hoe, "track loader". With the hoe...I kinda want to call it a tracked backhoe.....a trackhoe

 

[aczlan]

One that annoys me is people calling a skid steer a skidder. I legit got confused one day when a customer called and wanted to see if we could bring out a skidder (Deere 648) to do some work. They got pissed when we started talking about being ~$500 to have it hauled, (needs permits for overwidth) They starting claiming they could haul it on their trailer with an F350 and have a bunch of times.

Uh... we are talking about a 35,000lb 11ft wide piece of equipment here! Talk about kill some school nuns pulling that with an F-treefiddy.

Finally figured out they were talking about a skid steer... and they were still adamant that it's called a skidder.

And wasn't just them, I've heard it multiple times over the years. Try correcting people and it's usually... "ok, whatever you want to call it"

I have heard them called a skiddy (usually by Mennonites), but not a skidder.

Aaron Z

 

[PAToyota]

Yeah, language can be a confusing thing.

I'm mostly with AlxJ64 except for the trackhoe. The tracked backhoe is a pretty rare sight - then or now. Like [486], I've known them as traxcavators.

I do make the differentiation between a skidsteer and a CTL.

Then there are the people that generically use "bulldozer" to describe both a dozer and a track loader...

I won't get into the people who mumble... Baa-ho and budozer and such... Like talking to Boomhauer on King of the Hill.

 

[AKnate]

Yeah, language can be a confusing thing.

I'm mostly with AlxJ64 except for the trackhoe. The tracked backhoe is a pretty rare sight - then or now. Like [486], I've known them as traxcavators.

I do make the differentiation between a skidsteer and a CTL.

Then there are the people that generically use "bulldozer" to describe both a dozer and a track loader...

I won't get into the people who mumble... Baa-ho and budozer and such... Like talking to Boomhauer on King of the Hill.

I've honestly never seen one till this thread to be honest! My brother had a Tonka toy of one while we were growing up and I always assumed it was a made up toy and not a real machine.
I've seen backhoe attachments that can go on small dozers, but those are quite rare as well. They had a super low use one at the last equipment auction here that was for a 550 Deere and it didn't sell, not even a $50 bid on it.

 

[PAToyota]

I had one of the Tonka toys as a kid because one of the local homebuilders had a CAT traxcavator and I thought it was pretty cool. There were bulldozers, tracked loaders, and backhoes, but there was only one traxcavator, so that really stood out to me.

Picture off the internet.

 

[PAE]

Havent had the time to call, not as much as my post hole auger I hope.

What do they get for them?

Aaron Z

 

[[486]]

Yeah, language can be a confusing thing.

I'm mostly with AlxJ64 except for the trackhoe. The tracked backhoe is a pretty rare sight - then or now. Like [486], I've known them as traxcavators.

iirc traxcavator was just the generic for tracked bucket loaders
you know, "bulldozer but with a lighter undercarriage and a wheel loader bucket on the front"

 

[PAToyota]

I found that Traxcavator was a namebrand of the Trackson Company: Traxcavator - Wikipedia

They started out building tracked attachments for Fordson Tractors and then cable shovels for Caterpillars and were eventually acquired by Caterpillar after developing a hydraulic shovel.

I guess this is a two person operation - you need a spotter to see around the thing!

 

[ThePanzerFuhrer]

I found that Traxcavator was a namebrand of the Trackson Company: Traxcavator - Wikipedia

They started out building tracked attachments for Fordson Tractors and then cable shovels for Caterpillars and were eventually acquired by Caterpillar after developing a hydraulic shovel.

I guess this is a two person operation - you need a spotter to see around the thing!

It sure as fuck was better than using a shovel

 

[PAToyota]

True dat!

I've certainly rigged some sketchy things up to save doing manual labor.

 

[AKnate]

The kid running it at first seemed to figure it out fairly well. According to the comments, he was in grade school still.

 

[billybob_81067]

The kid running it at first seemed to figure it out fairly well. According to the comments, he was in grade school still.

All I can say is thank god for hydraulics!

 

[arse_sidewards]

The kid running it at first seemed to figure it out fairly well. According to the comments, he was in grade school still.

Back when that machine was made kids that age ran them.

 

[AKnate]

All I can say is thank god for hydraulics!

Think about all the work that was done with stuff like that. Hoover Dam, Panama Canal, airports, roads, foundations of skyscrapers, etc

 

[V30crewcab]

All I can say is thank god for hydraulics!

you mean "pilot control" hydraulics!

 

[[486]]

All I can say is thank god for hydraulics!

grandpa had a story

was under a cable dozer dealing with frayed shitty cables
buddy says "least we ain't getting dripped on like those hydraulic machines"

 

[PAToyota]

It doesn't say anything about where that was filmed, but it kinda looks like a place near me: | Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association

They have a big area like that for people to operate their old equipment.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

That's neat how the back end of the boom rides up those slides so you get vertical lift like a linkage skid-steer.

 

[Clb]

I've always called them skid steers regardless if they have tracks or tires and that seems to be fairly widespread. It makes no sense to come up with a weird name when it has tracks vs tires, as it's pretty much the same machine. If anything, called it a track skid steer. Otherwise, one with tires should be called a wheel loader, and it's not. A compact wheel loader is exactly that, a mini loader.

A tracked loader aka a crawler loader is like what I was talking about, Cat 977, Deere 755K, etc. A loader on tracks.


One that annoys me is people calling a skid steer a skidder. I legit got confused one day when a customer called and wanted to see if we could bring out a skidder (Deere 648) to do some work. They got pissed when we started talking about being ~$500 to have it hauled, (needs permits for overwidth) They starting claiming they could haul it on their trailer with an F350 and have a bunch of times.

Uh... we are talking about a 35,000lb 11ft wide piece of equipment here! Talk about kill some school nuns pulling that with an F-treefiddy.

Finally figured out they were talking about a skid steer... and they were still adamant that it's called a skidder.

And wasn't just them, I've heard it multiple times over the years. Try correcting people and it's usually... "ok, whatever you want to call it"

Who remembers
Ebonics?
The nomenclature gets muddied with all the hybrid shit out there and self proclaimed "Operating Engineerz"

Funny chitt wanting a skidder to move bulk materials tho

 

[Lowrollin70gmc]

I found that Traxcavator was a namebrand of the Trackson Company: Traxcavator - Wikipedia

They started out building tracked attachments for Fordson Tractors and then cable shovels for Caterpillars and were eventually acquired by Caterpillar after developing a hydraulic shovel.

I guess this is a two person operation - you need a spotter to see around the thing!

That's neat how the back end of the boom rides up those slides so you get vertical lift like a linkage skid-steer.

I was just looking at one of those at the Rollag Steam Thresher's reunion. It was an Army unit, and had a data plate that mentioned two attachments. This one had a dozer blade on it. So I'm thinking they could have a bucket or blade attached.

The top of the vertical rails also fold forward for a lower shipping height.