Homemade Attachments for Forklifts Skidsteers and Other Equipment

[aczlan]

You need a counterweight.

A proper sized drum or box full of concrete with 3 point attachment points makes for a great counterweight...

Aaron Z

 

[bgaidan]

You need a counterweight.

I need a bigger tractor. That woods loader is only good for 1k lbs at the pin, at best. I can throw the box blade or bush hot on the back for ballast but it still doesn't help that the tractor isn't rated for more.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Cobble a forklift mast onto the 3pt and put something heavy in the bucket.

 

[aczlan]

Cobble a forklift mast onto the 3pt and put something heavy in the bucket.

That works well, if I remember I will try to snag pictures of how I did mine. I wouldn't use a mast rated at over 2000# though...

Aaron Z

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

That works well, if I remember I will try to snag pictures of how I did mine. I wouldn't use a mast rated at over 1000# though...

Aaron Z

Google rabbit hole looking for 1000 lbs lifts.

Fawking want!

 

[[486]]

almost bought a 500 dollar yale the next size up from that, prolly a 1500-2k lb machine
way cool, it would fit through a 36" doorway! (was like 32" wide)

 

[aczlan]

Muckin_Slusher Sorry to send you down a rabbit hole, meant to type 2000# :D
I have a 5000# on the back of a 38HP Kubota and its way too much for that tractor, but it was cheap...
Should be better if the shop ever gets around to finishing my new brackets and I can mount the loader on the front.

Aaron Z

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

almost bought a 500 dollar yale the next size up from that, prolly a 1500-2k lb machine
way cool, it would fit through a 36" doorway! (was like 32" wide)

I remember seeing one when I was a teenager for sale in my town. I'm 100% sure it was smaller than the one above. It had a single bar like for lifting carpet rolls and was for sale behind what used to be a department store. It was so small, like that pic of the meme guy riding the cat dozer to plow his field of fucks.

What's a teenager gonna do with a forklift though?

 

[bgaidan]

Cobble a forklift mast onto the 3pt and put something heavy in the bucket.

I have a 6k forklift....

The tractor is generally used to shuttle things around places where I can't take the forklift.

What's a teenager gonna do with a forklift though?

Pick stuff up?

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

HA!

Google Maps.

I was trying to show something to momma this morning, looking on google maps, then I wondered if this thing might be on it. Yep.

I guess I wasn't a teenager, and I don't see the carpet spear. Getting old sucks.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I have a 6k forklift....

The tractor is generally used to shuttle things around places where I can't take the forklift.

Put the mast on the tractor and you can shuttle bigger things around places you can't take the forklift.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

Update on my fork extensions. Nothing earth shattering, just some lifting points.

Plasma'd some google map markers out of 1/2 inch.
I like how they're low profile and don't get in the way.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

Doing their thing. Much quicker than digging the crane out of the snowbank.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Nice OSB siding you got there.

 

[bgaidan]

Put the mast on the tractor and you can shuttle bigger things around places you can't take the forklift.

You seem to be way overestimating what a 2,000lb 30hp compact tractor can lift. The tractor gets used several times a week for various duties around the property and I'm regularly swapping implements. Last thing I want to do is have to fuck with removing some awkward hobbled together mast when I need to bush hog.

 

[bgaidan]

In other news, I finally got to work on that forklift carriage frame I picked up a few weeks ago. Got the old mounts cut off....the top were VERY welded on. Like they must have beveled out a good 1/2" all the way around before welding it. I zip disced the welds a good 1/4" in and expected them to crack and hammer off. No luck. Ended up using the portaband to follow the grinder lines, leaving about 1/8" of metal behind and then ground it flat wit the 7" grinder. It's almost like they welded it to hold 6k pounds or something.


Any way, the next problem is the side bars on the frame sat about 3/16"-1/4" proud of the horizontals. This posed a problem because I'm gong to weld it to a flat quick tach adapter plate. I could have cut some bars to fill the gap, but I don't have the material laying around and it'd b a pain in the ass. But I did just finally get the old Lagun mill powered up. Bought it at an auction 2 years ago and this is the first cut I've made with it.

Before:

After:

Chattered for her pleasure.

That used every bit of Y travel on that machine. I could have rotated it and used X, but 3/4 of it would have been hanging off the table and that would have been a PITA too.


Still need to do a little more grinder clean up on the the old bracket welds with the smaller grinder. Hoping I have time to knock that out and get it welded up this week. I've been putting off a bunch of cleanup since I took the shitty forks off my old bucket.

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

Nice OSB siding you got there.

You should be proud of me.

I've had 2 building permits open for 4 ish years so far. Can't close them until the siding is on. Can't raise my taxes until the permits are closed.

Also, that bit of OSB is going to be inside the building once I've done my 40x40 addition where the apartments burned down.

 

[[486]]

Chattered for her pleasure.

good god there's like a foot from the first spindle bearing to the insert edge :fo2:

 

[bgaidan]

good god there's like a foot from the first spindle bearing to the insert edge :fo2:

Yeah, first time I've used that machine with the R8 to QC30 adapter. It'll be fine for small cutters, but probably won't use it with that 2" shell mill again.

It's handy because my CNC mill use the QC30 stuff so I can swap between them. And you can also swap cutters between operations without having to reset your tool height.

 

[[486]]

get you a nice stubby r8 to ER collet dingus

they're generally more rigid than native R8 collets at least in a weakass BP j head spindle, just because you've got a solid shank through the bearings rather than a hollow spring collet

 

[arse_sidewards]

You seem to be way overestimating what a 2,000lb 30hp compact tractor can lift. The tractor gets used several times a week for various duties around the property and I'm regularly swapping implements. Last thing I want to do is have to fuck with removing some awkward hobbled together mast when I need to bush hog.

Your property needs a higher dirt lot to grass ratio.

In other news, I finally got to work on that forklift carriage frame I picked up a few weeks ago.

Are you building one of these?

Or one of these?

 

[SomeGuyFromOlympia]

Google rabbit hole looking for 1000 lbs lifts.

Fawking want!

want!

when you are done you can keep it on your pocket for later

 

[bgaidan]

get you a nice stubby r8 to ER collet dingus

they're generally more rigid than native R8 collets at least in a weakass BP j head spindle, just because you've got a solid shank through the bearings rather than a hollow spring collet

I have R8 collets....but I already had the adapter in the spindle and the shell mill was already in the holder. Seemed to make sense. In reality,pretty sure I have another identical shell mill that I can dedicate to that machine. It just has a 3/4" shank so it'll do fine in a standard R8 collet.

And just so you know, it was only about 10" from the bearing.....but you can tell her it's 12" if you want.

 

[AlxJ64]

In regards to 1k wheel lifts, I've got one that started as a restoration project but then moving got me sidetracked. It needs the engine entirely rebuilt and many other parts rebuilt. My dad my want to restore it when he retires in a few years because it has been in the family for years; my grandfather got it back in the '70s when they got into John Deere sales and it was used in the parts building annex for tractor weights and misc heavy shit.

 

[bgaidan]

This is where I am on the fork frame. Original plan was to just stick it to a quick tach plate and call it good. Hence to reason for milling the face flat...ish.

Since 98% of the load is on the top bar, I'd just weld the shit out of the top and run a few inches in a couple places along the bottom.

Plan B is to use these weld on bottom quick tach plates and then weld two pieces of 3/8" flat bar at the top to make the quick tack catch channel. It'd probably save me 40-50lbs over the solid adapter plate. And since nearly all of the weight goes in to the top bar I don't really need all that extra steel in the middle.


Something like this on the bottom (ignore the full adapter plate under neath it)

 

[aczlan]

Or if you don't trust it quite that much, they also make cut out plates that have the center open but have still up and down each side.

Aaron Z

 

[[486]]

I like the "bit o flat bar on the bottom and top" idea because extra weight on the implement is less payload
can always pop a couple pieces of angle iron "in the V direction" between the top and bottom for a little more anti-twisting action

don't go thinking the bottom will be compression only
once you have forks on a skidsteer you will be doing very stupid things with them
I'm always pushing myself outta holes with them, and using them for digging, they make a great tree spade...

 

[bgaidan]

I like the "bit o flat bar on the bottom and top" idea because extra weight on the implement is less payload
can always pop a couple pieces of angle iron "in the V direction" between the top and bottom for a little more anti-twisting action

don't go thinking the bottom will be compression only
once you have forks on a skidsteer you will be doing very stupid things with them
I'm always pushing myself outta holes with them, and using them for digging, they make a great tree spade...

Right now it's only going on my little tractor - the main reason for me watching every pound. I think that thing's only good for maybe 1k at the pin. I probably added a good 100 lbs with the quick tach adapter so I'm already in the hole over the standard pinned bucket. But I'd also like everything I make to work on a little bigger machine that i'll inevitably buy so there's a bit of a compromise there. Not that I'd try to max these out on a skid steer, but I'd like a little cushion.

The good thing is that this frame and my forklift all use the same size forks so I can trade between them. I have 36", 42" and 48". I'll likely leave the shortest set on the tractor to help keep the load as close to the pin as possible.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I vote don't waste an expensive quick attach plate when some ebay brackets and flat bar will do the job.

 

[arse_sidewards]

My loader uses 1" steel for the tabs that pin the bucket on. Do you guys think I can get away with 3/4 for the SSQA adapter? The weld cross section is basically the same either way. I figure the SSQA adapter will be the weak link even with the 3/4.