Forks and carriage are the main things, so go for it, Tazza. I had scrap steel lying around, so could fabricate the mount at no cost. But if you don't have steel available, you can buy pre-made weld-on Bob-Tach mounts for under $100 (in the U.S. , don't know about down under), which seems a good way to go. As you know, always be extremely conscious of your slopes, loads and fork angles, as skid steer forks are quite different animals than conventional forklifts and can easily topple or tip. - Richard
I do have a bit of steel laying around, i'm sure i'll find something suitable. As for angles, i totally agree. It doesn't take much of a slope with a good sized load to make the machine do a nose dive.
Just noticed, and it is after the fact, you didn't angle your back piece to place the forks at an angle when fully back. When I had the guys build my frame for the forks they didn't put an angle to the attachment plate. I made them cut it apart and install a triangular plate to both sides so when I tipped the forks back it had some angle for carrying loads. Hope that made some sort of sense.
Brian - i did the same on the set i made. I cut the carrage to have about 2" more steel at the bottom than the top. It worked really well, its best to be able to tilt back further than than not enough.
Excellent point about the fork angle, Brian and Tazza. The forks are for occasional use and if the lack of tip-back angle ever bugs me enough, it's an easy enough fix to cut out a wedge and reweld the 5/8" plate at a sharper angle to the backing frame. Right now I'm concentrating on tracking down the source of a hydraulic leak when traveling. Hard to spot the exact source, since it's in the mid-area somewhere and drips down out the weep holes in the belly pan. All part of the fun and games of buying used equipment cheap, right? - Richard
Thats half the fun, tracking down leaks..... By fun i mean frustration
Tazza, already did the pressure wash (for a LONG time!), on top of a plastic tarp. Now have a third of a 30-gallon trash barrel filled with oil and grease-soaked dirt from 25 years of buildup with no cleaning. Your mention of seals reinforces a dim fear of mine. First thing I did to the machine after buying it was put it up on blocks to check and adjust steering and creep, as the previous owner had stated he had always had a problem with the RH drive. Lag and sometimes stuttering. After finding both mounting bolts missing for the main linkage-holding bracket and also a servo bolt/pin sheared off, with literally the whole drive linkage flopping freely (amazing it still worked half-way), I put things back together properly and tried to adjust linkages, working from Old Machinist's PDF's of the 843 service manual (thanks again, OM!). Not sure I did things right and had the leak show up right after I test-drove it. I was hoping it was just a hose, but have always had a vague worry I might have blown a seal due to too much back pressure or whatever, caused by my misadjustment of the linkages. I'm more used to hydraulics on tractors and the 843 is a definite learning experience for me, ha! Thanks, RichardThats half the fun, tracking down leaks..... By fun i mean frustration
Check the common parts, control block, pump rear seal also where the steering levers connect to on the pump, the seals are a point that could leak too.
A good pressure wash helps. Work your way up, as naturally oil can't go up hill unless its sprayed, and you'd notice that.
Hopefully the adjustment had nothing to do with it. If the centre isn't quite right, it will generate more pressure on the drive motor hoses when the park brake is on, but no more than when it was under load.
