One more attachment for my toy - Forks

[vinito]

This will be together really soon because I can use these all the time.
I just happened to see our local "hoarder guru" today out warming his car up, so I pulled in and asked him if he had any forks laying around. He dabbles in trading and selling stuff and has been collecting all kinds of cool junk forever. He asked me what size I was looking for, which hinted that he not only had some, but a few to choose from, hehe. I just said "little" and we walked about 15 feet across his 75 acre lot where a pair of little forks just happened to be kind of buried in the grass. We were almost standing on top of them already.
So $25 later we were setting them into the truck. This guy is about 4 minutes from my house. I've been combing Craiglist for a couple weeks - very little even offered and what exists is over $500. They are always set up for a standard quick-attach which mine doesn't have, so I would have been cutting & welding anyway.
I just have to saw some pieces, do a little machining and weld the mount together. Yea, that's building from scratch, but a fork bracket is pretty simple as projects go. I may have some working forks before Saturday I think.
So for my new little convertible I have smooth and tooth buckets, an auger forthcoming, and some much needed forks. Hopefully the auger works as it is but I won't know for sure until I try poking a hole with it. So all my attachments except maybe the auger should be usable at will in the next couple days or so. I'm pretty darned stoked.
I'll post some progress pictures of the forks as soon as there's something to show.

 

[Tazza]

Nice find, good bloke to know as well.
One thing with making forks, ensure you make it so when sitting on level ground and the bobcath all the way back that the forks have a backwards lean. Nothing worse than not having enough backwards lean to prevent the load slipping forward. Also make sure when the arms are all the way down the forks touch the ground.
Just a few tips from builds i have done in the past and noticed issues afterwards. Best do it right than cut it later.

 

[vinito]

Nice find, good bloke to know as well.
One thing with making forks, ensure you make it so when sitting on level ground and the bobcath all the way back that the forks have a backwards lean. Nothing worse than not having enough backwards lean to prevent the load slipping forward. Also make sure when the arms are all the way down the forks touch the ground.
Just a few tips from builds i have done in the past and noticed issues afterwards. Best do it right than cut it later.

Thanks Tazza. Good tips.
I was considering that last night and wondering if I ought to do something any different than "normal" on this machine. It has less backward tilt than most other skidsteers. The manual specs the back tilt at 17 degrees, but to my eye it looks like even less actually. I remember using my neighbor's loader w/forks to move some logs around at it seemed to me that it tilted back pretty far which was pretty handy for the logs. It nestled in to the bend easily and was plenty secure.
I was even more greenhorn when I was doing that though and I may be just remembering something that felt more dramatic than it actually was.
Since I'm building from scratch and can put as much back tilt as I want to on this thing, should I make it so it can, say, tilt 45 degrees either side of level or something? Would that ever be handy or would it just make it goofy in your opinion?
Thanks again.

 

[vinito]

Thanks Tazza. Good tips.
I was considering that last night and wondering if I ought to do something any different than "normal" on this machine. It has less backward tilt than most other skidsteers. The manual specs the back tilt at 17 degrees, but to my eye it looks like even less actually. I remember using my neighbor's loader w/forks to move some logs around at it seemed to me that it tilted back pretty far which was pretty handy for the logs. It nestled in to the bend easily and was plenty secure.
I was even more greenhorn when I was doing that though and I may be just remembering something that felt more dramatic than it actually was.
Since I'm building from scratch and can put as much back tilt as I want to on this thing, should I make it so it can, say, tilt 45 degrees either side of level or something? Would that ever be handy or would it just make it goofy in your opinion?
Thanks again.

I"m not sure but I think I should clarify:
When I say the manual specs 17 degress of back tilt, I mean it has a drawing of the loader with the arms fully down and a bucket flat (level) on the ground, which is the reference 0 degrees. Superimposed over that is the bucket fully tilted back and it shows the spec. of 17 degrees. However, when I drop the arms fully down and tilt the bucket fully back, I double-checked and it's only tilted to 8 degrees. This is on concrete with the tires properly inflated. I should look into why that is happening, but as it sits that's what I'm getting. Everything looks to be in order and nothing looks obviously "bad", so I don't yet know why it could be half of what it's supposed to be.
I will definitely make the fork attachment so I can get more tha 8 degrees of back tilt, but would it come in handy for it to be a lot more (like 45 degrees or at least 30)?
By the way, I made a quick & dirty auger mount today and it attaches OK. So once I get the hydraulics changed over I'll be able to attach it to something right away to test my valve operation and test the capability of the auger as well. That should happen early this weekend.

 

[jerry]

I"m not sure but I think I should clarify:
When I say the manual specs 17 degress of back tilt, I mean it has a drawing of the loader with the arms fully down and a bucket flat (level) on the ground, which is the reference 0 degrees. Superimposed over that is the bucket fully tilted back and it shows the spec. of 17 degrees. However, when I drop the arms fully down and tilt the bucket fully back, I double-checked and it's only tilted to 8 degrees. This is on concrete with the tires properly inflated. I should look into why that is happening, but as it sits that's what I'm getting. Everything looks to be in order and nothing looks obviously "bad", so I don't yet know why it could be half of what it's supposed to be.
I will definitely make the fork attachment so I can get more tha 8 degrees of back tilt, but would it come in handy for it to be a lot more (like 45 degrees or at least 30)?
By the way, I made a quick & dirty auger mount today and it attaches OK. So once I get the hydraulics changed over I'll be able to attach it to something right away to test my valve operation and test the capability of the auger as well. That should happen early this weekend.

I think 30 0r 45 degrees would be excessive, 15 or 20 maybe. You don't want to lose any more of the downward tilt than you have to either, there will be times when you want to tilt them down and back toward the machine beyond 90 degrees also.

 

[vinito]

I think 30 0r 45 degrees would be excessive, 15 or 20 maybe. You don't want to lose any more of the downward tilt than you have to either, there will be times when you want to tilt them down and back toward the machine beyond 90 degrees also.

I see what you're saying. Also, try as I might I can't really think of any reason I'd want 45 degrees of back tilt either. And I think when I was using my neighbor's loader on those logs, I think it nestled into the back of the forks well simply because I lifted the arms too, which increases the tilt of the bucket of course. I'll just build this so I have a pretty normal configuration. No sense doing something odd when I don't really know what I'm doing anyway. Thanks for the reply.

 

[vinito]

I see what you're saying. Also, try as I might I can't really think of any reason I'd want 45 degrees of back tilt either. And I think when I was using my neighbor's loader on those logs, I think it nestled into the back of the forks well simply because I lifted the arms too, which increases the tilt of the bucket of course. I'll just build this so I have a pretty normal configuration. No sense doing something odd when I don't really know what I'm doing anyway. Thanks for the reply.

I removed the attachment plate off the loader a couple days ago and got a chance to look at it close. It's been beat up and wallowed out, as well as a really amateurish welding job for a fairly bad previous repair. I considered freshening it up, but I decided that it was working well enough and punted in favor of higher priorities. Then I realized that it would be fairly easy to just toss it out and buy a standard quick-attach latch plate pair and make it fit the machine. Since the machine is such light-duty to begin with, the least expensive version of those latch plates available will be well-suited.
So I guess after all I will be repairing a really loose chain of attachment points and updating the machine at the same time.
Also, I figured out that I can make one plate fit to both buckets with the original pin-on configuration so that can be interchanged between the two in about 2 minutes as needed. The forks have the standard 16" rail design, so the other plate will be dedicated to the forks and I can make an easy slide-on mount to suit the 16" rail for an easy way to attach both the auger and a hitch ball, so that will be an easy way to give it triple-duty. Thus I'll be able to attach all my stuff using only two plates. This negates the practicality of an automatic, don't-leave-yer-seat attachment switching, but I don't think the benefit of that would be significant anyway.
It will be a Swiss Army loader !!
I promise that pictures will be posted as soon as there is something to see.

 

[Tazza]

I removed the attachment plate off the loader a couple days ago and got a chance to look at it close. It's been beat up and wallowed out, as well as a really amateurish welding job for a fairly bad previous repair. I considered freshening it up, but I decided that it was working well enough and punted in favor of higher priorities. Then I realized that it would be fairly easy to just toss it out and buy a standard quick-attach latch plate pair and make it fit the machine. Since the machine is such light-duty to begin with, the least expensive version of those latch plates available will be well-suited.
So I guess after all I will be repairing a really loose chain of attachment points and updating the machine at the same time.
Also, I figured out that I can make one plate fit to both buckets with the original pin-on configuration so that can be interchanged between the two in about 2 minutes as needed. The forks have the standard 16" rail design, so the other plate will be dedicated to the forks and I can make an easy slide-on mount to suit the 16" rail for an easy way to attach both the auger and a hitch ball, so that will be an easy way to give it triple-duty. Thus I'll be able to attach all my stuff using only two plates. This negates the practicality of an automatic, don't-leave-yer-seat attachment switching, but I don't think the benefit of that would be significant anyway.
It will be a Swiss Army loader !!
I promise that pictures will be posted as soon as there is something to see.

I think 15-20 degrees would be more than enough too.
The universal plate sounds good, if you plan on installing a trailer ball to the front, be very careful as if the trailer or whatever you have hooked up comes off when pushing up a hill, it can come into the cab and kill you. I don't remember if it was this site or not, but there was a report of someone being killed when the trailer they were moving had the draw bar come into the cab and decided to play with the operator.

 

[mark18mwm]

I think 15-20 degrees would be more than enough too.
The universal plate sounds good, if you plan on installing a trailer ball to the front, be very careful as if the trailer or whatever you have hooked up comes off when pushing up a hill, it can come into the cab and kill you. I don't remember if it was this site or not, but there was a report of someone being killed when the trailer they were moving had the draw bar come into the cab and decided to play with the operator.

Tazza is right about trailers popping off the ball and coming back if they are not latched. I dont know what your plans are for mounting a ball, but on mine I took a torch and burned a hole in the tip (about 6"-8 from the very end) of one of the forks and just stick a ball in it and hand tighten the nut on the ball stud so it comes off easy when I'm done. I had seen this done on fork lifts before I did it, works great and you don't need to buy or make anything.

 

[vinito]

Tazza is right about trailers popping off the ball and coming back if they are not latched. I dont know what your plans are for mounting a ball, but on mine I took a torch and burned a hole in the tip (about 6"-8 from the very end) of one of the forks and just stick a ball in it and hand tighten the nut on the ball stud so it comes off easy when I'm done. I had seen this done on fork lifts before I did it, works great and you don't need to buy or make anything.

Thanks for the caution tips guys.
I think I accidented myself into a safety measure without thinking about it first. A few days ago I drilled a 3/4 hole through the center of the strong edge of my smooth bucket so I could slip a hitch ball on there. I then made a quick and dirty mount to attach my auger to the bucket using that hole so I can test the auger out once I get the hydraulics hooked up.
The accidental safety thing is that the bucket will act as a rigid parachute to catch a trailer hitch if it were to slip of the ball for some reason. I may just keep using it that way. I kind of like the safety net.