Pallet Forks + Boom

WCR

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L4701,loader,landpride blade, pallet forks, MTL Grapple, Home Made tree puller
Feb 11, 2019
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Missouri
I have a set of Land Pride pallet forks that are rated at 2600 lbs I believe ... What I would like to know is ... has anyone built a slide on bracket with a chain hook welded on it to slide on their forks so you can use them as a boom (cherry picker) ... would be handy to load and unload machinery from the trailer ... thoughts and picture much appreciated.
 

mickeyd

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2014 L3200 DT w/LA524 FEL, 2019 Kubota Z121S w/ 48" Pro Dec, TG1860G w/RCK54TG
Mar 21, 2014
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Guin, AL
I have used my LP pallet forks with chains to pick up many different things but I just wrap the chain around the forks to do it.
 

WCR

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L4701,loader,landpride blade, pallet forks, MTL Grapple, Home Made tree puller
Feb 11, 2019
28
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1
Missouri
I have used my LP pallet forks with chains to pick up many different things but I just wrap the chain around the forks to do it.
Thanks Mickeyd ... seems that should work just fine also ... and Thanks for your service.
 

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
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I have a set of Land Pride pallet forks that are rated at 2600 lbs I believe ... What I would like to know is ... has anyone built a slide on bracket with a chain hook welded on it to slide on their forks so you can use them as a boom (cherry picker) ... would be handy to load and unload machinery from the trailer ... thoughts and picture much appreciated.
There is a difference in overload protection on the 3 pt hitch which is usually not on the FEL.

On the 3 pt, if you lift a heavy implement and go bouncing along the road, the pressure relief valve which limited how much weight you could lift. is no longer in the circuit. Most newer 3 pt hitch circuits include a second relief valve called a "Safety Valve," which operates at a much higher set pressure. It bleeds off some fluid if bouncing loads are overloading the tractor.

With your FEL imagine this scenario.

You drive into a pile of gravel and your tractor strains to lift the load in the bucket. You keep the bucket up and decide to manually load some interlocking units on top of the gravel. You are overloading the FEL but now with the only relief valve no longer in the circuit, something may break. There is no safety valve.

With forks or other attachments which extend beyond where the front of the bucket would normally be, you are greatly increasing the strain/leverage on your loader.

Another forum member posted his story. He added forks to his FEL. He was pulling back some heavy logs using the ends of the forks. My recollection is that his bucket cylinder failed.

What you want to do is possible if done with the awareness on how quickly you can overload and break components.

Dave
 

mickeyd

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2014 L3200 DT w/LA524 FEL, 2019 Kubota Z121S w/ 48" Pro Dec, TG1860G w/RCK54TG
Mar 21, 2014
1,192
17
38
Guin, AL
When using the pallet forks with chains is NOTHING like the scenario Dave is talking about.

To start with, the chains are not out at the tip of the forks so there is NO big pressure on the bucket curl cylinders.
 

mdhughes

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L3901DT
Dec 10, 2014
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Ste Geneveive county, MO
I think this is a little longer boom than you are looks for, but I thought this might give you some ideas. A friend of mine took a 3pt boom and made the frame to slide on a set of forks. I used a set of ratchet straps to hold it on.



 

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WCR

New member

Equipment
L4701,loader,landpride blade, pallet forks, MTL Grapple, Home Made tree puller
Feb 11, 2019
28
0
1
Missouri
I'm not looking to handle heavy loads, I figure a 2" trailer ball on top to move my empty trailer when needed and a chain hook on bottom to unload items from trailer ... I have a quick method fixed for my bucket to move the trailer now ... my bracket would be at the tips of the forks but for light use only ... mdhughes ... I do like the boom idea also, I can see that being pretty handy.
 

mdhughes

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L3901DT
Dec 10, 2014
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Ste Geneveive county, MO
WCR:It came in real handy when we set the trusses on our garage. I was really happy the way the tractor handled with the truss up in the air. Made fast work of getting them all set.

 

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WCR

New member

Equipment
L4701,loader,landpride blade, pallet forks, MTL Grapple, Home Made tree puller
Feb 11, 2019
28
0
1
Missouri
mdhughes ... When you get my age you learn to appreciate handy tools like this :)
 

mdhughes

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L3901DT
Dec 10, 2014
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Ste Geneveive county, MO
WCR, I don't know what your age is, but the guy in the picture wearing orange (65) always says, "Work smarter, not harder". We set the first truss at 9:30 and the last one at 11:30. There are 20 trusses, that's about 6 minutes a truss. A lot better then setting the up in the walls upside down and using frogs to flip the over.