chansey
Well-Known Member
At some point or other we all wish we had a fork lift or a fork attachment for our skid or wheel loader. Looking at the yard, I realized that everything looked bulky and heavy. The use of the bucket on my Trojan 1500Z to do the work wasn't cutting it.
Started shopping around the web and everything that looked good was priced between $5,000 and $15,000. NO WAY ... I then started looking at the scrap I had for a DIY Fork Attachment. I had a broken Alamo Mower that looked like I could build a carriage frame. The bucket modification would have to be done whether I purchased one or made one. Pickup some heavy duty forks on Purplewave for $105. The fork eye is 2-1/2" and weigh about $150 lbs each.
Follow along as I build a truly a heavy duty Fork Attachment.
I cut off part of the frame support from the mover as it measured 65" wide and with some modification, it would work as a carriage. I pickup some 2-1/2 shafts from a hydraulic shop.
At this point I moved the carriage up to the forks to make some measurements for plates to attach to the frame and bucket. I made paper cut-outs for each piece to make sure they were accurate. The parts were drawn up on AutoCad to be plasma cut. The plates are dead on as far as dims go and the cuts were very smooth. The only grinding required was the the ID on the plates where the shafts go into the plate. There wa a slight burr where the plasma started and stopped. The forks and carriage were plumb and level. It is obvious that the Fork Attachment is being built in the field.