Next project. Fork lift forks

old

Well-known Member
So I have a set of fork lift forks laying around that fit nothing. So I plan to take them and build a mount for them to hook to the loader buckets of my IH584 and Ford 841S. Not real sure how I will do so but it will get done. First thing I need to do is find a piece of round stock for the forks to sit on so I can move them side to side. Have a one but it is not quite big enough around so now looking for a piece of pipe to fit over it.
 
Kinda like this ?
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No. What I am going to build is a frame that will mount to the front of the bucket and be a lot like a true fork lift frame is. That way the bucket will not be the only part taking the load and maybe have what happened to the bucket on my 841S Ford and have the bottom of the bucket peel out and then had to be rebuilt. Frame will mount at the top of the bucket and on the bottom of the bucket have a U shaped piece that fits the lower lip of the bucket. Forks will sort of float so they can pivot and slide on the top bar mount like a true fork lift forks are set up like
 
Yes that will be a lot nicer way to build it . I have the bottom peeled out of a bucket from this style of fork as well
 
I built 3 hooks on top of the bucket I just rotate bucket over and pick up forks they hit the bottom of the bucket at the same time they lock into the hooks👀
 
Old I have made several sets of fork mounts like the ones in the picture. My early JD 310 backhoe had this style of fork attachment. It works fairly well. Just manufacture 3-4 Hooks out of flat steel plate, slotted for the cross bar to hook into. I kept my forks on solid ground an you could easily tilt the bucket forward and put them on from the seat of the backhoe.
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I used top mount bucket forks for years at work to move pipe around. The trick is to always have the bottom of the forks against the cutting edge. Lots of people dump the bucket so they are swinging while they try to pick something up. Then the forks hit and push to vertical stab in the ground and come off the bucket.
 
Old : You will find that you will want the forks to attach to the ends of the loader arms rather than the front of the bucket. You can do what you are thinking and it will work. We have a set of forks that gon on the bottom edge than tighten a chain and binder to hold them from coming off/slopping around.
We also have a set that fit on the pins that hold the bucket to the ends of the arms. When maneuvering the forks on the arms are much easier and will lift a lot more, more easily. We have a 574 and it is the same tractor just the older model. With the forks on the bucket we can lift the 6x5 bales we have. If it is slippery we have some trouble getting around with them. With the with the 4x4 bales we can get around decent. With the forks on the arms the 6x5 bales get around pretty good and very good with the 4x4 bales. There is about 3x the hay and weight in the 6x5's. The 4x4's are about 500 average weight.
 
I have seen many a good forks ruined by those clamp on type , just not good if you are lifting anything with any eight.
 
I made that setup several years ago for my 806. I take the bucket off and pin in place of it a steel plate that I made to carry the forklift tines. Its kind of a pain to switch around, but once its on it is very handy to carry things like hay bales, new refridgerator, trees to cut up, etc.
 
I'd imagine you have some steel to fab with or can re-use something for the purpose. Ideally something with a quick detach arrangement to the loader arms would be great, as personally I do not like the bucket blocking the view of the fork tines.

Quick detach is probably out of the equation knowing you;ll be working with materials you have, but making something that pins on might be reasonable.

I adapted a set of Woods DuAl universal forks for a Cat 2 3 point hitch that pin on instead of the bucket. I just added a top link mast. They sure are handy, and can be used for both a loader and the 3 point hitch, just pull the mast.
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I strongly recommend setting them up as JD Seller shows. I made one like that once. All I had to do was extend the upright bend of the forks. It fit 2 different tractors.
 

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