Rock/Fork bucket

[RockFork Bucket]

Here is the fork bucket and grapple I built for my 284. The fork bucket I built a few months after I got the tractor(2 1/2 years ago) and it works great except when picking large piles of brush and limbs. At least half the time something would fall off or get hung up and would lever a good portion of a load off the bucket. this was very annoying. After thinking about it a bit, I decided that I didn't need a monster grapple as a lot of strength was not required, just a bit of force to keep the load on the forks. the grapple arms are thick wall pipe bent in a hydraulic press. The arm cylinders are in parallel and will close at different rates and will close fully around unusual shaped objects like stumps.



So far it has worked great and is strong enough to grip and move small logs. A full scoop every time is a wonderfull thing:)

Ron

[Ronmar]

OK, that is weird. I posted that last, but I must have typed the subject in where my name was supposed to go... Kind of unusuall that you can post messages without being logged into the board.

Ron

[GuglioLS]

Ron,

First it's great to have you as a member here and posting your cool projects. That rock / fork bucket you built looks pretty heavy duty. How did you construct it? Did you take the stock bucket and add the fork tubes or was it a complete build from scratch? Please describe all the steps you took to construct it. The dual cylinders in parallel to grab odd shaped objects is also very cool.. Rob's dual grapple jaws work the same way, I've seen them in action and they sure work great that way.

On the posting without you name and signature - yea we got to fix that. Right now the forum settings allow anyone to post without being a registered member. So my guess is that you were not logged in when you posted that. We are "under construction" so there are a few bugs to work out. It will get fixed.

Thanks for sharing your project.


Larry

[Ronmar]

Hi Larry
The bucket was a complete build from the ground up. I basically coppied the arm and cylinder attach points and built a angle iron box frame. To that I added 1/4" wall 2X2 box tube tines about 30" long. I joined them at the base with 1/4" plate gussetts to give them a little strength. So far it has proven to be as strong as the loader is. I moved a 1300# concrete front step block with it this summer and I was right at the point of lifting the rear wheels off the ground on the tractor. I think if I was to do it over I would reduce the number of tines by about 1/3. The spacing is a little too tight(about 2.5" gap between tines) and when I scoop into a pile of debris on the ground, the soil dosn't always separate. I can scoop into soil and carry away as much as I can with the regular bucket on...

Ron

[FLICK]

Nice work Ron That looks very practical...

Matthew.

[FlyHiFlyLo]

ronmar said:

Kind of unusuall that you can post messages without being logged into the board.

Ron

Yeah that is wierd... We'll take care of that...

[3RRL]

Ron,
Great simple grapple/rock/fork bucket you made. I see you used 2 hydraulic cylinders in parallel to get them to close on odd ball shaped objects. I think that's great idea. I'll bet you've used the hell out of that bucket by now. I know my grapples have been used about every time I use my tractor. They are set up in parallel like yours.
Rob-