Skid Loader Forks

[brncreeper]

Last weekend I made a pallet fork quicktatch for my bobcat 310. The forks and mast originally came off a small walk behind pallet forklift (YALE) I got from a friend (free). I took off the mast and forks and sold the rest for scrap iron. The scrap came to 3600 pounds and fetched $161. They would not take the battery so I need to dispose of that yet. The steel to make the quicktatch cost $40. It took about 4 hours Sunday afternoon to put it all together. The forks are adjustable and 3 feet long. The mast is very heavy because it is 1 1/4" thick. The two quicktatch plates were made with 3/4" thick steel. The welder I used was a Miller Thunderbolt stick welder. I used 7018 welding rods for strength and set the welder to 140 amps on the ¼ inch steel, and 170 amps on the ¾ inch.

I ran out of welding rods but it still could be used if needed. I want to make a few more welds around the quicktatch plates before I put it to use.

 

[John464]

nice DIY!

what are you using the forks for?

I have used them to pick up some trunks that couldnt fit in the grapple.

 

[brncreeper]

Thanks John, I thought I’d use them for loading and unloading things such as pallets of shingles, bags of cement, etc. They would also come in handy in the woods for moving and loading logs and yes, trunks too. I have a snow blower that would load into my pickup easily with the forks. It would also make a good standing platform with a pallet.