3 pt.Tractor Forklift

Just curious if anyone ever built their own 3 pt. carryall forks for their tractor? Just something simple for moving pallets & bulk boxes around the yard. I'm thinking of using 2" square tubing for the forks & frame. Or maybe it would be better to buy a set. Your comments?

Have a salvage yard close? Mine is made from a small Towmotor mast, just add the lower pins and top link bracket as needed, cylinder and mast is already done.

I use one of those TSC 3 pt carryalls. I just did a little grinding on the ends so it slides into a pallet better.

I made my own forks from a dead pallet jack and a little welding. I also added a 2-5/16 ball for moving gooseneck trailers.

Not homemade but the inside pins were added after it got to the farm. Its a pretty simple setup.

Simple, yet efficient. Thanks for posting!

Good option too! Might be cheaper than trying to build one.

Just be aware of your mild steel any your farmer-weld beads actual strength..... Get some weight out on the end and things get bendy or breaky pretty quick..... Using real salvage forks on a frame you make can work well.

Paul

Instead of starting from scratch you'd be ahead to look for a set of old forks and frame off a forklift they usually sell in the $100-$200 range at auctions and you'll never bend the forks with a tractor 3pt.

I've owned dozens.(seems as soon as I get some, I get a crazy offer for them)
pretty common at auctions
Always my most used implement.
Best are the ones made from real forklift forks (hard to move around off the tractor though...heavy)
Carry-alls work for real light stuff, but bend easily.
(carry-all plus is that you can bolt on extenders easy, to pick up big, light things like truck caps)
Another option, more expensive is to buy forks made to replace a loader bucket and adapt them to 3-point. They usually have the rear cage, very handy.
There are aftermarket, ready made 3-point forks.
My never for sale ones, I got used for $150.
3000 lb capacity, made from good steel, (not forklift forks), so very easy to mount. A&B I think, Lowery makes em too.
I've picked the front up on the tractor trying to lift something, or stalled the lift, and have never hurt em.
point of this rambling is, in this case if you need heavy duty, buying a used set will be cheaper. I couldn't have made any of mine, for what I paid for them.
a few...the ones on the pallet are A&B, the big red ones, Lowery

I have a set "mocked up" right now, to my ford/new holland 4630. I found a 3 pt fork set from agrisupply this summer, a lot less than new with shipping. Well, they will tolerate quite a bit actually, but I did tear one tine from the A-frame lift pin and top link mast, either the weight, or I dug in and caught something under a log. A neighbor took a huge tree down, had a crane service come in to load out all the logs, job site was to be left clean so he had no work to do after, like he's done so many times before. I said I'd take all of it, butt logs included. It was an impromptu job that came up, no time to prepare. I received all the logs, moved across the lane to stage them, but the 2nd to last one was when the one tine started to fail, so I had to get the loader tractor and roll them off the lawn, then skid, then roll them again, no big deal and the repair I can do.

I kept an eye out for forks on CL, figured I'd get some used fork lift tines, fabricate a frame, find a salvage mast and or related parts from a forklift or similar. Fork tines are listed from time to time, but there really was nothing else showing up, until last friday.

I saw this used set of Woods DuAl pallet forks, with the universal loader mounts for 1" pins on CL, $450. I knew this is exactly what I need to move logs and a myriad of other tasks, but mostly logs for firewood. I went and picked them up.

First thing I did was move the brackets to make a flange connection and to get the u-clamp bolts away from the lift arm ends, so as not to deform the threads when attaching/removing. I replaced the Cat 1 lift arm balls with Cat 2, got a pair of 1" hitch pins, and that takes care of the lift arm mounts. Mind you, I need spacer washers and I'd like to place thin bushings over the pins as there is a bit of play in the lift balls as Cat 2 lift pins are 1 1/8"

I aligned the mounting brackets to the lift arms and set the stabilizer bars for the lift arms, one hole in from max width, left 4" on each side of the fork frame at the outer brackets. I left 3" between each bracket, shortening the span on the pins to lessen the chance of them deflecting under heavier loads, but leaving some wiggle room to connect the lift arms. Using the upper pair of 1" aligned holes on the brackets, I plan to use 3" x 4"x 1/4" wall thickness rectangle steel tube for uprights, then span across those with same to make a top link flange to pin through. I believe the height of that to be 24" from center of lower lift pins and in the same plane. I'll drill the tube, fasten with 2 bolts stacked, each side, so the mast will be firmly mounted as will the top link when connected.This also avoids modifying the OEM frame, just adding a new piece to it is all. Only thing I am considering is the top link hole or holes to achieve adequate tilt to retain the load, but also be able to level and tilt the forks enough to slip under logs. I am not sure if I'd like multiple holes or the standard Cat 2 geometry will provide that, so I'll have to mock that up too. I'd like a hydraulic top link eventually, but for now it will have to do as this took all of my "implement money" LOL !

One feature of this set will be I can break these down and load by hand into a truck if needed. You still may need a helper, but you don't need a tractor/loader to lift it all at once.


PS, you may notice the bent round stock that the forks hang off of, I got a replacement in the deal.