Fork carriage for my Ford 755

The loader on my 755 is so strong that I can almost bring the rear tires off the ground when I don't have a bucket mounted on the backhoe. The problem here is that in order to lift something that I cannot scoop up in the bucket I have to get out and chain what ever it is to the bucket I need to use it as a fork lift a lot so I decided to see about getting forks for it. I didn't want some week little clamp on forks that slip over the cutting edge besides it is hard to see what you are picking up. I also didn't want to have forks that hook to the top of the bucket either same reasons.
So I went to a forklift salvage yard to see what they had
The most suitable carriage I could find was a class 3 good for 8 to 10,000 lbs it was 5 ft wide and they wanted $300.00 for it plus another $350.00 for a pair of forks plus tax. Well I wasn't prepared to spend that kind of money, so I went to a steel scrap yard and found a pair of heavier class 3 forks than the others for $150.00.
I bought them so now all I have to do is come up with a carriage. Time to look in my usable stock.
Here is the pics of a factory carriage which I was going to have to modify anyway to fit my loader arms
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and these were the forks
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These are the forks I bought
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Will post pictures of what I am making the carriage out of next

OK I have a lot of steel in my usable stock area. Although it is not always exactly what I want it is always exactly what I need to get the job done
I frequent auctions and whenever I can buy for 10% of what I can sell it for in scrap it gets loaded on a trailer.
I bought 8 of these for $10.00 they are about 200 lbs each
Attachment 15741
It may be a little hard for some to visualize how those are going to become a fork carriage so you will have to wait until tomorrow after I start cutting and welding them together

Funny how things spiral out. In order to be able to move and store big juicy chunks of steel you have to have a loader, a trailer and a good heavy truck to move it.

Like the Joker said in the first Batman movie " where DOES he get all these wonderful toys?" or something to that effect. You make them, and having the wonderful materials to make them out of, and the way to move them, the place to store them and the equipment to whittle them into submission along with the knowledge/creativity to make it all happen is enviable. Those last units that you showed pix of looked brand new, still on pallets. I have a feeling I know where they are headed in your carriage mod but I'll wait for the next pics. Lots of heavy metal whittling.

So Texas is where heavy equipment goes to die?

Ha,ha yeah where does he get all of these wonderful toys indeed. When we returned from Kuwait we very carefully packed up everything to ship it back. our household stuff alone would have required a 40 ft container Partially because I had a fairly complete mini machine shop that filled 1 20 ft by 18 ft bedroom of out 3rd floor 1800 sf apartment A Harrison 280x1200 manual/ CNC trainer lathe a Clarkston Tool & cutter grinder My Do-moore versi mill 2 bench grinders a 2 HP table mounted Mill Drill and even a 1000lb cap gantry crane plus a 27 drawer tool cabinet the rest of the house was chock full of the usual house stuff except for my office which had 2 computers an 8 ft Mahoghany executive desk with 4 32" TVs for moniters
In my factory mnost of my stuff had been removed from service as we had replenished with upgraded equipment but my machines and tooling alone would have filled another 45 ft container. Our debarkation date came earlier than expected so everything had been placed in one of the companies warehouses to be loaded in a container. We left with 2 large suitcases and 2 laptops leaving everything else to be shipped at a later date that was in March of 2013 to this day we have received nothing Not even the vested interest due me for my 10 years as senior engineer for the company which was to be 1% of net and 1/4 of 1% gross annual receipts. Nay all we came away with was the 10 years worth of my wife's salary plus about 6 months of my salary. We have lived off of that and accumulated what we have from my buying and selling or the few odd jobs that have come my way
the truck not mine the trailer half mine because I rebuilt it at cost and no labor the Backhoe mine from a customer that I have had since 1979
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THe reason I need forks
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more reasons for forks the trailer half mine
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the small trailer mine the junk mine
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And there have been 10 more loads like these brought out here call it my Mad frank beyond thunderdom apocalyptic survival stash

Progress today
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Yes the scrap steel is new so to speak. also it is CAT steel so I know it is high quality and strength
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As you can see I cut 2 of the pieces to the the upper and lower lips of the carriage
the funny thing about this steel is if the market hadn't dropped by half right after I bought it at the auction I would have sold it As with about 2/3rds of the other junk I hauled out here
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"Mad frank beyond thunderdom apocalyptic survival stash" LOL!

So you got all those tires sewed into your clothes yet? :) Man, I don't know how I would deal with having all my equipment along with all the owed $$$ disappear. I'd think it would be tempting to go Mad Max on whomever the local representative is. You seem a lot more mellow about it. Better man than I..........

The ONLY thing I miss about the Central Vally was the scrap yards and there was great metal yards in Fresno and Merced. It was staggering the weird stuff you'd find like those Cat(bumpers?) cast offs. You just take stuff like that for granted until you move where it's not. The best score recently was a barn sale, and I wish I'd gone back. But unlike you I don't have the space and being close to the ocean rust is ever present. I already have more material than I can store or have projects for in my garage space. But I miss having the space and raw material like you have.

Thanks for sharing your project(s).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by C-Bag

"Mad frank beyond thunderdom apocalyptic survival stash" LOL!

So you got all those tires sewed into your clothes yet? :) Man, I don't know how I would deal with having all my equipment along with all the owed $$$ disappear. I'd think it would be tempting to go Mad Max on whomever the local representative is. You seem a lot more mellow about it. Better man than I..........

The ONLY thing I miss about the Central Vally was the scrap yards and there was great metal yards in Fresno and Merced. It was staggering the weird stuff you'd find like those Cat(bumpers?) cast offs. You just take stuff like that for granted until you move where it's not. The best score recently was a barn sale, and I wish I'd gone back. But unlike you I don't have the space and being close to the ocean rust is ever present. I already have more material than I can store or have projects for in my garage space. But I miss having the space and raw material like you have.

Thanks for sharing your project(s).

---

The comnpany was Kuwaiti owned They had contacted me through an at the time distributor of mine for my freight elevators I built 2 for them then went over to supervise the install then spent 6 weeks re designing them to suit the changes their customer needed then an agreement transpired so I set up a factory there so I guess that I would be the only local representative Where I made my mistake was in not renewing my passport and going back to ship the stuff my self, that and if I had I could have pleaded a case in front of their high courts. Since I was also a Member of the Kuwait engineers society if I had wanted to be snotty about it I could have had their membership flagged as well but that has never been my way Just move on and eventually things come full circle.

Windy enough to today blow a prairie schooner across the desert on square wheels with a ripped sail.
Not a lot of progress having to constantly fire watch while trying to weld cut or grind
First pic is where I am starting ro scarf off the left over stubs from the previous cutting
2nd one is after grinding the land
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3rd is the back side nearly finished welded out 4th is turning the assembly over
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5th is some plates I have that will probably be the attachment plates for the loader arms.
6th shows how the front side next to the forks will look
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7 is an end view
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Almost no progress on the forks carriage today. just a little grinding to the front face. for minimal clean up.
most of the day was spent trying to clean out the machine shop van enough so I can make the pin bushings that will be welded into the mounts that will attach to the loader arms.
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Too much stuff had to be packed for transport leaving an absolute mess when some stuff that hadn't gotten tied in real good shifted A lot of this stuff doesn't even belong in here so out it goes as soon as possible to be stored elsewhere
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The arbor press broke free of its moorings and walked out to the middle taking along with it a parts bin the 30 drawers decided to empty their contents on the floor as well as some stuff from a lower cabinet managed to wind up under the lathe.
Some people can work by stepping over that stuff and I might have if machining these bushings had been an emergency job but they are not and I will not so before I power up the lathe a good house cleaning is in order 1 day or 10 I don't have to worry about keeping everything in lock down anymore so a lot of this stuff has to go
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Mad Frank, do you ever sleep? All the moves you've done and these huge projects sandwiched in between. If I ever get delusional enough to think I'm busy all I gotta do is take a peak at the stuff you've posted over the time I've been here and feel like a slacker. You ain't Mad Frank, you're the TasmanianFrankdevil!

What happened to those drawers and the arbor press is what every time we've ever shipped stuff in a trailer or SeaTrain. No matter how good you nail it down it's always gotta be free. I can only IMAGINE what a container full of 1,000's of lbs of heavy machinery would look like after taking a sea trip from Kuait. 1 or 10 days indeed. Weeks if it was me. Spin on Tas......

C-bag I wouldn't care if the containers from Kuwait arrived upside down as long as I got them.
The container I shipped over there was close to 30,000 lbs overweight so the company paid a huge weight Penalty then it took 15 people and a 10.000 lb forklift and a wrecker crane a week to unload it
I'll have enough work area around the lathe and enough tooling sorted out by sometime tomorrow so I can at least get the bushings made
I have those 2 flat bed trailers that I really need unloaded by the end of next week so I will have room for 2 more trailers
Hopefully the next trailer to arrive will be my tool and parts van then I will be able to erect at least a tent between them to give me some semblance of a covered work area for projects like the fork carriage
But there is only so much a near old fart and his 100 lb wife can get done in 1 day

For me I don't know which is worse, losing the whole thing, or opening up the container to see everything turned to scrap.

Our machinery wasn't that heavy but it was pretty heartbreaking to see what a ride in a container could do to it. One was a rotary tote dump that got sent to Tasmania(no joke) and another was special dump to Hawaii. We thought we had really tied both down but looking at the pictures the install crew sent back when they opened the container convinced us. Ever after nothing was sent in whole units. It was better send it in pieces and assemble there. Less overall time spent and in some cases saved us from just having to scrap the whole thing.

You've got some really nasty weather coming your way too. Very cold and wet. Good luck.

The whole day was spent trying to straighten up enough so I wouldn't feel like I was having to walk over dead bodies while running the lathe but I sis manage to get half of the bushings made
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It probably doesn't matter now since the cats decided they now own the tractor

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I'm a little dismayed with mu progress on this simple project. the main part of the carriage only needs some grinding done to the top and bottom edges then notches cut in for the fork position locks.
I have the 8 bushings made the weather from Thurs. through Sat. was less than cooperative for working outside so other than to finish up the bushings in the machine shop van. Then I got a call from a friend of mine that I have been repairing his equipment since before Ronald Reagan was running for President. He said that he needed me to come to Ft.Worth and do some repairs for him. Now I am not in a habit anymore of wanting to make 450 mile round trip service calls anymore, well 2 years ago the wife and I did make a 5000 mile round trip service call to repair and add safety upgrades to a 20 year old elevator that I built. so I do make them for a fee. Anyway here I am in FT.Worth hoping to finish up the repairs tomorrow

Your other van didn't show yet, so you could put the awning between the two? Working outside with no cover is my least favorite, second is working in an enclosed shop with poor lighting. Awnings on a good cement pad are my favorite though.

Good luck with the repairs. At first I got confused and wondered how in the heck you were going to get things done on the carriage and was in Ft Worth. Got bad brain sycro's. :)

No the other van has not been delivered as of yet. I totally agree on the working outside with no cover. While I don't mind doing field work as long as it's not at my own place. It sure would be nice not to have to haul everything out when you start a project then make sure that each and every piece of equipment is rolled up and moved to a shed at the end of the day.
A concrete pad is not going to happen until I get ready to build my shop.
I've used the loader bucket to scrape off about 18 " of the top soil but still have a good 24" more I need to remove before getting down to a hard red clay and coarse sand layer. About 200 yards from where I a have started the excavation if I dig down about 6 feet I can find a suitable base material to fill in and build up the pad area for the building I want to make it about 2 ft above grade. This will mean that my little 6.5 HP duel action compactor is going to be way too small for the job. SO I might decide to take the 2 dozen or so old 10.00/20 truck tires I have that are mounted on Dayton rims. break down 1 side pull the tubes ram them full of dirt replace the ring then build me a roller with a weight box on top to pack the fill down with

Back home last night so today first I unloaded all of those 10.00/20 tires & wheels and stacked them where I wouldn't need to move them until I start the roller project then the wife and I unloaded the rest of the trailer and the truck then She wanted some low hanging limbs trimmed from one of the trees so I finally got started working on my fork carriage sometime around 2 this afternoon.
First off I must have spent half an hour just trying figure how I was going to uses the parts I had for the mount plates then I had to make the 4 of them and no 2 could be cut just alike
Attachment 16006 Attachment 16007 Attachment 16008 Attachment 16009 Attachment 16010 Attachment 16011
Then lay out for the holes the position was not critical but I wanted them close to the same as the bucket mount is.
Attachment 16012
I stacked all 4 and drilled a pilot hole for the bushing hole locations
I also had to make a different stylus for my circle burning attachment that would fir in the pilot hole so the torch could not slip
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Thye powder coat had to be burned off before cutting the holes
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I probably could have cut the holes about .020" smaller but the fit turned out just fine for a weldement
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Before I can weld these in I will have to fit everything up with an aligning bar so the bores will all be in near perfect alignment
Attachment 16020

Whew, what a lot of work! Are you still glad you didn't buy that other carriage for $600? I would think your usual hourly wage and the time you've got into this thing makes it waaaaaay more expensive than that. But what do I know?

Like my Okie G-pa used to say "I'm proud fer ya son" you are the king of heavy metal.

Yeah I couldn't have got anywhere near the carriage like the one I am making for any price. And I would have still had to modify the other one to fit the loader
Newholand Ford does offer a fork carriage for their loaders but those things are little girl things as well
Thye are predicting freezing rain in my area tomorrow so may not get anything done. Typical west Texas January weather 70° one day and ice the next

I know the dilemma of not having exactly what you need available. Just wondered about the other carriage and knew you would have to modify. But I didn't know if it fit your needs. There is that hard to quantify point of where the cost/use balance is tipped one way or the other.

We work on the opposite ends of the scale you definitely being on the macro end of the scale. I've done some of that work when I worked on a rice farm but didn't like how they were always expecting me to work without proper tools. I did have a big old milk barn to work in, but that was a hassle too because of the troughs in the floor.

Do you have permits etc to contend with when you build your shop? Or are you in one of those areas where you can build whatever you want? I have a friend in Kentucky and he says you can do what you want where he is in the boonies.

I'm curious too why 2' above grade? Flooding? My biggest problem was it being hotter than Hades in the summer (100+) and cold fog for the winter. Was a farmer who had an earth sheltered above ground like bunker with doors on both ends and it was wonderful. Warmer in the winter and way cooler in the summer. Very cave like and dark to work in with the doors closed though.

Rice farm eh' the only thing I know about rice farming is stay out of the paddies because that's if was impossible to locate a landmine until it was too late. Seen a couple of guys not return from stepping off in a paddy DO know about milk barns though, or rather the processing room. I was darn near blinded blinded when I was a teenager helping a welder rework some of the stainless plumbing in the processing room of one.
Wife says that may be why I don't eat rice or drink milk
the 2ft above grade is an arbitrary figure the location is on a flat area kind of on a hill flooding is very unlikely unless we were to get a 100" rain fall, I just like to have the area sloping away from a building rather than being completely flat around it
Permits? We don't need no stinking permits. They call this the Free State of Stonewall county, however I have always had a tendency to build things just a little over the top anyway

" I have always had a tendency to build things just a little over the top anyway"

Ya think? :) I want to make stuff so I never have to do it again, so over the top is good IMHO. I envy those who don't have the raft of officials jumping in your pockets to fill their coffers.

Any kind of farm work in the Central Valley is more about slave labor than anything else. And rice farming was no exception. If you were not a relative it was tough to make ends meet. But I have to say it was not boring. Had everything from Cat's to combines to wheel tractors and all kinds of implements. They were constantly wanting to resurrect some completely abandoned piece of equipment or vehicle. At one point they decided they wanted to get the old rice huller going again that hadn't been used for 40yrs. Learned a lot of fabrication on that project. I imagine they have not been able to do any rice for the last 6yrs because of the drought. Most of the rice was for export anyway. I don't have a problem with rice, but dairy, no Bueno. I stay far away from that stuff.

So would you make the shop from scratch or buy a kit/metal building?

It will be from re-purposed materials that I have been accumulating for the past 3 years. I would like to say that I am going to design it around my bridge crane but I don't currently have the materials to build the bridge beam at this time, besides I would probably want to make a 10 ton bridge like the 60 ft long ones I designed and made while in Kuwait.
But hopefully I have enough materials to build a 60 by 80 ft building with 15 ft side walls. I will probably start out with a 45 by 45 to start out with then move 2 of my vans along the north and south sides and put the smaller van across the East end then later add on to the West or the entrance end if need be What I would really like would be to have 4 40 ft shipping containers placed along the North and South sides with the machine shop van on the East end I could cut the large doors in the inside walls of the shipping containers for access

I've mentioned several times how much I like idea of containers for quick down and dirty shops. A couple of 40' high cubes with a roof between the two on a cement pad is my idea of heaven. Anymore having a big old open shop if you are gone for any amount of time is a bit scary. It's what I like about them is they are so secure compared to just a metal building. Right now on the coast they are blowing out 20'ers for $1000. I was reading a report that for first time in a decade the shipping lines between here and China are going to not turn a profit. So the containers aren't going back. 40'ers have always been cheap comparatively because nobody has the room for them so they are not as popular.

Well after 3 days of near freezing temperatures and rain I finally got back the the fork carriage today around noon.
All I can say is this one is ready for the Home made tools sub forum.
because now instead of a backhoe with a loader I have a backhoe that can double as a rough terrain fork lift
After checking both sides for alignment it was time to weld it on
I had thought of making a fixture to hold the mount plates then use a long shaft for a bore alignment bar but decided that the wasted and best way was just use the machine itself
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Now this is a carriage not one of those wimpy store bought things
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Too tired to put the second fork on besides they weigh 250 lb each and 1 was all that I wanted to wrestle and lift onto teh carriage today
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Lookin good Mad Frank. Heavy duty as usual. Looks like you could play chicken with a semi, no problem.

Two questions,

are you going to square up the rails or just leave them staggered just to mess with bozo's like me?

Is there blocks, tabs whatever they are called on the back of the upper rail to help lock the forks in place or you don need no stinkin locks?:) just curious......

I will probably square up the ends for looks for the locks the forks have a cam operated protrusion that would fit in a notch in the top rail since I won't be spinning around doing doughnuts in a warehouse in front of some stupid-visor of a safety cop I really don't need or want them. Usually the first thing I have always disabled on my own forklifts were the fork locks the only thing I will put on will be end caps so the forks cannot be accidentally slid off
they are heavy enough and there is more than enough friction to keep them in place.
I especially like the frontal look of the carriage the way the rock guards are joined together it kind of says go ahead and make a frontal assault I'll ruin your day
Looking at it I think it would make a heck of a back drop of a dozer blade
Now where did I put that 7 ft cutting edge

While the big lumbering backhoe may not be as quick or maneuverable as a warehouse forklift. it will hold its own in the lifting department
I still think it carriage would make a good dozer blade
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I don't think I've ever seen a backhoe with forks. If I had but one unit on the farm top of the list would be a backhoe. They are the Swiss Army knife of equipment.
:clapping: :hattip:

Id like to get a tracked skid steer but only if it had steel tracks

Here is why to build things plenty stout
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True dat! It's really nice to have the equipment to take advantage deals when they come up. There have been times when just the fact that it is so heavy/long/high up that it's either penny's on the dollar or free. A foundry closed down in the valley and they were giving away the electric 5ton overhead hoist to whomever could safely take it down. I think it was 20' up. A guy I knew had a portable crane and got it and all the I-beam frame he could could cart away for free after they had tried for over a year to sell it.

And to have the trailers, trucks, loader and most of all, the space to be able to store it is just the best. You've got a helluva set up Mad Frank. Seems like the only limititaions are time and effort.

Impressive construction! you're a pro!

Thanks Rendoman, I've been called much worst

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Thanks to Jon for posting this in one of the newsletters, as I missed this the first time around.

Frank,
Great to read the background and it fills in the gaps on what/where you were coming from. Nice looking Leblonde Lathe in that one pic, I have a similar lathe, the Leblonde Regal lathe in my shop.
There is something immensely satisfying about having the material that you bought/acquired long ago, and then get to repurpose it into a useful tool that just happens to then come in really handy! That's priceless.
The corporate company I work for has implemented LEAN & 5S cleanup... It has a time and a place, but I'm not a fan of it. One "rule" of 5S is that if you haven't used it for 6 months, you should get rid of it. What a load of crap, I've had some stuff sit for 5 to 10 years, and then it just works dandy for a project. I have to imagine you have a similar mindset!
Having forks is so handy, I am also not a fan of the clamp-on forks for buckets, they just seem like an accident waiting to happen. I have a set of forks for my old Bobcat that just need a carriage made for them. Altho seeing you use them on a backhoe makes me think maybe I'd be better off putting the forks on my tractor to replace the bucket. The bucket on the tractor is almost useless for any dirt work, but forks would be real handy for me. Once I get my old (1960's 600) Bobcat hydraulic leaks fixed, I know that will be much better for the dirt work I need to do next year.

Overkill is awesome, that fork unit turned out great!
Later,
Kent

Kent it is never overkill as long as there is no detraction of operational usefulness.
there is always underkill though which usually leads to destruction injury or worse
the forks and carriage are strong enough that I can slide 1 fork all the way over to one side and at 2 ft out from the hock confidently lift anything the 755's loader hydraulics has the power to lift but to do that I would have to rotate and extend the hoe as far back as it will go with a bucket full of dirt. for an old machine it still has a lot of life left in it.
the loaders on AG tractors are there for cleaning out the muck in the feed lots moving sand and gravel piles and general hauling of loose materials tons better than a shovel and a wheel barrow though.
One word of caution about the tractor since I don't know what tractor you have I'm going to assume it is not a row crop tricycle. If you don't have weights on the rear axle have your tires filled with water, antifreeze + a rust inhibitor. the extra 1000+ lbs will be a real help.
those little bobcats are handier than zippers the Keller brothers introduced the first skid steer loaders in 1960 2 years later they made the first bobcat branded skid steer
the 600 came out in 1965 or 66 does your' shave the kohler or the v4 Wisconsin have you adapted it to the quick change carriage if so you may be interested in my skid steer hammer attachment
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/s...3159#post77558
While you are at it check out my back hoe bucket quick disconnect
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/b...0424#post72458

Hi Frank,
Thanks for the links, pretty interesting!
I don't believe my tractor has liquid in the wheels, it is far to light back there. I may make a weight platform for the 2-point. It fortunately has the wide front, so it's pretty stable.
my skidsteer has the original V4 wisconsin engine. My brother and I rebuilt it in our high school engine shop class, so the engine has good internals. It will need a tune-up again though.
It still has the original bucket, with a grapple fork added on. The ends of the forks got broken off when we were young... I'm not sure how that happened, wink, wink! We might have been using it a wee bit too hard!
A quick tach is in the long term plans, but short term is just to get the oil leaks fixed and get some use out of it.
I was originally thinking the axle seals were bad, but as I have the wheels off and up on jack stands, it looks like the oil is coming from somewhere in the center. I'll know more once I get the engine pulled out.
Hopefully later this fall I'll get more time to work on it.
Later,
Kent

HI Kent. adding weight to tractors can sometimes be a bother. any time you can add it directly to the rear wheels either by bolting to the rims in the case of small fords like the 8n on the axle stubs like on John Deere or adding liquid in the tires puts the weight to better use than just hanging it off the frame the rear end or the draw bar. since having the weight rotating with the tires means it adds to the kinetic energy having it static mounted while it adds downward force on the tires to help the lugs bite in the soil, it really is dead weight by being more resting mass that has to be set in motion..
Talking about skid steers. I have an older Toro Z master 60" lawn mower with a 23 Hp Kubota diesel that I just got the engine running on I am planning on removing the mower deck relocating the drive wheels about 18" further back on the frame then making a crawler undercarriage for it. Then make the loader arm assembly with a quick plate to accept modern skid steer attachments. this will make the machine just a little smaller than the current Bobcat T110 track steer or similar in size to your machine but on tracks since I will not be using the PTO to drive the mower I will mount a 2nd hydraulic pump there for the power to the loader or attachments. I also have a 72" hydraulic flail mower I plan on adding the attach plate on then I will be able to use it on my Frankenstein loader