pixie said:
What do you pick up with the forklift ?
I got those clamp on bucket forks but haven't used them much.
We were hoping to use the adapter plate part of the plow as a base for a forklift/brush grapple.
Those pins look more expensive than bolts ?
I use the forks to carry around landscaping supplies like pallets of bagged mulch, large decorative rock/boulders, small pallets of paving stone, lumber, concrete planters, etc. It works a lot better with a hydraulic top-link (something I added after these old photos were taken). The 3pt lift capacity of a tractor is typically greater than the lift capacity of a front end loader. Clamp on forks, because they stick out in front of the bucket, have even less capacity than forks mounted on a Quick Attach FEL assembly. The geometry of tractor design limits capacity so that the farther forward the load is carried the lower the capacity the tractor has to carry a load. Consequently you need to carry the load as close to the tractor as possible to maintain a usable capacity.
As for the cost of the pins, they can cost a couple dollars each. That is a lot more than the cost of a bolt. However, I think I may have a grand total of maybe 8 of those pins??? You don't need many of them. When a pin is not being used on my fork assembly it is probably being used with a box blade, snowblower or some other implement. So you don't need dedicated pins for each piece, you just need what you need. I like them for a couple reasons. First, you can change out parts without tools so altering the configuration can take seconds instead of minutes. Second, you can easily manipulate them with your gloves on so you minimize risk of injury.
When used in forklift configuration, that whole assembly uses only 3 toplink pins, and two of those are actually connected to the toplink, only 1 pin is needed to hold the fork assembly in place.
When used as a sub-soiler, middle buster or trailer hitch, it requires 4 toplink pins, 2 pins are used to hold the "blade" in place, and 2 are connected to the toplink.