I need to make some racks to hold a face cord. They need to be able to be picked up with my tractor forks and then dumped into dump trailer or dump truck. Who has made these, or something similar? Pictures are a must!! I have an idea of how I’ll make them, but would like to see what others have done.
I can’t remember names of who but someone’s got a thread here with building theirs with 4x4s and staunchly made. Keeps about a face cord IIRC... don’t recall all but they might’ve even made their own lumber to do it. Very consistent looking boxes that went on their tractors FEL.
I made racks that hold 1/2 cord for my tractor's forks. https://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/attachments/003-2-jpg.132276/
My box was made from re-used pressure treated lumber. It is 5' wide and holds exactly 1/3rd of a cord (43 cubic feet). My tractor is 45 hp and with the loader and beet juice filled rears weighs around 6500 lbs. If you're going to do a full face cord make sure you have a big enough machine and proper rear counterweight. In addition to the weighted tires, I also usually have a 800 lb weight box on the 3 point hitch. Something important to keep in mind. I'm not sure if you can see them in mine, but I have safety chains that attach to the wood box, and the other end attached to the forklift frame. That way when you dump it the box doesn't slide off.
No pictures, but my brother is building a face cord box. He is starting with a SSQA plate, and welding a 4'x4' frame onto it. He hasn't decided whether to use heavy mesh for the bottoms and sides, or planking.
Welcome back! Check out wood crate's Your new tractor is quite a step up from a 1920. Dad has a 1710 and it is capable but simple compared to today’s tractors. edit: I see now that you are looking for something to fill and dump, so the link above won’t be as helpful as I was thinking.
How is the chain attached to the box sir? Could you show a photo of how the corners are are put together etc? I know it’s probably a simple design but I really think I’d like to build 2 of something like that to shuttle stored firewood from inside our barn over to our owb. Sorry so many questions. We have a JD5500 tractor with a front end loader. I believe it’s around 73 hp & weighs in the neighborhood of 9 or 10k I think I may build mine slightly larger but I should still be able to move it safely. Rear tires are 18.4x30 & are loaded with beet juice. I can easily fit a 6’ wide box where I need to get so if I could hold a 1/2 full cord at a time that would work best. I may make it a bit higher than deeper to keep the weight closer to the tractor. The woods been in the barn over a year & I won’t be moving it till October so it should be lighter than green wood. Sorry for the long post!
The chain is a 1/4" chain that has carabiners on each end. The box end attaches to a fairly heavy duty eye screw that screws into a deck board side with a 2x4 corner support behind it. So its embedded in 2+" of wood. Could replace it with an eye bolt if you wanted it even stronger. I had the eye screws laying around so I used those. The basic design of the box is pretty straight forward. The bottom is 4-4x4's with 2x4 perpendicular cleats on the bottom, then the top of the 4x4's get covered with 5/4 x 6 deck boards. This creates a fork "slot". The sides are 2x4 corners with 5/4x6 deck boards on the outsides. I added some 2x material in the front to keep the sides from bowing out. Everything is screwed together with 2.5"-3" deck screws. I prefer square drive or torx drive with an impact driver. They go in with minimal effort and hardly ever strip out like phillips and flat drive screws often do. Now, After using it there are some considerations to be had. I could get the same amount of wood in a single row, with a shallower/less deep box if I were to make the box wider and taller. For example. My box is 60"w x 42"d x 30"h. A 72"w x 21"d x 48"h box would also hold a face cord. (Assuming 20"+/- length wood) as that's what I cut. This would stick out less and would place the load closer to the machine, in theory allowing me to lift more weight. Depending on what one is dumping it into, it may be a better option. If I had a 9-10k lb machine with 73 hp, I'd probably make a 7' wide box, with 2 rows capacity. Mine is a nice size for my machine, but your machine is a lot bigger.
Couple other things: The nice thing about a fork box is it can be used on either the front or the rear. If you make a box that's hard attached to a QA bracket, its front use only, and most machines can lift more on the 3 point than on the loader arms. May want to use it on multiple machines, or let a friend or relative borrow it as well. 3 point forks are cheap. A nice pair can be bought in the $200 range. Also, I would suggest adding some slots or pipes to the box to hold tools like axes, mauls, chainsaws, pickeroons, cant hook or peavy, etc.
