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Anyone on here ever built a rigger's boom attachment?

There used to be two brothers who were riggers around here with an old low clearance fork lift that had a hydraulic winch on the counter weight, a snatch block on the top of the mast and a boom with a block on the end, they could do all sorts of clever things with that rig. I often wondered why I did not see that other places.
 
I made one once about 4 or 5 mtr long :eek:
Just a I-beam and a cross section on top at the beginning and one at the bottem about a meter further The forks close to eachother and a chain to secure it Pretty straight forward
It was used to lift a gearbox out of a machine

peter
 
I wonder what would be the best way to make one. Maybe a piece of plate that hangs from where the forks hang. Then weld a length of rectangular steel tubing to that. Probably burn a hole in the plate, pass the tubing through it and then weld both sides. My greatest concern would be the strength of that connection and matching the strength of the tubing to the capacity of the forklift. Weld a piece of steel plate to the bottom of the tubing at the end with holes for shackles.
 
I would like to make one also. It is on my list of winter projects. Some thoughts include the height with the mast down either the same or slightly lower than the top of the mast (which is about 5'). I was thinking about a piece of square tubing for the boom, say 6" square (will have to run the numbers). Then a piece of 1 x 3 on edge welded to the bottom full length (with stiffeners), with holes along the length on 6" centers for clevises. With the hollow boom an extension could be added.

I was thinking about having the boom hook behind the upper plate, rather than on the same spot where the forks hook.

Pictures of a store bought or someone elses would be nice. I just have old memories of one some riggers used several times on both big and small Taylors. It was mighty handy for them. They used the small Taylor with a boom to attach both the boom and counterweight to the big Taylor.
 
Toolbert - where'd you get those hooks (at the ends of the chain?) Did you cut those out on the omax too?

When my DMG was installed, the riggers used a gizmo as described here. And I believe that they removed the standard (very large) forks and hooked this thing on in their place. You can see it pretty well in this picture - forks clearly not mounted.

By the way - the DMG manual makes it clear that lifting like this is the approved (and only approved) way to move the machine - there's a large bracket attached with some VERY large bolts up inside the cabinet (near where the rigger's left foot would be.) It works very well....

K0703250153.omegliftDMG.small.jpg
 
Mosy I have seen are just pieces of channel to slide the forks into and a piece of heavy tubing or I beam for the book itself. A few bits tie the works together.

I like this setup above best yet. With the typical boom rig, you do not get full travel of the forks, that one you do.
 
There was a Hyster S150A on ebay recently with a boom attachment.

It appeared to hook over the Class 3 or 4 carriage, same as you'd do with forks, except going upward of course.

I didn't see the bottom part but I'd bet similar hooked mounting points same as forks.
 
Yes, I mean something like Bryan machine posted

that absolutely is on the right track
Taylors factory stuff is just like that

Taylors also have a cylinder inside upright portion that way you can position over something 10 or 15 feet high and still be at the bottom of your mast

i made this one for my 15k cat

boomb.jpg


but you give up alot of capacity for the convenience of fork mount by moving out from the mast so far
it's hard to see but if i pull the rear pin and put boom at angle with full extension i gain about 12 feet of height
kinda handy
 
What's a good website for "taylor"? Google finds various "taylors" with forklifts but they all seem to be dealers?

By the way, why not use one of the plate gizmos that just straddles the forks and in effect drops a shackle from which you could hoist something?
(Lift master hook plate - page 3207 in the mscdirect catalog.)
If the forks have enough (or too much) reach, this would do.
Obviously if you need boom reach it won't.
 
Here's a shot or two of what I have been meaning:

RiggersBoom2.jpg


RiggersBoom.jpg


Richard

*By the way, if there's anyone that could use this lift without the boom, I know the guy who will sell it that way. I think it has 6 ft forks that go on it if he sells it. 18,000 lb with low profile mast.
 
Here is one that I just made, I looked up this thread before I started.
This one replaces my old one which I bent. I never liked the old one as I had to get off the forklift and reposition the forks. It was also quite low, so I fixed both of those problems.
Anyone care to take a guess at what I could reasonably rate the lifting capacity?
The boom is made from 4"x6" regular web I beam, with 1/4"x6" plate welded onto each side to form the box. My forklift is only 3 ton so I would probably be limited to about 2 ton without adding extra counterweight. The rating would only be in case I ever get a larger forklift.

I was using up materials that I had on hand. I also made the swivel chain hook, because the old boom had only a welded on hook, not good when you want to swing the load, which is nearly every time you lift something. I refurbished the crane hook, it is rated at 8 ton. I had found the crane hook at a local wrecking yard for $25, years ago, and it had worked very well on my old boom. I also wanted the new boom to be heavy enough that it wouldn't fall over when I put on the crane scale. This boom weighs in at a hefty 400 lbs, and the crane scale weighs about 100, so I'm already using up 500lbs of lifting capacity.

I do like the design of the taylor but I just find it so convenient to slip on the boom and then slip it off for the type of work that I do around my shop. One has to always keep in mind that pulling of any sort is out of the question with this type of boom unless you chain/hook it to the mast.

Love the PM!

Michael Moore
 

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I too have recently been contemplating a riggers boom for our 20,000 lb. Clark forklift. The lift is nice in that it has a 20 ft. reach (that and a stepladder will put me on the roof of the enginehouse!), but the drawback is that the mast is fourteen feet high with the forks on the ground. Its not so bad around here where I have no overhead obstructions, but if we do the engine save down in Steubenville that will pose a significant problem.



By counting the bricks I have determined that the nearest overhead obstruction is 14' 4" high. The engine is behind that orange door and all of the parts will have to slide out onto cribbing to be picked up and carried away by the forklift.

For this special application I am considering building a riggers boom that would be put on instead of the mast. On this Clark the mast mounts directly to the axle and to a pair of tilt cylinders. I will certainly need all 20,000 lb. capacity of the forklift (and then some) so removing the mast will save some weight and bring the part closer to the front axle.

My solution would be to weld together some 1/2" and 3/4" plate into two box sections then weld the boxes together as an upside down L. If I rig the load close, by tilting back on the boom I may get enough lift to pick up and set down the parts, otherwise I would have to use a heavy chain fall.
 








 
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