IH 915 Combine Makes Great Fork Lift

Roy Hawkins was tired of all the clutter in his machine shed. He had five combines and seven heads in there, along with a lot of other equipment. He figured if he could build some heavy shelves and get a decent forklift, he could at least get the heads up off the floor.

He bought a used 3-stage forklift and mounted it on a tractor 3-pt. "It worked, but the tractor didn't have enough weight in front to balance bigger loads," he says. "And, the visibility was poor, too.

"I'd seen an article in FARM SHOW about a guy who converted an IH 715 combine into a fork lift, so I decided to do the same thing," Hawkins says. "I couldn't find a 715, but I found this old 915 and figured it would work as well."

He stripped the 915 down to the axles and frame. Then he had 1/4-in. plate steel rolled into a C shape to match the original frame and used this to add on to the old frame so he could drop the cab back on a couple of feet further in and a little lower than it had been on the combine. "That way, the cab is about the same height as the forklift mast," he says.

He used all four original tires and wheels, as well as the engine and hydraulic pump. "When we moved the cab, though, I had to relocate the gear shift lever to the left side of the seat. We made it fit right where the unloading auger control lever was."

He set the engine behind and slightly below the cab, leaving it exposed for access. "That way, it's also a counter weight for the fork lift, too," he says.

"The biggest problem was making brackets to attach the forklift. I had a local machine shop cut the brackets from 3/4-in. plate steel to fit the drive axle. Then I welded them in place.

"The whole conversion wasn't that difficult. It just took some time to get everything right," he says.

To counterbalance the load on the front, he hung 1,800 lbs. of IH front end weights on the back of the frame. "I've picked up as much as 8,000 lbs. on the fork with no problems," he says.

Hawkins has found all kinds of uses for his 915 forklift. The lift raises 26 ft. high so he built a 4 by 16-ft. scaffold, with a 3-ft. high siderail to fit the fork, so he could use it to put new siding on his house. He also built a boom to fit on it, which he's used to set rafters in place while building a shed. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Hawkins, 4880 U.S. 75 Ave., Maurice, IA 51036 (ph. 712 567-3581).

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