Bucket-Mounted Boom

Bucket-Mounted Boom TRACTORS Loaders 22-2-9 "When building our pole-type hay shed we needed a way to lift the heavy roof trusses in place. My husband Lynn made a æboom' that mounts on our front-end loader bucket to extend its lifting ability - in effect creating a miniature crane. It's easy to put on or off. "The boom is a 15-ft. length of 4-in. sq. steel tubing with 1/4-in. thick walls. It mounts on a 6-in. wide, 1/2-in. thick steel plate that extends the width of the bucket and is bolted to it with four 1/2-in. dia. bolts. A series of 4-in. wide, 3/8-in. thick steel straps wraps under the front of the bucket. The straps work like the clip on a ballpoint pen to help hold the plate securely against the bucket. The straps simply slip on or off. "The bottom of the boom is held in place by a pair of 3/8-in. thick angle iron brackets welded onto the plate. A 6-in. long bolt goes through the bracket and through the boom. A pair of chains, bolted onto the back of the bucket and fastened to the boom about 11 ft. from the bottom, hold the boom at the de-sired angle. The chains bolt onto a 6-in. length of 4-in. sq. steel tubing that's welded onto the bottom of the boom. A safety chain wraps around the boom in case the bolt ever breaks. "Be sure to use 3/8-in. hard chain - not old chains or junk - so the chains won't break. "To fasten the chains to the back side of the bucket, Lynn bolted on two 11-in. long, 3-in. wide angle irons and drilled a hole in them for the chain to go through. A hook at the end of each chain fastens onto the lip of the hole so that the chains can never come completely loose or undone from the back of the bucket. You hook the chains back onto themselves at whatever length to create the boom angle that you want. "A boom like this can easily lift 400 to 600 lbs. If you need to lift anything heavier you're better off using something made especially for the job."

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