Compact Tractor Hack

I don't know what I would do without a tractor, needing it to move sand that the ever present West Texas winds blow from one end of my property to the other, grading the arena, as well as using it for a host of other tasks such as moving telephone poles, pipe and panel fencing around. Only having a bucket and no fork attachment, it was always a chore to tie up poles, pipes and fencing to the bucket to move from one location to the other. Enter a friend of mine, Bud Reno of Hammer Performance, a high end automotive shop in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, who built a set of forks that attach to the bucket, which are much quicker than removing the bucket and putting an original manufacturer's fork attachment on, if I even had them which I don't. Bud's fabrication were very well built and much cheaper than buying the fork attachment from John Deere.

Bud is a master fabricator and mechanic who kept my trucks and trailers repaired and operating when I was a Range Rider hauling horses on rough roads and dry river beds into the Sacramento, Hueco and Organ mountains, so it came as no surprise that what he built works really well. He welded a short length of square steel tubing onto flat steel pieces drilled for mounting onto the top of the tractor bucket, where I can slide slightly smaller five foot lengths of square tubing to serve as the forks. He drilled and welded a set bolt into each of the short tubing pieces so once I slide in the square tubing forks, I can tighten them down in seconds with a crescent wrench.

I can make a couple easy rope loops over poles and pipes and can transport them anywhere I need to, and moving panel fencing to set up guest horse pens or catch pens is an easy one man job.

There is a cottage industry making all sorts of bolt on attachments for compact farm tractors, such as D rings, chain hooks and such, but Bud Reno's fabrication is the first set of forks I have seen offered. If you have a compact farm tractor and have a need for such an attachment, it should be easy for a local fabrication and welding shop to get something working for you. I also just installed an aftermarket set of chain hooks so I can drag heavy bridges, lift telephone poles to position wherever and to pull mesquite roots up. These after market chain hooks are under $100 and available from several manufacturers. Anyway, maybe someone can benefit from this tractor hack.