gin pole mounted on a tractor bucket

Dave posted this today.  I thought it would be good to get some of it into a thread of it's own.


Last year fred made a gin pole that mounted in the bucket.   We used it a lot!   And dave took some video of it in action earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtoMXE48yKs



Ron needed something much longer, so he made a longer gin pole:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc7VTcrOtDI

But as you might expect, it was so long and heavy, the back tires came up off the ground a lot.  And you couldn't put much weight on it.  



So Ron made something that wasn't quite as long and was a single pole:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_j2i0HYpI0


And used it to move uncle mud's bun warmer so we could finish the berm shed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAOf9uw1IaM


All part of the bootcamp!

I am a fan of gin poles, and to be honest I want to build one for my log loader so that I can place roof trusses and such.

Another quick improvement a person can make, is to add rungs to one of the bowspirits so that it can be used like a mobile ladder.

Neat. Never seen one on a bucket before.

Adjusting via bucket curl would be kind of handy!

There is a *lot* of load on front axle and tires, by the time the rear tires on my tractor leave the ground! Maybe yours has less rear ballast, but this is definitely something I try to avoid.


I think if I build one for the front, I would do it with the frame for the fork attachment. Seems easier to connect, and less weight from the fork frame than the bucket would increase lifting capacity.


I have seen a couple built as 3pt hitch attachments. The 3pt multitool I am building will be able to do this, but I probably won't get around to finishing this aspect until I need it for something.


I will watch the vids when I get a chance somewhere with wifi, probably the questions I have are obvious from the vids. I am guessing the motive was mostly about extra reach..


Did anyone operate both the double and single boom versions, and if so, any observations?

I always try and put the heaviest implement I can on my tractor when doing work off the front end like this. I noticed Paul and his team did as well. For me, my heaviest 3 point hitch implement is my 7 foot snowblower, but a person could also build a concrete counterweight, or use a 55 gallon drum filled with sand. I have a fertilizer spreader that I can fill with sand as well, and that makes for a nice counterweight off the rear of the tractor.

Josiah's new video on this: