Page 1 of 4 1234 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 59

Thread: grab hook or slip hook

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Montfort, Wi.
    Posts
    799

    grab hook or slip hook

    I'm looking at getting a pair of bucket hooks: https://www.bxpanded.com/BX-bucket-hooks I like the fact they can be removed when not needed.

    I will use it mostly for lifting logs and pulling them out of the woods as well as sometimes lifting heavy items. Most of the time I'll use a chain which I suppose means a grab hook, however sometimes I use a rope or strap to lift with. What type of hook do you think will serve me best?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    You want grab hooks for the bucket. You can buy them off Amazon ready to weld on. A 3/8" grab hook will hold both 3/8's, and 5/16's chain. I'd not want to take them on and off. I've never found them to be in the way.

    I keep a short chain with a grab hook on one end, and a slip hook on the other. That slip hook has a keeper which helps keep it on the chain, or whatever it's holding, while I'm on the tractor.

    https://www.amazon.com/Robbor-Forged...ps%2C87&sr=8-3

    For lifting, and pulling logs, I use lifting tongs. Some people use skidding tongs, but I want that certification tag on there because if I'm handling logs, I often have a helper in harms way.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Tom M King; 05-09-2022 at 8:53 AM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    I use the slip hook with keeper for such things as those lifting tongs, and things like this grubber:

    https://www.amazon.com/Brush-Grubber...ps%2C85&sr=8-1

    and this one:

    https://www.amazon.com/Brush-Grubber...01TK22O2&psc=1

    I didn't buy the short chain the show with those grubbers. I made up a 5' grade 70 chain at Tractor Supply with a grab hook on one end, and a hook like this on the other:

    https://www.amazon.com/Koch-Industri...s%2C106&sr=8-3
    Last edited by Tom M King; 05-09-2022 at 9:28 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Both. I have grab hooks on the tops of both ends of the bucket, great for lifting/loading logs with two tongs or for skidding on a side slope with one skidding tong on the up-slope side. (BTW, for several reasons I skid in reverse, driving backwards, lifting one end of the log off the ground.) I have never found them in the way for any other bucket use. They would have been if they were on the sides of the bucket.

    I bolted one slip hook to the top center of the bucket, good for straps and cables (and chains) when pulling from the center.

    I suppose two slip hooks, one on either end and near the grab hooks might be useful on occasion but I can’t think of a time when they would have been needed.

    One thing, I put long enough pieces of chain on the pair of tongs so if needed I can hook them at the top of the bucket and let them extend a couple of inches past the lip of the bucket. I found that that the bucket cylinders sometimes provided a little extra power for lifting a heavy log.

    I did one more thing which occasionally helped with a two-tong lift too heavy for the FEL. I fastened two more clevis-type grab hooks into handy holes at the bottom of my Kubota L3830 loader boom. Since they are a little further back from the bucket there is a bit more lifting force available. I’ve only used them rarely.

    BTW, you probably know this but if you do go with welded hooks don’t do what by dealer did and weld one side of a clevis-type hook to the bucket. One snapped off after a few years of use. I replaced them with hooks made for welding, found at a local industrial steel supplier. FWIW I use 3/8” hooks.

    JKJ

    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Fritz View Post
    I'm looking at getting a pair of bucket hooks: https://www.bxpanded.com/BX-bucket-hooks I like the fact they can be removed when not needed.

    I will use it mostly for lifting logs and pulling them out of the woods as well as sometimes lifting heavy items. Most of the time I'll use a chain which I suppose means a grab hook, however sometimes I use a rope or strap to lift with. What type of hook do you think will serve me best?

  5. #5
    I have a grab hooks on the top and a shackles underneath.

    img_3881.jpg

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,685
    While I have weld-on hooks on my BX's FEL, if I were doing this today, I'd be very interested in the BXpanded product. Given the weight capacity of the small tractor, the clamp on units that positively hook over the bucket's flanged edge should be more than sufficient for anything one could actually lift and having the positional flexibility is a big plus for balancing things out. The company is top-notch and will soon be getting another order from me for the trenching bucket...maybe with the quick disconnect.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    N CA
    Posts
    1,279

    Bucket hooks

    On the 2660 I have grab hooks in line with the arms, elevated so the pull doesn’t deform the bucket lip. I welded the center eye for the shackle. It give me the options. You want grab hooks or you are always having to adjust your rigging. I roll the bucket down to attach and then roll it back to get the tension. Oh, and in order to keep the hooks in line with the arms I cut the level indicator off. I figured I didn’t need it. Once again I proved myself wrong and I welded it back on.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Longmont, CO
    Posts
    810
    I run grab hooks and a chain with one grab and one slip. seems to afford me the most length and rigging options. I also have a hole from a PO in the bottom of the bucket that will fit a large screw pin shackle, and that works out well for some situations.

    Jim, my last tractor had pin on bucket and this one has SSQA, it's a total game changer. I want to pick up the pat's style one for the 3 point next.

    I have a Branson 4720h, about 2200 lift capacity.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Herman View Post
    I run grab hooks and a chain with one grab and one slip. seems to afford me the most length and rigging options. I also have a hole from a PO in the bottom of the bucket that will fit a large screw pin shackle, and that works out well for some situations.

    Jim, my last tractor had pin on bucket and this one has SSQA, it's a total game changer. I want to pick up the pat's style one for the 3 point next.

    I have a Branson 4720h, about 2200 lift capacity.
    I have a Pat's and it's great. Thought about a quick hitch but some attachments would interfere.
    JMO

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Peshtigo,WI
    Posts
    1,395
    Just a word of caution gents. Be very careful what use use for vertical or overhead lifting. Only grade 80 and 100 chain are rated for overhead lifting. All of the attachments on the chain must be of the same grade also.

    I wouldn't be using any homemade cable slings for lifting either. And if I can't lift it by hand I won't use rope either.

    If you're using nylon slings be sure to inspect them for fraying or tears and if you can see the "red thread" cut your sling up and throw it away.

    As a woodworking group we try and be as safe as possible around spinny things and I just thought I'd throw out the words of caution for stuff we may not think about everyday in the wood shop.
    Confidence: The feeling you experience before you fully understand the situation

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    I don't mind using Stablebraid (Bull rope for tree work) for some lifting. 5/8" is rated at something over 16,000 pounds. I keep a piece tied to a shackle on the end of a section of 3/8's chain. It's good for lifting some woodworking machines, like the drill press I set on a mobile base last week, and it goes through the two holes in the top of the 24" bandsaw. Some things I don't want to use a chain on that would scratch it.

    Regardless of what I'm lifting, I never get under anything, nor allow anyone else to.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Piercefield, NY
    Posts
    1,659
    I always try to remember that anything lifted by hydraulic pressure is just one broken hose or fitting away from falling "as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath", and I try to stay out of the potential landing zone.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,685
    Quote Originally Posted by Edward Weber View Post
    I have a Pat's and it's great. Thought about a quick hitch but some attachments would interfere.
    JMO
    I have the Pat's system on my 3-pt arms, but since I sold all of my 3-pt attachments and pretty much leave the backhoe on full time, they don't get used. Great system for the money, however.

    -----

    OP, I actually used the hooks on my FEL bucket today to pull a few fence posts.
    Last edited by Jim Becker; 05-09-2022 at 7:22 PM.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
    Posts
    2,545
    Grab hooks definitely. Those removable ones aren't worth the money in my opinion. Why would you need to remove them? If you are lifting things that frequently there are better setups anyway. A heavy weld on eye with a shackle for example. As for getting grade 80 or 100 lifting slings.....that's technically correct but if you are following the rules you are supposed to know the weight of what you are picking. Are you doing a basket, choke, or straight method of picking the load. Your lifting devices require a certification tag with date and capacity as well and chain and cable slings require annual inspection. Use a load chart and/or have an LMI (load moment indicator) system. Use tag lines to direct and control the load. I was crane inspection certified before retirement. That said use common sense and you will be fine. For most of us the limiting factor is our little tractor etc. not the chain or cable or nylon lifting strap.

    As Zachary says, never ever get under a suspended load and never lift higher than necessary. Keep it close to the ground until you need it higher.

    I looked up the "Pat's" system and I don't see the advantage over a conventional 3 pt quick hitch. The only possible exception would be if the implement wasn't compatible with a standard quick hitch. They appear to extend the implement further away than a standard quick hitch though and that could be a problem with some PTO shafts.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Cambridge Vermont
    Posts
    2,282
    Another word of caution is if you position them out at the edges of the bucket it doesn't take too much weight on just one side to tip over your tractor. I never bothered to add them but if I did it would be grab hooks. Most of my chains have one grab and one slip so I can make what ever size loop I need.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •