Purchase The Perfect Forks For Your Tractor Bucket

About 20 years ago, I bought a slightly used Case 580 backhoe. Although it's been gone for a few years, the oil stains in my driveway are a constant reminder of the time we spent together.

The Case 580 was one of the most useful tractors I’ve ever owned. It was dependable for small excavation jobs and did a great job clearing snow. However, I always wished it had a way to move pallets.

Years into my ownership, I discovered "hook over bucket" forks—the perfect solution for adding pallet forks to any tractor bucket. With the experience I’ve gained now, I’d say every tractor bucket should have a set of hook over bucket forks.

Key Takeaways:

• Hook over bucket forks attach to your tractor's bucket. The tractor operator can attach and detach the forks to the bucket without leaving the cab of the tractor.

• Proper measurement of your bucket opening is important to ensure you purchase the correct size of hook over bucket forks.
• The usefulness, price, and lifespan of hook over bucket forks make them an essential investment for many tractor owners.

What Are Hook Over Bucket Forks?

“Hook over bucket forks (Haugen Product)” are pallet forks that attach to the front of your tractor's bucket, allowing you to use pallet forks without removing the bucket.

The forks come with 3 or 4 U-shaped brackets that need to be welded onto the top of your bucket.

The forks are designed with a long vertical section and are hung on a solid steel shaft. The shaft sits inside the welded-on brackets, and the vertical section of the forks rests against the top of the bucket and the bottom cutting edge.

This design allows the forks to stand up freely when not attached to the bucket. With the forks standing, the tractor operator can easily attach or detach them by simply curling the bucket to have the welded-on brackets pick up or drop off the forks' steel shaft.

More Details

Let’s take a closer look at each component of the Hook Over Bucket Forks.

Forks

High-quality hook over bucket forks are made of fully forged steel. Compared to two-piece welded forks, forged steel forks are stronger, lighter, and tend to last longer.

Fork tine lengths come in all the sizes you're used to: 42”, 48”, 60”, and 72”.

Tine thickness varies between 1.5”, 1.75”, 2”, and 2.5”, and widths generally come in 4”, 5”, 6”, and 8”.

The thicker and wider the fork tine, the higher the lifting capacity. Lifting capacities can range from 5,500 pounds to nearly 30,000 pounds.

Because hook over bucket forks don’t attach to a conventional pallet fork frame, you don’t need to worry about pallet fork classifications (blog).

Brackets and Shaft

The weld-on brackets vary slightly in design by manufacturer, but the overall functionality remains the same.

The brackets are CNC cut from 3/4” steel. Most manufacturers supply 4 brackets for forks with capacities up to 8,000 pounds and 5 brackets for higher capacities.

Businesses with more than one tractor often order additional brackets so that each tractor can share a single set of forks. The brackets themselves are fairly inexpensive, and once welded on, they are out of the way and always ready for use.

Because the forks can slide into different positions along the length of the shaft, some customers prefer to weld on only three brackets to give their forks a larger range of motion.

The shaft is ordinarily made of 2” solid polished steel. The shaft length varies between 72” and 80” depending on the manufacturer.

The shaft comes with two removable end caps that slide onto the shaft and are set in place with a set screw.

What Size Of Hook Over Bucket Forks Do I Need?

If it’s your first time looking at hook over bucket forks, the sizing can be confusing and not very intuitive.

Firstly, to figure out the correct size of hook over bucket forks for your tractor, you need to take one simple measurement.

Measure from the cutting edge of the bucket straight up to the top edge of the bucket—this is the bucket opening. Common bucket opening sizes are 36”, 42”, 48”, and 54”.

This measurement is important because the cutting edge and the top edge of the bucket will support the back of your forks.

If the forks are too short, the bucket will contact the ground before the forks, rendering them unusable. If the forks are too long, they will be hard to see from the operator's seat, making them clumsy and awkward to use.

Fork Sizing

On our product pages, the differnt models of over the bucket forks will show you the maximum bucket opening height suitable for that model.

You don’t need to add anything to that measurment for the brackets or extra length at the bottom of the forks, we’ve dont that for you.

For example, if you measured a 36” bucket opening, when you order the over the bucket forks that fits a bucket up to 36”, the forks that you recieve will come with a 43” back height. Perfect to fit your bucket with the brackets.

If you are unsure of what model to order, measure the opening of your bucket and then give us a call.

Are There Any Disadvantages To Over The Bucket Forks?

The advantage of any attachment that doesn’t have hydraulics or electronics is that there is really nothing to go wrong.

If you purchase the correct size forks, do a decent job welding on the brackets, and don’t misuse the forks, they will likely last you the lifetime of your tractor.

By not misusing the forks, I mean following all the usual advice. Don’t overload the forks, and don’t try to use them as a pry bar. Most manufacturers won’t cover warranties for misused forks.

After years of selling over-the-bucket forks, the only returns we've had are due to ordering the incorrect size for your bucket.

How Do Over The Bucket Forks Compare To Clamp On Forks?

Clamp-on forks are an alternative to hook-over-bucket forks.

With clamp-on forks, the forks slide over the cutting edge and onto the bottom of the bucket, then they are clamped into place.

Clamp-on forks may be a suitable replacement for hook-over-bucket forks only if you are doing very light and occasional work with them.

The design of clamp-on forks does a poor job of distributing the load onto the bucket. When they are overused or improperly loaded, clamp-on forks have a tendency to deform the bottom of your much more expensive bucket.

There are many versions of clamp-on forks built overseas that can be purchased very cheaply. These overseas forks are infamous for their premature failure and should be avoided.

If you are considering clamp-on forks, I would strongly urge you to ensure you purchase them from an American manufacturer such as Haugen Attachments or Star Industries.

Conclusion

Using your tractor’s bucket to pick up your hook-over-bucket forks is easier than swapping attachments on a skid steer.

Given the functionality, ease of use, and long expected lifespan of hook-over-bucket forks, these forks are a must-have investment(financing) for every tractor owner.

If you still have questions, feel free to give us a call, and our team will be happy to help you select the perfect forks for your tractor bucket!