Made-It-Myself Forklift Rafter Boom

2024 - Volume #48, Issue #2, Page #39

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Raising rafters for 16-ft. tall ceilings requires a long reach, and Joel Zumbach’s skid loader-mounted rafter boom didn’t have it. He didn’t feel making the boom any longer was a safe option. Instead, he designed one to mount to a forklift.
“I could only get a 22-ft. reach with the skid steer, and even then, the back end got pretty light under the load,” says Zumbach. “Mounting it on the forklift with its 16-ft. reach gave us a 28-ft. reach for the boom.”
Zumbach fabricated the boom out of 3-in. heavy wall steel pipe with a steel plate at one end. The boom’s base was a reinforced crossbar welded to sleeves that slid on the forklift forks. Both the sleeves and the crossbar were made with 2 by 6-in. steel tubing salvaged from an old camper frame.
“I reinforced the crossbar with a piece of 1/2-in. thick steel plate from an old TMR mixer,” says Zumbach. “I torched a hole in the steel plate, and welded it to the end of the boom/pipe and then welded the plate to the crossbar.”
To provide more surface to attach braces to the boom, Zumbach welded two pieces of steel salvaged from a John Deere corn planter about 4 ft. up its length. Two short lengths of 1-in. pipe from an old greenhouse were welded to the steel and bolted to the forklift load backrest. Another longer piece was passed through a hole in the steel plates on the boom. It was bent to the ends of the crossbar where it was welded in place.
“We couldn’t tip the boom end to the ground to hook the rafter like we could with the skid steer,” says Zumbach. “Instead, we used a 12-volt winch mounted to the crossbar to lift the rafter to the end of the boom.”
He mounted a battery to power the winch to one of the fork sleeves and ran the controller back to the operator’s seat.
Zumbach describes the boom as a work in progress, often changing from one job to the next. “It’s had different versions according to the need we had,” he says. “We just cut it apart and weld it back together.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joel Zumbach, 8538 County Rd. 152, Henderson, N.Y. 13650 (ph 315-222-8710).

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Made-It-Myself Forklift Rafter Boom BUILDINGS Miscellaneous Raising rafters for 16-ft tall ceilings requires a long reach and Joel Zumbach’s skid loader-mounted rafter boom didn’t have it He didn’t feel making the boom any longer was a safe option Instead he designed one to mount to a forklift “I could only get a 22-ft reach with the skid steer and even then the back end got pretty light under the load ” says Zumbach “Mounting it on the forklift with its 16-ft reach gave us a 28-ft reach for the boom ” Zumbach fabricated the boom out of 3-in heavy wall steel pipe with a steel plate at one end The boom’s base was a reinforced crossbar welded to sleeves that slid on the forklift forks Both the sleeves and the crossbar were made with 2 by 6-in steel tubing salvaged from an old camper frame “I reinforced the crossbar with a piece of 1/2-in thick steel plate from an old TMR mixer ” says Zumbach “I torched a hole in the steel plate and welded it to the end of the boom/pipe and then welded the plate to the crossbar ” To provide more surface to attach braces to the boom Zumbach welded two pieces of steel salvaged from a John Deere corn planter about 4 ft up its length Two short lengths of 1-in pipe from an old greenhouse were welded to the steel and bolted to the forklift load backrest Another longer piece was passed through a hole in the steel plates on the boom It was bent to the ends of the crossbar where it was welded in place “We couldn’t tip the boom end to the ground to hook the rafter like we could with the skid steer ” says Zumbach “Instead we used a 12-volt winch mounted to the crossbar to lift the rafter to the end of the boom ” He mounted a battery to power the winch to one of the fork sleeves and ran the controller back to the operator’s seat Zumbach describes the boom as a work in progress often changing from one job to the next “It’s had different versions according to the need we had ” he says “We just cut it apart and weld it back together ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Joel Zumbach 8538 County Rd 152 Henderson N Y 13650 ph 315-222-8710

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