Pallet pullers

[vipra]

I've been using a heavy chain with hooks on the ends to connect skids on my Sprinter to forklifts so the fork can pull the skids out. A problem is that a lot of skids don't have room underneath for the hook to go under. I was going to get one of the scissor-type pallet pullers like this
www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/3KR81 but then I found this
www.buzzbar.com It's smaller, cheaper and easier to use than the scissor-type. I got one and it works great- it takes a fraction of a second to attach it to a skid.
Get the 2-way buzzbar because it works on all skids- the 4-way only works on some skids.

 

[cheri1122]

It's small, lightwieght, inexpensive, and secure - excellent! Thanks for finding & sharing it.

 

[Packmule]

Vipra,

Thanks for the info! After reading this I went ahead and ordered a set. I have been using a recovery rope, and has done a good job. but I believe this will mbe a lot quicker and safer.

Thanks.
Danny

 

[arkjarhead]

what you do is take a long bolt and put it thru the chain. Put a nut on it. Take another nut and put about an inch from the end of the other end. Take a small piece of angle iron with a hole drilled thru it and put it on the bolt. Put another bolt on to hold the angle iron in place. That's a way to make one with scraps you can find. But if you insist on spending money be my guest.

 

[Turtle]

I just use an old 2" winch strap, with a flat hook on one end, that I stole off my brother's flatbed. Cheap. Works.

It's a little worn and frayed, but not bad, but bad enough that he wouldn't use it to secure freight with. Works fine for what I need. It would be better if the flat hook was a flat snap hook, as I loop it around the stringer board (usually) and back onto itself, hooking the hook onto the strap. A snap hook would make a more secure connection, but just a little tension is all it takes to keep the strap inside the flat hook.

The flat hook and strap is a little more versatile than something like the Buzzbar, or even claws. In cases where there is no stringer board attached to a bottom decking support board, like many automotive plastic skids and some wooden pallets that only have crossboard decking on the top, I can hook the flat hook to the underside of the top decking boards and that works too.

If there's a really weird skid design, worse comes to worse I can wrap the entire strap around the skid and pull it out that way. It's 30 feet long.

A winch strap with a flat hook is probably about $10 most places. That Buzzbar is pretty kewl, tho. Rather than a chain, I'd use about a 10 or 12 foot long, 2" wide strap with a ring on one end to connect to the Buzzbar, and then a snap hook on the other for connecting it to the forklift.

Slow and steady, even in expediting, wins the race - Aesop

 

[ATeam]

What about driving backwards real fast and slamming on the brakes?

 

[Bushwa69]

I found this one for $29.99. I get their catalog and they have lots of useful truck gear.
http://www.truckntow.com/p-12166-grip-style-pallet-puller-w-shackle.aspx

 

[arkjarhead]

Phil you say that jokingly but I say a real Einstien get mad at a consignee once and unchain a 44k lb coil he took off then turned the truck to the right then hard to the left and the coil come off. The smartest thing about his geneius plan was he was hauling it suicide style so if it ever would have started rolling foward it would have killed him. Good thing the coil racks and 4x4s were doing their jobs. What a retard.

 

[RLENT]

Here's a couple I saw that I'd like to add to the arsenal:

One I saw in a catalog for a company (www.awdirect.com) that sells towing gear to tow truck operators. Basically it is a pair of large hooks - I think called J-Hooks in the towing industry. Take two of those and hook them together with a short piece of chain, then hook another piece of chain to the center and onto the forklift/towmotor. These would seem to have the advantage of having some length to them to you could hook them under a pallet or skid without having to stick your entire arm under it. Like this:

 

[RLENT]

At one shipper I went to that made fastners, almost everything they shipped, or at least that I hauled for them, was in steel tubs - you know the kind - probably 30 x 30 x 24 (high) with a sort of a pour spout on one side.

They had fabbed up a puller for these tubs that they kept at the ramp door for cargo vans, it was made out of like 1/4 steel plate - had an eyelet on it to hook to. It slipped over the top edge of a tub - kinda looked a little like a question mark rotated 90 degrees clockwise - like this (sideview):

 

[Jefferson3000]

I think the traditional pallet puller, along with the Buzz Bar Vipra mentioned, would cover the basis for pretty any situation a van might encounter. Buzz Bar looks nice, and very reasonable. Thanks Vipra.


Drive Safe!

Jeff

Driver for 15 years
O/O for 13 years
OOIDA #829119

[em]"Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed." --Mark Twain[/em]

 

[ebsprintin]

strap it

I use a length of webbing from a strap for retrieving autos from ditches. One tool that handles every pallet configuration. Only time it didn't work was at a power plant. "We can't use your webbing, because its not certified for use in this plant." (they had an accident a couple weeks prior) They stood around for thirty minutes looking at the pallet in the front of my van. The solution was to have me follow a maintenance guy to a different part of the plant and use my strap there instead of at the warehouse.

eb

 

[geo]

RE: strap it

myself like my roller take care of pulling
just strap it down and pull away , and get to del and push it forward for the forklift to pick up
roller's are like having a second person around sometimes
with the new sprinter able to haul 4 pallets

 

[Marty]

RE: strap it

WShat kind of rollerd do you use? Where did you buy them?

 

[theoldprof]

RE: strap it

I used a tow strap and a 20 ft long 1/4 inch chain. They will pull out about anything from a van. One time I had to wait for the cons to scrounge up a strap to pull out some electrical wire cables on a roll. No skid. Couldn't use a chain for fear of damaging the cables. Next day I bought the nylon tow strap. Never had a load that I couldn't get out using either one. Hint: When the strap gets dirty and greasy, wash it in the washing machine. When the chain gets cruddy, use the dish washer. Nuther Hint: Don't expect your wife or SO to be too happy about sanitizing your stuff in the washer or dishwasher.

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