Drilling a hole in a forklift fork

[Mikes]

I've been asked to put a hole in the end of a forklift fork so that a removable tow ball can be fitted occasionally so that the owner can move his trailer around the yard with it. I know that people frown upon this and that there are solutions that use a slip-on box over the fork to hold a tow ball but regardless of this, just wondered if anyone had drilled a fork before.I was thinking of using a mag drill and annular cutter but could also use a conventional MT drill in the mag drill if that would be better.The owner is fully aware of any risk and the forklift isn't used in a commercial situation, just for his own use.

 

[Brad93]

Piece of ****, few of our forklifts have had this treatment over the years. It's chromoly steel usually fork tines, rotabroach works fine

 

[Hitch]

Fit a ball to a bit of box that fits over the fork, and a pin that fits behind the heel.

 

[Seadog]

Fit a ball to a bit of box that fits over the fork, and a pin that fits behind the heel.

You still need a hole for the pin.

 

[Hitch]

Not through the fork you don't.

 

[sako243]

I put one through one of my forks using bog standard drill bits. Piloted it with a 13mm Dewalt Extreme 2 drill bit then opened it up to 16mm or whatever I needed. No issues at all.

 

[steve t]

You're all very civilised Iblew mine out with oxygen propane

 

[8ob]

You're all very civilised Iblew mine out with oxygen propane

Another vote for the gas axe

Bob

 

[Mikes]

It's only a freebie for a mate so quick and easy is appealing. The reason I asked about drilling is that I didn't want to wreck a good cutter doing a favour. I did offer to make a slide on sleeve with a hitch but as this would have involved buying a suitable bit of box, it was declined!

 

[brightspark]

i bits of plate cut with a 1.0mm slitting disk and a welder instant box