On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 12:09:39 PM UTC-7, dpb wrote:
On 08/03/2015 2:00 PM, SteamboatEd Haas wrote:
On Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at 5:56:02 PM UTC-7, amdx wrote:
...

I'm wondering about lateral stability.
It might want to fold to the left or right.

...

I've worried about that a bit too so I plan to shim all the joints
and to add gussetts as needed. Time will tell. And FWIW the heaviest
load I plan to use it for is only about 200 lbs; beyond that I've
always got the loader bucket and a pair of forks I can add.

So what is the actual tubing dimension--1 or 1.25"?
--It's 1.25 with 1/8" wall.
--And for those who wonder my tractor is a Kubota BX-22, 18hp. It came with a bucket and backhoe; I'm told the primary customers, aside from urban escapees like me, are cemetaries as the backhoe can dig just 6ft deep... ;-)
--Sad to hear all the tales of how many of you lot lost your old family farms; we've managed to hang onto ours since 1849 and it's still going strong despite many changes. No more tomatos, hay and alfalfa or cattle; 25 years or so back we volunteered to be part of the UC Davis experiment to grow grapes and that was a godsend. If not for that leap I'd be slogging away in a machine shop full time, instead of part time for fun.. ;-) It is a little awkward now when we have a meeting: the family that started the farm many moons ago was fruitful and multiplied: we need two rows of chairs at the table!



Besides the previous idea of the gussets on the outside edge of the
tubing instead besides in the center a tension rod on the sides similar
but smaller in scale would be pretty effective. The gusset location
that I could see would be for the upright at the crossbar; probably a
sizable triangle plate on the front edge would work well and not
interfere with the adjustment pins, etc., ...

But, if it never gets out of plumb and is only 200-lb or less, it'll
probably be just fine; it's always the "aw shXXX!!" moment that's the
killer when something unwanted happens...

--