D.Wiggs

I do only what I can MD.

morkable

One other big thing I can see with those units, is that if you were to go through a big enough dip, you will lift all the weight off of the rear tires and be stuck,, now wouldnt that be embarassing. The fifth wheel thing though is kinda cool. I just paid over 4 grand for a pullrite superglide hitch so that I could turn my fifth wheel without putting air condititioning in the rear of my cab. With a unit like that you could actually carry something in your box and still have the benifits of a fifth wheel trailer. Just a thought

Kevin

Shovelhead

As this contraption is connected to the tow vehicle by STRUTS, I'd be curious how it's supposed to track around a turn with a thousand pounds of weight sitting on top....
Also, I wouldn't want to see the results if the driver experienced a blow-out on this unit at highway speeds......
From their site's FAQ section:

Tree DR

That's where 4 wheel drive comes in handy.
Tree DR

Shovelhead

If only this poor driver had purchased one of those devices........

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vi...e3cd323.869807

Oilguy

TreeDR... What are you hauling??.. What is the weight distribution while hauling? Are you talking about keep the truck level while you are operating the boom? Or are you talking about hauling a load and the boom plus the load is squating the truck?... Is the Boom a 2500 lb capacity or does it weight 2500lbs??

If you are talking about operating a 2500 lb capacity boom mounted on the rear of the truck while you are parked and want the truck to remain level... Build an outrigger that just drops to the ground by pulling a pin or modify a trailer jack...

I am all about being creative and designing a purpose built rig to do what you need done... But keep safety in mind first for our sake... We are on the road too.

Oilguy

That was hilarious!!! You know he was driving up the hill screaming .
"Yeah >> Yeah >> Yeah... Gooooo... Yeah >> Yeah.... ...... ...... ...

.... Uhhh.... ...... ...



Uhhh..... NOOooooo.... Noooooo... no-no-no-no-no-no-no STOOOPPPPP!!!! AHhhhhh......



@%$#@@!!!!!!"

Tree DR

Ok take a look at my photo, then you'll know what I'm hauling. What I'm going to change in those pictures is a log loading boom mounted at the rear of the truck bed to pick up those big pieces of wood. www.valbysales.com/newpage100.htm The boom itself will weigh about 2,500 pounds. The boom is rated for about 4,000 at 5ft out from it's base and 1,000 at 20ft. I'm tired of loading chunks of wood like that by hand. The reciever mount would only help keep the truck level not really for the booms stability. The boom will be stabilized by the truck when it's being used. But with 2,500 pounds hanging on the back of the truck it seems like a nice idea to use the receiver to help keep the truck level.
Tree DR

Oilguy

Interesting rig...
How are you going to mount it to the truck? (At the back of the bed or mid bed?)
I would not use this thing without outriggers... 2500lbs hanging out 15-20 ft over the side of the truck will not be stable when you start picking up a load.
What is the height folded up?
Are you going to stow it forward on the truck or rearward?
Are you towing a trailer with the same truck?

Personally I would set up a gooseneck trailer with tandem duallys and rig up the loader at the front of the trailer against the GN or apart of the GN... That way you have the weight distributed over the truck axle and the trailer axles... This will allow you to use Bags to level the truck free the truck up for other tasks.
I would mount the controls at the front of the trailer to allow you to stand on the ground..... I know the training wheel will be cheaper and get you up and going sooner... but I can think of about 5 ways that can go wrong...
I know you are probably not made of money but $4000 would probably be all you need to set it up... Plus the loader.
Keep us posted... That looks like an interesting project and probably going to be a one-of-a-kind creation!

Tree DR

Yes I will definitly use the outriggers. Manuverability is the main reason to put it on the truck and not the trailer. I can always load the truck bed and tansfer it to the trailer if I can't get in with the trailer also. The boom would be mounted at the rear of the truck bed. Also the boom will be detachable so if I don't need it I'll take it off, another reason to use the helper since I won't need the carrying capacity all the time. The loader wil fold to the front on the bed, or I could extend it had have a bracket/cradle to set it in on the front bumper.
Tree DR

Oilguy

If that is the case then you will be distributing the weight over the whole truck and not focusing it on the rear bumper area except when using it... If you set up the riggers before you move the loader and keep them down until you stow it,,,, then the truck should be fine with just helper springs which would only cost $75. Or air bags which are bout $200
Also... Is this mounted at the back of the truck going to get in the way of being able to haul a trailer?.... I am sure that the outriggers will have to be attached to a customized bumper to stabilize the load.

Tree DR

I don't have all the details worked out yet. I've used some timbrens for overloads before. Yes I'll be pulling a trailer. I'll have a flatbed on the truck to mount the loader to the bed frame as well as the truck frame to hopefully not flex the truck frame to much. Yes I'll probably add a outrigger to go to the rear as well as the two sides.
Tree DR

Oilguy

Ok... If you plan to use a trailer as well >>> I don't see why you don't solve the problem by mounting the rig to the front of the trailer as it would be much easier and safer to modify than the truck... Also... If the unit is suppost to be removable from the truck >> Then there are some definite weak points associated with that... Is the truck going to be used on the highways or public roads??? Or all off road at low speeds?
I MSPainted an example of what I think of when I imagine this rig... I will post it later... BTW>.. Thanks to Aggie Justin for providing a great photo for me to use as an example...... It is in the photo gallery pending approval...

OG

Tree DR

Great photo Justin. Like I said before it's manuverability that is the problem when you have to take a trailer into the holes I get into. Not enough room or like in Jasons picture his boom can't reach behind the trailer so it's not any good unless you get beside what you need to load. If it's mounted on the truck all I have to do is get the rear of the truck within 20ft of what I'm loading. Sometimes that means reaching over a fence at the rear of the truck or down a hill behind the truck. Wouldn't want to try loading on a side hill. I had to unload a log tuck once on a side hill because it got stuck, not fun. If you looked at the web site I linked they just mount their's to a square trailer tongue.
Justin how did you fun the hydrolics?

Oilguy

Oh.. He doesn't have one on his trailer... I used his picture and stuck the loader on it with paint to show what I was thinking.... He had a John Deere tractor on there... I just erased it and put the crane on it....


It turned out better than I thought it would though....