Considering a Crane For the Trailer

[woodchucker]

Thanks, I'm sure you will be happy with the crane, My Father had one on his trailer and lifted some heavy stuff with it.

As an aside, Back around 1989 The traveling "Ramco" Dealer talked me into buying a Pickup bed full of their equipment. One of the Pieces was a Pickup truck mounted crane. I mounted it in the bed of my 1978 Dodge using a large heavy plate with a lot of bolts. Long story short I was picking up a Dodge 440 with the transmission still attached and it folded my bed over, Pretty much ruining the bed. You may want to fabricate an outrigger that swings out or telescopes to avoid any issues like that.

Edit to add:

I found a pic on the web of the one I had.
View attachment 487926

I have a bridge to sell ya.

Wow you guys are easy to sell to.

 

[Harry Knutz]

I have a bridge to sell ya.

Wow you guys are easy to sell to.

That was 35 years ago, I'm gray now and much wiser.

 

[woodchucker]

yea sure.

 

[projectnut]

Thanks, I'm sure you will be happy with the crane, My Father had one on his trailer and lifted some heavy stuff with it.

As an aside, Back around 1989 The traveling "Ramco" Dealer talked me into buying a Pickup bed full of their equipment. One of the Pieces was a Pickup truck mounted crane. I mounted it in the bed of my 1978 Dodge using a large heavy plate with a lot of bolts. Long story short I was picking up a Dodge 440 with the transmission still attached and it folded my bed over, Pretty much ruining the bed. You may want to fabricate an outrigger that swings out or telescopes to avoid any issues like that.

In this case the mounting plate will be 1/2" x 12" the entire width of the trailer. It will be gusseted and welded to the tongue section which is made of 4" channel, and 2" x 4" tube. There is currently a 3-ton rated tongue jack on one side, and I'll be adding a second one to the other side to stabilize things when lifting with the crane.

 

[Winegrower]

I have gotten this far in my life (pretty far indeed) with just an HF 2 ton lift and a simple come-along and a rental trailer, drop bed when I can find one. I've moved several lathes up to the 2500 pound Takisawa, a couple of big bandsaws, a big awkward Rockwell drill press, the Bridgeport clone, 16" Kalamazoo horizontal saw, etc. But if you guys find a convincing truck hoist, I might want that for the F250. But it has to be quickly removable for hauling dirt, plywood, gravel, etc. I'll stay tuned.

 

[projectnut]

The crane I’m installing has 6 bolts that hold the base to the platform on the trailer. I will be using grade 8 5/8-11 bolts. For normal transport I intend to lift the mast from the base and leave the base bolted to the trailer. For winter storage the mast and base will be removed and put in the garage. It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to unbolt the base. Since the platform on the trailer is 1/2” thick and gusseted I shouldn’t need additional reinforcement like on a pickup truck box.

 

[projectnut]

Made a little more progress on the crane today. We welded up the 1/2" flat stock to make the mounting platform early this morning. Rather than mount it to the trailer then drill the mounting holes for the base we laid out the bolt pattern and did them in the shop on the milling machine. Once that was finished, we took the platform to the trailer. We lined it up and did a few welds to secure everything in place.

By that time the weather changed, and it started to sprinkle a bit. Rather than work in the rain we took a brief break for breakfast. The clouds quickly cleared, and it became bright and sunny for a short period. Unfortunately, the wind picked up also. We tried a couple more welds, but with the wind swirling from every which way it was impossible for the shielding gas to stay in place long enough to make decent welds.

We gave up for the day with the job about 75% complete. We'll try to wrap things up tomorrow or the next day depending on what mother nature throws at us.

 

[projectnut]

Slowly making progress on the trailer crane. Last week we got the platform roughed in on the trailer. I still have to clean it up a bit, add some paint to keep it from rusting, and mount the crane.

The trailer is currently sitting in the garage as we are out of town for a couple weeks. When we get back it will only hopefully take a day to finish it up. Then it's back to the welding shop to test it out. The first thing it will attempt to lift is the MEP 002A military generator. It supposedly weighs 960 lbs. dry. That should be well within its 1-ton range.

As a side note we didn't have a transfer punch the right size, but my friend said he thought he could "eyeball it close enough". He clamped the base to the chosen locations, eyed it up, located the holes with a center punch, then took the assembly over to the mill to drill the holes. I brought along some 5/8" grade 8 bolts for assembly. He was going to drill the holes 1/32" over for clearance, but only had a 5/8' drill handy.

We must have been living right that day. All 8 holes on both sides aligned perfectly, the bolts slipped in without any problem. The only downside is his right arm is now 6" longer than the left from patting himself on the back for a job well done. I would have also given him a few pats on the back, but anytime I give approval for a job well done the price goes up. For now, he'll have to be satisfied with an attaboy.

Here are a few pictures of the project so far. It didn't rain, but it must have been quite humid. The rust is from sitting outside overnight.

 

[projectnut]

I finished installing the crane on the trailer this afternoon. It was a pretty straight forward job even though several steps were left out of the instruction manual. I was going to install the electric winch, but after trying the manual one that came with it I think I’ll hold off for a while.

The first thing I attempted to lift was the aerator. It’s light enough that I didn’t need any additional support under the frame. The next couple lifts will be a bit heavier. The radial arm saw weighs in at 750 lbs., and the “new” generator is 960 lbs.

 

[Harry Knutz]

Nice job, That will be very handy!