Insane idea?

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ducaticorse

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So there is a short money INT forestry with an ALC 55 available with a blown dt466 motor. A rebuild is a bout 2 grand. I was THINKING about buying it, taking of the boom and building a set up similar to ARBOR PRO's chip truck with the deleted mancab, but instead of a mini, I'd have my bobcat 453 sit there.

I'd then look into remounting the ALC onto my MINT short chassis F600 after taking the dump body off of course. I've been dying for a short chassis rear mount. (tnx MDS). My only fear is that my exsiting INT forestry unit won't get used anymore. I guess I can always sell it....


Guys, this is just a thought btw, so take it easy on me lol...
 
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are you planning on doing the rebuild yourself? only reason i ask is that the parts alone for a in chassis rebuild on a 466 is around $2500. also,you say the motor is "blown up", you need to be more specific or if you dont know then you should find out. there are a hundred different reasons for a motor failing. in our proffesion more than likely the motor failed due to overheating. i.e radiator clogged with sawdust and over time it continously ran hotter than its supposed to.but on the other hand you dont know if things are more serious...cracked block(which cant always be seen by the naked eye),these engines run a huey system which basically means that the fuel system and injectors are run off oil pressure and if the company that used to own it didnt service it regularly then broken down oil can get into all the ports of the engine block clog them and cause poor engine performance and eventual failure. we just recently had to do a rebuild on a 1998 4900 to the tune of 7k. that is the standard price for the kit plus labor.
 
are you planning on doing the rebuild yourself? only reason i ask is that the parts alone for a in chassis rebuild on a 466 is around $2500. also,you say the motor is "blown up", you need to be more specific or if you dont know then you should find out. there are a hundred different reasons for a motor failing. in our proffesion more than likely the motor failed due to overheating. i.e radiator clogged with sawdust and over time it continously ran hotter than its supposed to.but on the other hand you dont know if things are more serious...cracked block(which cant always be seen by the naked eye),these engines run a huey system which basically means that the fuel system and injectors are run off oil pressure and if the company that used to own it didnt service it regularly then broken down oil can get into all the ports of the engine block clog them and cause poor engine performance and eventual failure. we just recently had to do a rebuild on a 1998 4900 to the tune of 7k. that is the standard price for the kit plus labor.

Good info there. The motor has coolant leaking into the cylinders, but as far as know the bottom end and block is sound. I'm ASSUMING it's going to need new sleeves and such. I am somewhat familiar with the motor, but it sounds like you know more. There is a functional dt466 for sale with an auto tranny that I have sourced elsewhere that I can drop right in if need be (-minus the tranny). My concern is not so much the motor work. It's doing the boom swap, and the finding out whether my F600 will be a stable enough platform to be doing 60ft working heights from, ie, I may have to add a second set of rigs.
 
as long as the core part of the engine is sound then you are still going to have to buy the kit. to replace some wear parts and leave others is a bad idea. but if you have a backup engine that you can get your hands on that is similiar then that might be your best bet. as far as doing a boom swap,which can turn into quite a project,your best bet is going right to the manufacturer of the lift and finding out all the specs that they require for the truck and chassis. also is the blown up truck a automatic?
 
as long as the core part of the engine is sound then you are still going to have to buy the kit. to replace some wear parts and leave others is a bad idea. but if you have a backup engine that you can get your hands on that is similiar then that might be your best bet. as far as doing a boom swap,which can turn into quite a project,your best bet is going right to the manufacturer of the lift and finding out all the specs that they require for the truck and chassis. also is the blown up truck a automatic?

Blown truck is a manual. I can seperate the auto tranny from the donor motor and sell it, or just keep it around. I have another fresh rebuilt dt466 in my current forestry truck, so I guess it won't hurt to have a whole motor around that I can rebuild over time. There's ALWAYS going to be a market for the motor....

I'll call the former ALC mech tomorrow and see what he thinks about the refit.
 
thats the way to do it man. they will tell you if that truck will hold it. yes that motor will always be worth something seeing as how the new international motors are junk, and everybody in the northeast runs international. if you end up doing it id like to see some pics,its a good idea. good luck!
 
Sounds like a lot of work but in the end it needs to be worth the time and money invested. In theory it sounds awesome.
 
Oops. sorry I missed that.

A handful of years ago I asked Aerial Lift about their rear mount conversions. they said anything rearmount should have four riggers. I think they said it was like forty grand to do one. Ouch!

They are certainly not cheap... I called to find out what it would cost in PARTS to convert my 55 to a 60, and it was like 10K just for the upper boom, and the knuckles are different too, not to mention the new hydro lines.. Forget that.

I'm assuming I'll be able to source a suitabls set of second rigs if I go ahead with this idea, there are plenty of those around.

It wouldn't be a bad winter project I don't think. Have to see what the budget allows for at the end of the month. And I haven't even looked at the unit yet. I bought a truck from the guy last year, so again, I'm assuming it's in decent shape (besides the motor)
 
Make sure u do all ur reasearch, ii don't know of anyone who will inspect or work on any lift that has been modified. There are hug liability issues with modifying a bucket truck, make sure you will be able to get the lift certified and inspected after your done
 
They are certainly not cheap... I called to find out what it would cost in PARTS to convert my 55 to a 60, and it was like 10K just for the upper boom, and the knuckles are different too, not to mention the new hydro lines.. Forget that.

I'm assuming I'll be able to source a suitabls set of second rigs if I go ahead with this idea, there are plenty of those around.

It wouldn't be a bad winter project I don't think. Have to see what the budget allows for at the end of the month. And I haven't even looked at the unit yet. I bought a truck from the guy last year, so again, I'm assuming it's in decent shape (besides the motor)

Yeah, my jaw about hit the desk when I heard that figure. Can't imagine they had too many takers at that rate!
 
Make sure u do all ur reasearch, ii don't know of anyone who will inspect or work on any lift that has been modified. There are hug liability issues with modifying a bucket truck, make sure you will be able to get the lift certified and inspected after your done

Good point. I'm under the assumption that refits are pretty common. IE, a wrecked, or retired totaled chassis, companies take booms off and remount them on other chassis often. I won't be modifying the boom persay, just fitting it on a different chassis. I will ad that Q to the R&D list though. Thanks.
 
OK,

Talked with ALC today, or the company formerly known as ALC. F600 is too light of a chassis to mount the 55 on. Also, if it wasn't, doing a rear mount on it would require a custom made "tourque box" to be fabbed and installed leading from the cab, to the mounting point for the turret to bolt to, (read enormous amounts of cash). So in other words, F that idea!

Guess I'll just have to lay in wait for the next rear mount to come on to the market.....
 
You can't remount a 2 outrigger setup facing backwards the truck needs 4 outriggers or reaching over the back will be hairem scarem for sure to the point where it may roll. You can however make it a mid mount and use the 2 outrigger setup .. I mean that truck will float all over the place when your reaching over the rear side to side .... just make sure that all your ducks are in a row before you chop 2 trucks up ...
 
You can't remount a 2 outrigger setup facing backwards the truck needs 4 outriggers or reaching over the back will be hairem scarem for sure to the point where it may roll. You can however make it a mid mount and use the 2 outrigger setup .. I mean that truck will float all over the place when your reaching over the rear side to side .... just make sure that all your ducks are in a row before you chop 2 trucks up ...

Yeah, did some research today. Seems there is more fabrication work than I want to deal with. F600 is too light a chassis to mount it on anyway.
 

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