LOOKING FOR PICS OF TRAILER MOUNTED CRANES

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Maybe I am overly picky but that trailer has a crane.
Guess that's in the definition you use. To me, a 'crane' lifts and pivots. A 'hoist' just lifts. This is a winch that pulls, with a couple of pulliey mounting points.

I know that there are many types of each.

I have always been impressed with logs that were loaded with just a parbuckle and mules!

Philbert
 
Parbuckling is almost a no-brainer for a flat bed trailer if your fenderless or have stout fenders. No winch or crane needed. I have loaded some big logs with little tractors that way. If you don’t mind unhitching, you can use your tow vehicle. With a trailer mounted winch and a pulley you can parbuckle side or rear. Many simple things like that get overlooked today. I think ms is wanting a Swiss Army knife for his dump trailer and truck. If anyone can pull it off I believe he can.

Ron
 
Parbuckling is almost a no-brainer for a flat bed trailer if your fenderless or have stout fenders. No winch or crane needed. I have loaded some big logs with little tractors that way. If you don’t mind unhitching, you can use your tow vehicle. With a trailer mounted winch and a pulley you can parbuckle side or rear. Many simple things like that get overlooked today. I think ms is wanting a Swiss Army knife for his dump trailer and truck. If anyone can pull it off I believe he can.

Ron
Before I built my crane, I parbuckled up the ramp, from the rear with a strap type manual boat winch. worked very well.
 
HF has their 12000lb winch on sale now for $299. I was going to go pick one up today and then read where they only offer a 90day warranty. I could tear my trailer in half with that big a winch anyways. I have decided to build the boom without a big winch and take my 3500lb winch off my gator until I really need something bigger. Got a little honey do project to finsish up and then too start drawing up plans
In my experience, a 3500 lb winch will struggle dragging a 2000lb log and definitely won't lift it while using a single line. If you use a snatch block and double it up, maybe. There are times when my 5000lb struggles single, but at that point I have to be carefull with tipping it over. I have never ran out of battery power from a group 31 loading 4 loads in maybe 6 hours. If I did, I carry long jumpers to charge with. The biggest problem is heat and duty cycle on the winch.
 
MS, how much room do you even have on your trailer tongue? I was messing with my dump last night and with the hydraulic box there is not much room for something as stout as your talking.
 
Heres the tounge on my trailer. Resized_20190402_111234.jpeg Resized_20190402_111309.jpeg the cyl is the one I plan to use for raising the boom. I have about 22in from the trailer box and my jackstand. The spread on the tongue is about 36inches. If I move the boom any closer to the ball end, then I wont be able to lower the tailgate on my pickup. Any farther toward the bed and I wont be able to dump. I dont have room to mount a gas motor/hyd pump and a boom on the tongue. The side boards on the trailer are 2ft high. They may have to be lowered or possibly removed and metal standards used to hual logs. I plan on making the boom height 6ft from the ground. I realize a 3500lb would have a hard time draging 2000lbs up to the trailer. That is why I was, and still am, thinking about at least a 8000lb winch. The little 3500lb winch I already have and would most likely be temporary. For turning the boom I have two options. Well three if you want to count human muscle. The axle hub I plan to use is out of a ton truck. I have the hub and the tube without the center section of the axle housing. The axle extends pass the lenght of the tube. To make the boom turn, I can make a plate to go on the splined axle end and mount a cyl. This would give me 180* turning radius. This would prevent me from using the boom to load the truck. Option two is add a large sprocket to the axle spline and use a chain and hyd motor to turn the boom. This would give me 360* rotatation, but would have to be limited to prevent tearing the hoses off the boom cyl. I have some high torque, low speed hyd motors, but I dont know how much flow my electric hyd pump will produce. I know I can make the boom turn, I just dont know how fast. Option three is using muscle and a tag line to pull the log over the trailer bed.. A fourth option I have considered is replacing the drum on a large electric winch with a sprocket and using this in the place of the hyd motor for turning the axle. Even more drain on a battery, but might be my only option if I cant get the fluid I need to pull the hyd motor.
 
Some advice...Be sure you won’t damage your truck, should the load swing uncontrollably when the trailer is not level. If I was mounting a crane to the tongue, it would definitely be some type of mechanized rotator. My crane will swing 270 degrees. It is almost impossible to contact my truck with a 10’ long log.
 
Some advice...Be sure you won’t damage your truck, should the load swing uncontrollably when the trailer is not level. If I was mounting a crane to the tongue, it would definitely be some type of mechanized rotator. My crane will swing 270 degrees. It is almost impossible to contact my truck with a 10’ long log.
I know only to well. Most of those old log trucks with bigstick loaders had doors, mirrows, lights and everything else torn off or bent. My fathering law even got a ticket once for driving without a truck. True story
 
Looks good. Do you have a handle to swivel it so you won’t be near the load if it falls? Ron
Sort of, I use a spud bar in the open end of the hoist if needed. I try and mitigate risks the best I can but understanding potential dangers and limitations of a apparatus such as this goes a long ways. You do have to be careful as regard to gravity swing but sometimes it can be used to your advantage. This is where having a electric winch you can inch and let a load drag the ground just enough that its somewhat controlled helps.
 
Ok, have a plan but its still in my head so it will be plan as I go. I dragged out the axle hub assembley I am going to use today. Got it stripped of the brake drum. I also found a solenoid control valve assembly with 4spools. I only needed two, but having the extra spools gives me other options if I decide to do a few more add ons. I also found a cyl in my stashpile for a boom lift. Finding that cyl is what led me to the solenoid valves. I had done a little tradeing with a guy up above Knoxville tn a couple years ago and he had the control valve on his truck to do some barter with. At the time, I wasnt interested in the control valve but had kept the guys phone number simply because he had a ton of other hyd. parts. I gave him a call today and sure enough, he still had the valve. Offered to give me the valve if I paid for shipping. I told him I would just send him $100 and he could pay the shipping. I plan on making the boom and cyl mounts tomorrow.. Still havent decided on a winch. I have a 3500lb atv winch I might use,but i am going to be keeping a eye out for something a little bigger. So far, except for the solenoid valve, I have everything on hand to do this build. I have a matched set of small cyl and am thinking about doing a hyd swing. It will be similar to a backhoe swing. 180* side to side. These would be mounted at the bottom of the boom and connected to the factory axle. Not sure what kind of turning power it will have, at least as much as i can turn by hand.
 

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