Building outrigger pads

[woodsboy67]

Just purchased a JLG T500J towable lift, weight of the unit is 4,800 would like to build some larger plywood pads for soft soil and yards. Unit has 4 outriggers spaced at 13ft. square. Information or specs would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.

 

[Zac]

3 layers of 3/4" plywood, glued and screwed

 

[JeffL]

Even better, I like the DIY jobs we have at work.

Its 4 pieces of pressure treated 2x4", each cut I'm assuming 16" long (they are square). They are layed out side by side, and someone drilled through them all, and not sure if its just a big leaf spring shackle/u-bolt, but that is slid through all the boards, and then locked on with nuts. Pretty slick, and they definitely take alot of abuse, and thats from a truck over 26,000#.

 

[CleanupPro]

Definitely plywood. You can sometimes dumpster dive and find enough scraps of plywood (half inch will work too if you add an extra layer) in a construction dumpster. I agree, construction adhesive and screw the heck out of them. If you want them to look really nice, cut the square corners off and then take a belt sander to all the edges. That might lessen the amount of splinters you get for a while.

JeffL, do you have a picture of those 2x4 pads you were talking about? I am sure they are excellent, though maybe a little heavy. I have been thinking about making up some miniature equipment mats (a scaled down version of the big crane mats they use to drive cranes and excavators etc. on in swamp jobs) for our swinger and ASV. So I am just wondering how your outrigger pads look and how they hold up under uneven pressures. Ive been thinking that the way your pads are made is close to how I would make the mats, except with a full four inch thick piece of elm or white oak at random widths and about 8 or 10 feet long, then drilled and bolted with threaded rod.

 

[BostonBull]

We use 6"x12"x24" rough sawn Hemlock. They last a LONG time, and support 92,000lbs worth of crane on a daily basis.
We use these on all the buckets though.. http://www.dicausa.com/dica-prod-op.html
Lifetime warranty!

 

[JeffL]

[ QUOTE ]
Definitely plywood. You can sometimes dumpster dive and find enough scraps of plywood (half inch will work too if you add an extra layer) in a construction dumpster. I agree, construction adhesive and screw the heck out of them. If you want them to look really nice, cut the square corners off and then take a belt sander to all the edges. That might lessen the amount of splinters you get for a while.

JeffL, do you have a picture of those 2x4 pads you were talking about? I am sure they are excellent, though maybe a little heavy. I have been thinking about making up some miniature equipment mats (a scaled down version of the big crane mats they use to drive cranes and excavators etc. on in swamp jobs) for our swinger and ASV. So I am just wondering how your outrigger pads look and how they hold up under uneven pressures. Ive been thinking that the way your pads are made is close to how I would make the mats, except with a full four inch thick piece of elm or white oak at random widths and about 8 or 10 feet long, then drilled and bolted with threaded rod.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont have a picture, I could grab one tomorrow. Obviously they arent pretty. Just some beat up old iron and pressure treated bolted together. I drew up a quick little schematic though, showing how very simple they are.

And they hold up to whatever I've seen. You could put them leaned up against a curb, so only the edges are taking the weight, and for whatever reason, they really dont seem to care. Rugged little bastards.

 

[allmark]

I have some pads that are plywood on the outside with 2x4s on edge inbetween. This gives you the strenth of the 2x4 on edge with the plywood to support the weight.