Hook Lift Trucks

Merle Nelson said:
View attachment 50905 Here's the truck with one smaller debris box nested inside of the other.
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Very nice!

Lumberjack said:
I've had a rash of supplier issues, but my truck build is coming along slowly but surely. The container won't be done for another 3 weeks, so there's not a rush just yet.


I sat the hoist on the frame yesterday, have the PTO installed but waiting the pump, added 2' of frame to the truck (will be cut back), have all but the rear mounts installed on the truck frame to be welded to the hoist's frame. The hoist is a SwapLoader SL240 with a 24klb capacity, 54" hook height, 14-18' containers.

View attachment 50879

Nearly positive a 16klb tag axle is going where the loose tire is within a few inches. That will put the axles at 12k/21k/16k, for a total of 49klb of axle capacity. The truck with the hoist and lift axle should weigh around 18klb, 24klb for the loaded container puts me at 42klb. The truck should bridge 46klb, but I haven't verified that math (not a concern). One benefit with the tag axle is my wheel base with the axle up is only 184" with the center of the 16' container being ~centered over the drive axle... making for a very nimble truck with decent weight still on the steer axle. The smaller tires allow for more clearance when up, I should be able to get 11-12" of ground clearance when the tire is lifted.

There is 12" of clearance between the front of the hoist and the cab for a future tarp system/rake holder/etc. After this gets finalized I'll be ordering at least two large tool boxes, one for dirty stuff (chainsaw, gas, oil etc), one for clean stuff (climbing gear, rigging, etc), adding a basket to hold some wood/plastic for setting the container down on sensitive surfaces.
View attachment 50880
Click to expand...

Very nice too! That will be a mean little truck, with a lot of capacity for the places it will go!
 
hseII said:
“Like.”


If the truck is already owned by the individual looking to do such...

Yeah, the Pulpwooders around here find worn out air brake trucks to add the racks & dead axles too: I haven’t checked to see if there’s brakes on the dead axle. Very good Point.
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Easy answer is to sell the current truck and buy what you want. I’m still going back to a trailer axle with a dedicated brake controller for it. Not sexy, but it should be fully functional. Remember the spring centers on trailers are usually farther outboard than on trucks, so keep that in mind on the loads on the axle tube.

It's entirely possible I use this truck for a bit and if the concept is a good fit but the payload is limiting, I build a tri axle hook lift and sell this truck (or keep it if the business supports two). I'd like to have a bigger excavator, 16-20t, the tri axle would be able to move it on a pintle trailer.

Luzl78 said:
Carl, what’s your ca on the truck? 102”? Do you think a truck with a102” ca can have a 4’ platform behind cab and then a 12’ chip body? I think the axle would be in the center of the dump body. Maybe the weight of the mini on the platform would stabilize the front end while driving. Just trying to get the shortest for manuvability.looking at your pic makes me think your ca is 96”.
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The CA on that truck is 116", with the frame I added I have around ~192" of frame behind the truck before trimming. The hoist is 160" from the belly of the hook to the rear roller. A 4' platform plus a 12' body is a total of 16', putting the center of the container at 8', or 96". Without having specific information of the truck and load, it's hard to guess if that would be serviceable or not. For my truck I started with the cab/chassis (plus myself and the original PTO/pump/motor/hydro tank) f/r weight to do the calculations for how the axle loads would change as I added the hoist, container, then the load in the container. I need (probably just want) to rerun the numbers now with my new hoist location, tag axle is slightly farther back, and the tag capacity is higher (although adjustable). They're just ballpark numbers, I'm not getting technical enough to add the specific location of the hydraulic tank (25 gallon), or the tool boxes/baskets. My initial numbers with a 24klb evenly loaded container put the axles at 12.9k/20.7k/13.2k. Moving the hoist back 10" will take weight off the front as will weight on the pintle hitch, but moving the tag farther back and adding capacity will move more weight forward. The tag being adjustable and the container rarely being evenly loaded makes the calculations academic, but at least it gives a starting point. Technically I could slide my jib back moving the box back to take weight off the front but "meh," you get the idea.


hseII said:
...If we were dumping dirt, you’ll want a longer overhang or load towards the tail to aid in dumping.
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Usually you'd want a shorter overhang to dump the piles taller vs leaving a strip of dumped dirt. A stronger hoist might be necessary and a shorter bed could still get you to your weight capacity.
 
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Merle Nelson said:
View attachment 50905 Here's the truck with one smaller debris box nested inside of the other.
Click to expand...

Nice and clean! I like the nesting idea more than my container builder did. He got confused quickly and at that point it wasn't worth the time for him to actually calculate what it would cost to build.

I'm starting with a single 31 yard box and will go from there. I'm hopefully (waiting on him to get the title) buying a pintle trailer to haul equipment on and/or I could put a container on it with the truck.... I don't know if I could put the container on the trailer with the trailer hooked up to the truck yet; we'll see. With the 16' container I have 2.5' of overhang, my jib has 2.5' of stroke... should be pretty close.
 
Gorman said:
It’s like a Russian nesting doll. What is your payload capacity for getting that container back on the truck?
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They have the hydraulic pressure turned down on the hooklift to 10,000 lb capability. Which would have the truck and load hovering around its 19.5K limit.

The hooklift unit itself can do up to 16,000. They sell the same unit for use on class 5,6, and 7 trucks.
 
Sorry your box builder wasn't working with you better Carl. One of the bright sides of having a hooklift is that it's fairly affordable to have the next box/bed built. You can take them drawings with your calcs at some point.

My idea for the nesting boxes is to load in the Avant then put the boxes together and loaded. When I do a job that has more wood than I can get out in a day, I would be willing to leave a loaded box on site, but not the Avant. It will always go home last load.
 
Not sure. 11,000 lbs with no box. Stockton Tri Industries who made the boxes estimated that the two boxes were about 6,000 lbs - so I felt safe loading them both up knowing I had to drive across a set of highway scales on the way home. I'll weigh it soon.

Both of those boxes were built with a lot of weight adding upgrades so they are a tad heavy.

I "re-badged" it to 3500 as a joke.
 
That's good to know. Some of my extra weight would be diesel engine. And then the hooklift is 1600 lbs or so as compared to what your Rugby lift adds.

And then a number of things on the truck are overbuilt, bumper is heavier than needed, steel fenders I can walk on instead of poly. (Frame rail spacer to get above a cross member with the main ram when it closes down. A ford wouldn't need that according to upfitter.)

It would be interesting to know what an F550 weighs as a cab and chassis compared to this Ram.

Dumpsterman what do you use the truck for, or intended use of a hooklift?
 
Yes Crew Cab. I have a lawn company. We do 95% mowing but was trying to get into landscaping more. We always seem to be stuck mowing. Therefore I only have 4k miles on this truck in the last year. So i am looking to use a hook for landscape and dumpster rentals. I have crews out mowing so I would like to do the dumpster side of the business. I started a dumpster company back in 2007 but the construction went to crap and I ended up selling everything off a year later. Back then had a f750 with 10 and 20 yard cans. Now I am just trying to do one can size and a smaller truck to keep expenses down.
 
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