Li’l Peterbilt Grapple Truck

oceans

oceans

Been here much more than a while
Location
RI
B7474710-EC68-44EE-9F05-C7566E3109F0.jpegB80DE956-E17B-488A-99D9-2CFA33BE06DC.jpeg

This has been a work in progress over the last 10 months. I wasn’t in a real rush, just picked away at it in my shop.

I spec’d the crane for its light weight and decent capabilities for such a small truck. Purchased it from Grapple Pros up in Canada, eh.

I designed and fabricated the subframe, bunks, cab guard, rear bumper, and top seat control station. It was a mix of MIG, TIG, Plasma Cut, Oxy/Acetylene, hand and mag drilling, and lots of POR-15. Not because of rust, but how well it coats and protects new steel up here in New England.

I farmed out the hydraulic plumbing work to Beam Truck Body in Woonsocket, RI. They were very knowledgeable, helpful, and skillful. Kudos to them.

Upcoming additions will include a custom aluminum grill guard with winch mount, custom rear winch mount, full aluminum siding, much more lighting, reflective tape (already on), some lettering, etc. I plan to pull a 10,000 GVWR trailer, giving me a payload closing in on 20,000 lbs for bigger jobs, or long days of collection.

- 2001 Peterbilt 330, CAT 3126, Fuller 9 Speed, Air Brake, Air Ride, 26,000 GVWR.
- FARMA C7,0D Crane.
- FARMA Log Grapple. GMT or Mecanil to come. Not for big trees…just for storm damage, and any day to day fun activities that might arise.

Thanks to everyone involved!
 
oceans said:
View attachment 80385View attachment 80383

This has been a work in progress over the last 10 months. I wasn’t in a real rush, just picked away at it in my shop.

I spec’d the crane for its light weight and decent capabilities for such a small truck. Purchased it from Grapple Pros up in Canada, eh.

I designed and fabricated the subframe, bunks, cab guard, rear bumper, and top seat control station. It was a mix of MIG, TIG, Plasma Cut, Oxy/Acetylene, hand and mag drilling, and lots of POR-15. Not because of rust, but how well it coats and protects new steel up here in New England.

I farmed out the hydraulic plumbing work to Beam Truck Body in Woonsocket, RI. They were very knowledgeable, helpful, and skillful. Kudos to them.

Upcoming additions will include a custom aluminum grill guard with winch mount, custom rear winch mount, full aluminum siding, much more lighting, reflective tape (already on), some lettering, etc. I plan to pull a 10,000 GVWR trailer, giving me a payload closing in on 20,000 lbs for bigger jobs, or long days of collection.

- 2001 Peterbilt 330, CAT 3126, Fuller 9 Speed, Air Brake, Air Ride, 26,000 GVWR.
- FARMA C7,0D Crane.
- FARMA Log Grapple. GMT or Mecanil to come. Not for big trees…just for storm damage, and any day to day fun activities that might arise.

Thanks to everyone involved!
Click to expand...
Can’t wait to see it finished up!
So under cdl but air brakes?
 
VenasNursery said:
Can’t wait to see it finished up!
So under cdl but air brakes?
Click to expand...
LOL! Me too! But this is operational now, and I’m putting it right into service as is. With my nose to the production grind stone, I’m not sure when I’ll get to much else. Probably as I need things and say “F-it, that’s going on this weekend!”

And yes, under CDL with air.
 
Badass single axle log truck!

I have used plenty of POR 15 it works great if you prep the metal proper. I didn't realize that it is not meant to be exposed to UV. Sunlight degrades it quickly. So for frame rail painting you are good, but something like a log bunk you want to put another coat of something to protect it if you haven't already....

Sorry for the tangent, love the truck!
 
Sfoppema said:
Badass single axle log truck!

I have used plenty of POR 15 it works great if you prep the metal proper. I didn't realize that it is not meant to be exposed to UV. Sunlight degrades it quickly. So for frame rail painting you are good, but something like a log bunk you want to put another coat of something to protect it if you haven't already....

Sorry for the tangent, love the truck!
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Thanks for your post. I was quite unaware of the UV issue. I’ll have to cover coat with something else if the aluminum sides don’t go on very soon.
 
I had a steel flatbed made for a pickup that I painted POR a few years back and the top degraded very quickly... Felt pretty dumb when I read the label on the can and called the company after the fact.
 
Sfoppema said:
I had a steel flatbed made for a pickup that I painted POR a few years back and the top degraded very quickly... Felt pretty dumb when I read the label on the can and called the company after the fact.
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I should have read before pouring out the first batch into the smaller bucket and got full paint coverage over the label.
 
That is a great looking truck, love the aluminum headache rack. Well done with quality work! Definitely looking forward to some action shots of it working.

Is that a Giant I see In the background?
 
Will stein said:
That is a great looking truck, love the aluminum headache rack. Well done with quality work! Definitely looking forward to some action shots of it working.

Is that a Giant I see In the background?
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Action photogs coming in time. And yes, that’s a Giant 254 Tele with a powered Branch Manager Grapple. Sweet unit!
 
Have you weighed it?

Our single axle 33k grapple truck only has 10k of payload. Weighs 23k empty. Its not the lightest built but its not overly heavy build either. Not having the dump hoist should help on yours.
 
Fivepoints said:
Have you weighed it?

Our single axle 33k grapple truck only has 10k of payload. Weighs 23k empty. Its not the lightest built but its not overly heavy build either. Not having the dump hoist should help on yours.
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I haven’t scaled it yet. Will be doing that soon. Based on all the weights from the manufactures a s from the metals I’ve purchased (cost per pound on my sales sliips), I’ll be above 8,000 but below 10,000. Still great for a small market area. One dat on the truck could clean up a week worth of production.
 
oceans said:
I haven’t scaled it yet. Will be doing that soon. Based on all the weights from the manufactures a s from the metals I’ve purchased (cost per pound on my sales sliips), I’ll be above 8,000 but below 10,000. Still great for a small market area. One dat on the truck could clean up a week worth of production.
Click to expand...
I bet you'll be overweight if you fill the bed. Our bed 20 ft long. We filled it not quite 4 ft high and rolled across the scales at 42k. It really takes less than you would think to make single axle grapples overweight. Big diameter oak and Hickory gets heavy quick.
 
Fivepoints said:
I bet you'll be overweight if you fill the bed. Our bed 20 ft long. We filled it not quite 4 ft high and rolled across the scales at 42k. It really takes less than you would think to make single axle grapples overweight. Big diameter oak and Hickory gets heavy quick.
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Right. I have an LMI on the spider crane so I know the weight of each pick. I can mark the weight on each butt and load accordingly. The reason for the high sides is for smaller trees that I can load entirely onto the truck..brush and logs. The height will help in that regard. We do a decent amount of invasive brush removal as well. Stuff that sucks to chip but doesn’t weight anything at all.

The goal was not to build a log truck that can carry 20 billion pounds. I want a smaller truck that’s under CDL and can clean up the majority of my jobs, based on tree size in my market.
 
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