FEL Tractor Crane *Proof of Performance*

[PhilCase]

Very nice job, Phil!
what's your opinion on skipping the winch altogether, and just tilting the boom tip down to ground level, hooking up the truss, and tilting back up near vertical?
Josh

Great question, here's my take - but your mileage may vary:

I like the winch. It was the final piece of the puzzle allowing for exact placement of every truss where needed, without having to then go back and manually reposition them. With a boom and hook solution, to get that same result you would have to get the boom to the exact correct place in three dimensions for correct placement. With the winch, you only have to be correct in two dimensions, (N/S & E/W), but you can be well above the correct position, then use the winch to lower the truss to the correct (up/down) position. The reason I consider this beneficial is that as you are sitting trusses and get close to a wall, you start to run out of maneuvering room for the tractor. (Remember the walls in my case are already purlined, and my barn has an internal wall also.). The winch allows a steeper crane angle allowing you to work in tighter confines. In my case, I sat the 4th from the last truss from inside the building footprint, then the final three trusses were sat from outside the building by reaching over the top of the building to do so. Without the winch, I would not have had the angles required available to do this.

 

[PhilCase]

Another thing this fellow swears by is wind straps on them trusses.

I'm in the tornado belt. Several barns are lost every year to windstorms in this area. I wouldn't build a barn in the midwest without "Hurricane Strapping" the roof down. Won't help with a direct hit, but it can make a huge difference in a near-miss.

 

[drivadesl]

Thanks for showing this Phil, and a very practical solution to the challenge. I also find myself having to get things like this done alone, so thanks for putting together the links for step by step photos and instructions. I had always thought of needing a boom truck to do this, but now, when the time comes, I will reference this thread for instructions on getting it done by myself. Again great job and thanks.

 

[regularjay]

Dude, I got tired of reading all the naysayer crap in the other thread. I have many varied interests and frequent all sorts of different boards on various topics. In my observation this board is where the product liability lawyers, OSHA inspectors, code enforcement officials and other professional "Debbie Downer" naysayers go to tell folks that they are basically to stupid to breath.

I would never dream of exposing some of my "creative" solutions to one man challenges to the ridicule of the armchair quarterback weenies here. I applaud your unique approach to a problem and your willingness to persevere.

They are the kind of people who would have put out mankinds first fire so no-one would get burned.

Hurrah for you!!!

 

[toy]

Glad it worked out for you, the safety loop at the turnbuckle was a good suggestion and you implemented it. I am glad that the turnbuckles held and didn't have to use the safety loops, but it shows your ability to accept constructive suggestions and that is a big plus in my book. It looked like the boom pipe was off center of the bucket and I wondered about that but I figured that it might be an optical illusion in the picture or it was so you could put the pipe over one of the teeth in your tooth bar. Sometimes working alone requires some creative thinking and boy does it feel good when it works out good. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BruceWard]

Congrats, very well built and executed.

 

[gizmo]

Nice job Phil. I built something about as equally insanely dangerous for lifting steel trusses when I had to work alone. Oh the humanity!

I find that no matter where you go there are legions of safety-****-know-it-alls just waiting to pounce.

However, I will note that once again Harbor Freight lives up to expectations. Never been there, never will.

 

[wldrbob]

hey if your going to work alone build whatever you want..... if theres a chance that using your contraption will hurt or kill your wife, your kids or your best friend sit back and think about it first

 

[wdchyd]

Phil,

when they say..."Necessity is the mother of all Inventions", you hit the nail right on the head...great job...

I'll more than likely use the same concept when I start my new Tractor Barn after I take delivery of my new Kubota later this week....oh BTW here's what happened to my old one...definetly not enough room for a tractor

Bill

 

[59 Sons]

I'm glad I didn't catch the previous thread, but happy to see your ingenuity was met with success. Not having to listen to everyones opinions is my favorite benefit of going up to the propitee to build sumthin. I considered the winch idea on my boom pole, but decided to set multi half truss roof sections pre sheathed instead. Its been indispensable already.

 

[JoeL4330]

Sons: Nice...interested in the concrete "door jambs" ...what determined them? Did you use some std plans?

 

[HiTechTed]

This is an interesting subject. If you look at that 20' pole hanging from the bucket of that tractor, most people's first instinct would be to say it isn't safe. That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it. You're using the machine in a way it clearly isn't intended to be used, so of course people are going to say negative things about it. You'll get some who support it and some who won't. I don't see any reason to insult either party for their beliefs on the subject. Just because somebody sees this and disagrees with it doesn't make them less of a man than anybody else. It's a forum, criticism will come out sooner or later, and definitely sooner on more extreme things (such as a 20' pole hooked to your bucket, for example).

With that said, I never saw the previous post about this so I'm wondering how it all works (without tipping the tractor over, etc). I had a full bucket of dirt, about an inch off the ground, made a very slow, tight turn on dead-flat ground and my tractor started tipping over. So then, how can you lift all that weight that high and 20' out from the bucket without incident? Did the rear end of your tractor ever bob, even slightly?

Good job on the building, I'm also intrigued by the concrete door jambs. I don't think I've ever seen them done quite like that before. It looks good so far!

 

[chopped]

I use a boom pole like that and have a piece of plywood with four corner cables on it attached at the end.
I can put up to 2 bundles of shingles on it and lift it right up on my roof. sure saved my back, and I would say its safer.Not to safe carrieng a bundle up a ladder..LOL

 

[BruceWard]

This is an interesting subject. If you look at that 20' pole hanging from the bucket of that tractor, most people's first instinct would be to say it isn't safe. That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it. You're using the machine in a way it clearly isn't intended to be used, so of course people are going to say negative things about it. You'll get some who support it and some who won't. I don't see any reason to insult either party for their beliefs on the subject. Just because somebody sees this and disagrees with it doesn't make them less of a man than anybody else. It's a forum, criticism will come out sooner or later, and definitely sooner on more extreme things (such as a 20' pole hooked to your bucket, for example).

With that said, I never saw the previous post about this so I'm wondering how it all works (without tipping the tractor over, etc). I had a full bucket of dirt, about an inch off the ground, made a very slow, tight turn on dead-flat ground and my tractor started tipping over. So then, how can you lift all that weight that high and 20' out from the bucket without incident? Did the rear end of your tractor ever bob, even slightly?

Good job on the building, I'm also intrigued by the concrete door jambs. I don't think I've ever seen them done quite like that before. It looks good so far!

My guess is that he is moving the tractor very little on and on smooth ground after lifting. Also there would not be an need to lift high until very close to position.

Also from the roof of his tractor I am guessing that is a TLB with a heavy backhoe on the back for a counterweight.

 

[rjmack]

heavy loaders usually lift from the fixed axle end. not saying whether it will or won't tip over, but less likely to if you have shims or blocks restricting movement of your front axle.

 

[59 Sons]

Sons: Nice...interested in the concrete "door jambs" ...what determined them? Did you use some std plans?

Joe,
My only resource was archived plans off university websites for inspiration and a look into how things used to be done. The door pillars arose out of my reasoning that a 16' opening in the end of a 30' barn had to compromise its racking strength. So I ran the foundation up to the top plate 4 feet either side of the door. I do tend to overbuild to compensate for my lack of engineering. As a mechanical contractor I do have a lot of exposure to building systems and a lot of friends in the trades and I pick their brains for most of this stuff.

Regarding the safety of the boom pole, it came down to a matter of necessity. I certainly would never presume to recommend any of these extreme modifications, but we all have to evaluate our own risk aversion and all have to accept responsibility for our own choices. I am not willing to do nothing because there is an element of danger, I do all in MY power to minimize that danger.

I will yield the soap box now as I am not SO egotistical as to think everyone should agree with me I realize when I put myself out there that I am inviting scrutiny, but I can honestly consider others recommendations and still choose to do it my way, it doesn't mean we cant be friendly.

Many of these boom loads are much lighter than a bucket of dirt, and I always move as little as possible and make great use of my backhoe for counter balancing. I also do dry runs and performance tests to get the feel of what my tractors limits are. But in the end, ya just got to get er done.

A few more examples:

 

[Window Geek]

59,
Nice work. I like your design.
What keeps the boom from tilting back on you? Is it back-bolted to the bucket?

 

[59 Sons]

Primarily I just keep the load and boom angle well forward. I do have a 3/4 inch bolt thru the bucket into the end of the boom tube, but its only purpose is to keep the end from shifting side to side. The mating cleat is inline with the bucket edge and all other non-inline (downward) forces are handled by the chains.

 

[Renze]

Maybe this is the next step: 22 meter telescopic with winch

BouwMaterieel.nl - Nieuws: Verweij gaat al dertig jaar lang voor Werklust shovels

 

[J_J]

It just seems to me that if you have say, 5000 lbs of tractor and BH behind the pivot point, and that being the front wheels, that you could have 5000 lbs on the front side of the pivot point. If he did exceed the 5000 lbs on the front, then the tractor and BH would start to tip. Now if the BH were stretched to full reach, and still off the ground, he could lift even more. Now, consider this, if the curl of the bucket cylinders curl 3000 lbs, when the tip of the boom moves closer to the front wheels, the load becomes less. The objective then would be to curl the load and lift, and drive to the set point. Just my view point on the lifting rig. It apparently worked, and worked well, so congratulations to 59 Sons.