Unloading pickup with tractor

[daTeacha]

Build or buy a bedliner that fits between your wheel wells instead of around them -- a 3 sided bottomed box. Have a cable or such running under it, preferable 2 of them, and sticking out at the back. Attach cable(s) to tree or tractor and then move the truck forward or the cable and box backward until it tips. Cease pulling backwards on the box and pull it toward the truck, leaving the mulch, manure, logs, or whatever behind.

You'll need to have it pretty beefy where you attach the cable, maybe a 4x4 or similar on the outside of the box and the cables running through the box, but other than that it can be OSB or such.

 

[LOOPHOLE]

Forgive me , I must be having a stupid day.
When I saw thread I thought, "What is he unloading the pickup off of ? "
A picture of a tractor w/FEL and forks popped into my mind.

 

[dfkrug]

Thinking of using a loadhandler on Item4. Figure the 48" bucket of the BX can start emptying the bed. Once the load is reduced, the Loadhandler could dump the rest.

Lbrown59 has used the loadhandler and has been pretty positive about it. I figure using it for half a bed or so should be OK.

The LoadHandler works fine even if you have 2000 lb of dirt in the bed, as
long as you have a low-friction bedliner. Low-friction Plastic bedliners are
harder to find now with newer trucks as manufacturers think that slippery is
bad. LoadHandler folks also sell a low-friction bed pad.

I bought my Loadhandler many years ago when it first came out and I have
lost count of how many times I used it. The only thing that worked only
fair was a full PU load of split firewood as chunks would catch on the
wheel wells. Dirt, gravel, sand, etc worked great. I now have a steel-deck
trailer that I can lift with my FEL as Mr Jimi describes.

 

[raykos]

I, too, am a fan of the LoadHandler. At first I was a bit skeptical because it was one of those, "as seen on TV". But I use it for everything, sand, shell, tan bark, dirt, rocks, firewood, etc. As some members have mentioned there are two downsides, sometimes having difficulty sliding the load, and certain loads getting caught behind the whell well. The first can be overcome by first spraying good 'ol WD-40 on the bed before unrolling the sheet and loading, the second I overcame by slicing a 4x8 sheet of cheap pressed board length wise and used the halfs as the sides, \___/. The other thing I really like about the LoadHandler, you can drive to where you want to "dump", back up and unload, great for tanbarking. Or, you could angle your FEL upward and "dump" directly into it. Well worth the cost.

Ray

 

[asylum575]

Harbor freight has the 2000 Loadhandler for $89 and the 3000 for $109. best prices I've seen.

 

[RobJ]

Just lift the front of the truck and dump it out!!

 

[mjfox6]

Another vote for the Load Handler. I use mine all of the time and love it. Excellent customer service as well.

 

[ampsucker]

my pick up bed us full of tools, winter gear, compressor, inverter, etc. i was thinking of putting something like the load handler on a trailer. anybody tried that? i also like the idea of having the chainlink fence on the flat bed of the trailer and just driving out from under it or pulling up from the back with tractor. with my bx, i'm limited to around 500-600 pounds lift capacity (less with no weight on rear) so i can't dump very large loads by lifting the tongue of the trailer.

amp

 

[daTeacha]

I, too have used a loadhandler. Unloaded mulch, gravel, and firewood. If the load is not sitting on the tailgate pretty heavy, it can tend to raise the tailgate instead of moving the load, so the low friction bedliner is a good idea. The thing is pretty tough, works as advertised. You do need to put some beef into cranking it with a heavy load, though.

For mulch, though, I usually ended up using a 5 or 7 tined hay fork. There is a definite difference in the design angle and shape of the head of the different forks. Get a good hay or barley fork, not a manure mover for best results. The handles are different lengths, the tine spacing is different, the curve of the tines is different, and there is a world of difference in how easily they let you move mulch.

When the load gets near empty, I switch to a long handled square blade shovel, one with sides on the blade, which is about 15 inches wide. Hand tools can help you do a lot of work with minimal effort if you use the right tool for the job. Use the wrong one and it resembles work in a hurry.

 

[gerard]

I have a loadhandler I don't use anymore, let me know if anyone's interested. Does work well, I just haven't had a use for it the last few years and it just sits in my garage taking up space.