Adding Hydraulics to a Truck?

Lanse

Well-known Member
Hey, guys!

So, I've recently completed a 46 hour round trip journey back to Ohio, to retrieve the last of my tools and such things from my mom's farm, and bring it down to my new place here in Texas :)

Anyway, among the items I brought down are a number of components to the V8 Tractor build, a project from over a year ago thats been temporarily on hold but basically its a modern "doodlebug" project...

And I've been thinking about this. I want to add a boom pole to this creation, and I'd like it to be able to lift 10k pounds ideally, 5 or 7 would be acceptable but I'd like to be able to move more. I've realised that I dont actually need a traditional loader bucket or anything, and thus will probably build something like a jib pole or a truck bed-mounted crane.

So the question is, how should I supply hydraulic power to such a machine? Now keep in mind, I probably wont get to this project for a year or more, but I'd like to start planning.

Its looking like this will be built on a heavily modified F350 or similar chassis. Is there like an engine add on pump that I could run off a serpentine belt? Will I have to make a redneck platform and bolt down part of a logsplitter, complete with lawnmower engine, haha?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance...
 
Most snowplow trucks had hydraulic pumps driven directly off the front of the engine. Just be sure that you have space to mount the hydraulic tank above the height of the pump or you will have cavitation, with all of the noise that comes with it.

All components will have to be sized to be capable of lifting 10K, which might overload an F350 frame, tires and suspension.
 
(quoted from post at 13:49:48 09/28/14) Hey, guys!

So, I've recently completed a 46 hour round trip journey back to Ohio, to retrieve the last of my tools and such things from my mom's farm, and bring it down to my new place here in Texas :)

Anyway, among the items I brought down are a number of components to the V8 Tractor build, a project from over a year ago thats been temporarily on hold but basically its a modern "doodlebug" project...

And I've been thinking about this. I want to add a boom pole to this creation, and I'd like it to be able to lift 10k pounds ideally, 5 or 7 would be acceptable but I'd like to be able to move more. I've realised that I dont actually need a traditional loader bucket or anything, and thus will probably build something like a jib pole or a truck bed-mounted crane.

So the question is, how should I supply hydraulic power to such a machine? Now keep in mind, I probably wont get to this project for a year or more, but I'd like to start planning.

Its looking like this will be built on a heavily modified F350 or similar chassis. Is there like an engine add on pump that I could run off a serpentine belt? Will I have to make a redneck platform and bolt down part of a logsplitter, complete with lawnmower engine, haha?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance...

Look for a "Vickers" style vane hydraulic pump. It can be belt driven through pulleys. Probably will need to fabricate a mounting bracket to mount it on the engine, but I think you know how to do that. A single or dual spool hydraulic control valve, a reservoir for hydraulic oil, some hoses and cylinders and you will be in business. Someone out there also builds hydraulic pumps that are belt driven, but equipped with an electric clutch, like an air conditioning compressor, and might even have the "custom" bracket needed to mount to your engine. Check out "Burden's Surplus. com"
 
If you're only lifting once in a while, meaning not over and over, a 12v electric/hyd unit would work. Like a lift/tailgate unit. We have a trailer where I work that is hard to describe, but is basically a drive on flat bed that lifts a forklift to dock height. Many times this weight is 15k lbs. It uses a 12volt unit and cyls. to lift. Our jib cranes in the back our fleet of one tons are only rated for 1500 lbs. You want to lift 12k, start thinking knuckle boom which is way heavier.
 
You leak a lot of options. It can be a belt driven pump off the crank and there are commercial brackets for that. Does it have a manual transmission? If so does it have an opening for a PTO? Need more details. J.
 
Hello Lance,

Like rustyfarmall said look at a vickers pump.
They are used as a power steering pump on class 8 trucks. Junk yard may be an option. What is nice about them, you can reverse the rotation, and are belt driven from the engine. Plenty of pressure as well, not sure about the flow. If you get one let me know, I have the specs,

Guido.
 
You're getting pretty optimistic about capacity there. The Hydra-bed people use belt-driven pumps, so they would probably have just what you need. But you can easily overpower the pump.

The reservoir doesn't need to be above the pump. Just needs to be higher than the pump. Even if it's clear in back. Hydra-bed builds the tank into the headache rack.

That said, you'd be amazed what you can lift with a hydra-bed.
 
I saw a 1 dump truck using the power steering pump as hydraulic source. They used a hose on filler neck in place of the filler cap. Ran the hose to an added talk. Used a power beyond valve so they could keep the power steering..
 
This spring had a truck like you described on an auction, it didn't sell, the guy wanted 7 thousand for it, 7.3 dump bed, hoist, jack stands, 350 dually. The pump was on the side of the trans and oil reservoir under bed. Looked handy to me.
 
You need a lot more truck if you want to lift 5-7000, and if you are even dreaming about 10,000 the frame to a F-350 will look like a pretzel if you try. A winch with a pulley would be the way to go. if you are going to use gin poles. Then you can get more height more easily by the length of the 2 poles. The winch could be run hydraulically. If you are down in TX now look at the gin trucks you will see what I mean.
 
Hey Lanse, as someone who has run an older C30 Chevrolet with a Autocrane 6000# fixed boom, electric cable, crane, and now has a FL106 Freightliner with a 11,000# full hydraulic, extendible boom, Autocrane, as well as running the cranes on many other service trucks over the years I do have a bit of experience with the kind of thing I believe your describing. Having dealt with the two cranes of my own, as well as many others over the years, I can say with all certainty that the others are right in regard to a realistic weight capacity for both your crane as well as the truck chassis. Somewhere around 4,000# to 6,000# is about all the truck is going to handle

I also worked for a number of years at the body mfg that made the bed on my current truck (Adkins). Having seen the way the beds are made from start to finish, you need to understand that to put one in the bed of a truck, or on a side mount, the whole bed is designed around the crane being there. Basically the beds main frame is build heavier than a non-crane bed, and designed so the load of the crane is distributed over the whole truck frame -vs- just one portion of the bed.

Too you need to figure in outriggers, for anything over a couple of hundred pounds, in order to put the load being picked to the ground instead of on the trucks springs/suspension. Remember, 2000# in the bed is different than the same weight hanging 10 feet out from the truck, and should the suspension let go, you've got an extremely dangerous situation on your hands (possibly as litterly as figuratively when I say "on your hands").

That all said, if your a year out on the whole deal, your best bet will be to save up some funds, and keep an eye out for an older crane and/or a crane body with the crane already mounted on it. The older, fixed boom electric cable cranes, like I originally had, are surprisingly strong and durable, but not as popular since the hydraulic stuff came along. As a result you can often get them off of someone who is changing over, or whatever, for a really good price. Doing it that way, there is no doubt that crane is engineered to handle the weight your wanting to pick and will be safe to use at that weight. Personally I've seen what happens when even engineered booms fail, and a load drops, and a crane boom isn't something I would want to design on my own, without ALOT of overkill.

If you go with electric you won't have to worry about hydraulics. But, if you find a little newer electric crane, some of them have a hydraulic extension and a small hydraulic power pack on them to handle that, so again no problem beyond putting a heavy cable to it for power. The only downside to electric is if you plan to use it for more than a couple of minutes you need to leave the truck running to keep the batteries charged.

Beyond that, if you go with a full hydraulic crane, and your truck has a transmission that will handle a PTO, the a PTO pump is a good choice for a power unit. Again, the downside there, is you have to have the truck running to power it all the time. You can also do like my Dad did on his truck and have a small gas engine driving the pump to handle his crane (an 8000lb Autocrane). That way the truck isn't setting there running thew whole time, and wearing out a big engine,just for you to run the crane.

Beyond that, all I can say is good luck with whatever you decide to do, but my recommendation, especially when it comes to something like a crane, is go spend the money to get one designed to do what you want, and stay safe and alive -vs- trying to design one for yourself, and not knowing what it's capacity really is until it lets you know by collapsing, and possibly hurts or kills you (or someone else) in the process.
 
Decades ago, I worked for a company that made wrecker trucks. If the truck had an automatic transmission, we would put on a hydraulic pump that was belt driven. We used DewEze products. (I just Googled them under DewEze hydraulic pumps. Looks like they are still in business) Seriously though, the best way to hook this up is with a PTO driven unit that hangs off of a manual transmission.
 
5,000 to 10,000 pounds of lift would require a stout forklift. Pay loaders might also have that kind of capacity. A 3 point hitch forklift might work, but I'm not sure what the 3 point hitch capacity would be of an inexpensive 100+ HP tractor like a 1066.

I'd be concerned about the fine "inching" ability of a truck chassis, even with a 2:1 reduction through a 4WD transfer case.

Did any of your design classes cover "Statics"?

Good luck.
 

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