Modified HF Truck bed crane M35A2

[nathantc409]

I think this is my first thread on here but I wanted to show off the current state of my home fabbed crane. It started as one of the harbor freight cranes, but i added a winch, pulleys, and better under bed reinforcement that it came with. Next im going to buy some 2-1/4 receiver hitch tubing, so that the boom can have thicker walls, and be one solid piece, and be about 3' longer than current for more lifting height.

In the photos that is one of our 450 lb stump grinders.

Outside of work i have to do a lot of things myself. Currently the rig is safe at 500 lbs with the boom fully raised. When the boom i'm going to build i'd push that to about 800 without worry (boom fully raised). This will make life easy on me going and pickup some 395 wheels and tires, among other heavy items by myself. Harbor freight says to only use 12v, but alibaba (where HF gets them) list this winch as 12/24v. The control is just simple switches, no relays at all. So far only tested with 12v because its not fully wired yet. I'll be trying it on 24 later on to see how that goes in reality. Most china electronics are going to be 12/24 as they are shipped worldwide. Better for sales im sure. Either way, $60 for the winch and 3 year no questions asked $9 warranty from HF, it's worth giving it a go on 24v.

 

[Lothar]

Looks good and handy. Might have to copy ya.

 

[Elk1111]

I did basically the same thing on my 923. It’s well worth it... I put some steel plate to reinforce the bed. It’s great for moving tires and other heavy items. I bought a pulley hoist also from HF and just attach it to the crane to to make things even easier.
I’m actually thinking about getting another one to replace the gantry hoist for the spare tire if I ever get around to figuring out a way to widen my carrier for the wider tires I put on it.

 

[nathantc409]

Added some boom length to make it MUCH more useful.

Last update on this project. Truck is currently down for a big block chevy swap. Next i'll be looking for a larger crane for the bed.

 

[ToddJK]

I like that idea. Glad you're showing it on here, I'd like to replicate it. Also, I'm pretty sure it was your YT channel I stumbled across yesterday, only reason being, Nathan was the name and replacing the engine with Chevy big block 366.

 

[nathantc409]

I like that idea. Glad you're showing it on here, I'd like to replicate it. Also, I'm pretty sure it was your YT channel I stumbled across yesterday, only reason being, Nathan was the name and replacing the engine with Chevy big block 366.

Probably so, only up to two videos on that engine swap so far. The biggest down time is constantly waiting on parts to come in the mail