Technically...it works! (dump bed)

[spicergear]

Last summer I traded a buddy two hydraulic cylinders and rescued a beauty from him that he was going to make into a log splitter. Mounts were made up under bed and on the frame then the rear of frame hinged. The bulk of it was done.

On my Palfinger crane, it originally had a hydraulic motor on it to move it which had contemplated putting a spool on it for a cable like a crane. This knuckleboom & grapple proved it didn't need a cable so I had a spare valve to use. The big cylinder has a load holding valve so being a motor spool type running the cylinder won't matter because it takes a LOT of pressure to push the ram the opposite direction past that load valve so the system doesn't rely on the other valve(s) to hold the pressure.

The bed is a 12' deuce dropside with just under 4' overhang. Basically, the rear two thirds of the bed will balance out so the ram should only have to heave up the weight of the front one third of the bed and the load on that front third. The big cylinder is a little longer than needed, but I don't mind it dumping to 75-ish degrees. Should be able to dump wet clay and the price was right.

The ram is mounted as low as it can be at the rear of it in the chassis and as high as it can be in the bed so it is already on an upward angle before it has extended any. I just got it plumbed last night and it works fine and move the heavy bed without a hint of labor. Can't wait to put about eight ton of gravel on it (and my driveway).

 

[cpurtellII]

Now that sir is a log truck ! High tech redneck. Looks good man lot of work and added weight.

 

[m16ty]

There's going to be a pretty good load on everything when the bed starts up because the cylinder will be almost flat. The overhang will help.

Another thing I did when a did my dropside dump is added a 2X2X1/4 wall square tube under both bed rails. I needed it for height with my scissor hoist but I also added it for strength. My thinking was a dropside isn't as strong as a standard bed because the rigid sides of the standard bed add quite a bit of strength. Just something to think about.

I edited your title a bit to be more descriptive. It will help people searching later on.

 

[davo727]

Awesome truck . Good job Sir.

 

[dawico]

Very nice.

Sure beats a shovel.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Nice Tom, good to see your still tinkering!

 

[Artisan]

I bet ya you would be surprised at what it would sell for.
Doll it up w/ some nice paint, so long as your design works
with a load, over and over you could have something there...

Let's see some U Tube videos of it in action!

Good Job!

 

[spicergear]

Thanks guys! I mounted the front as low as possible to still give the suspension room to come up. I could've gotten it a little lower but the huge vibration dampener on the front tandems pinion soaks up more room that one would think especially considering the suspension travel. It does have a shiny ring around the front of it.

The bed connection is stepped up to the bottom of the bed floor. The cylinder has probably close to 8" difference in height, on an angle, and that was all I do. A cylinder with a shorter stroke by maybe 6-10 inches would put it (using same mounts) on a little more angle. We'll see, I need a load of stone for my driveway so that should be a good test in the next couple weeks.

There's steel channel inside the roll formed bed frame that the square tube is welded to for added support there. Same near the back where it's hinged as well as a thicker steel block. The frame mount incorporates one frame crossmember then ties that horizontally to the frame from the original stiffener plates used on the frame in the fifth wheel area as this started like a tractor. Here's a typical load I haul...not that I'd dump it, but since 'log truck' was stated.

 

[IsaLandr]

All I can say is, WOW. I am *SO* envious! I want to do both of these things to ours. What I could do with an MHC and a dump bed combination. Thanks for the inspiration.

Between this and Soni's FEMTT interchangeable bed combination, it's hard not to get motivated to make some improvements. And let's not forget Patracy's SEMTT. The cab-forward idea using a HEMTT or LVS cab is pretty slick.

 

[spicergear]

I agree. The cab-forward design make for a lot more compact truck. It's great with my 406 that there's only about 3' difference between your eyes and the front bumper. Makes tight spaces a breeze. 'Bruiser,' this five ton take a little more finesse off road or on my power line roads but with aired down tires and a load, it does a fine job and hasn't failed to get out loaded.

Heaviest load I've had was also coming out of the steepest ravine I get into. Load similar sized diameter logs to above picture except the second row which would be above the tailgate, were cut 15' to 16' long. Heavy load, TON of overhang, put a ratchet strap around the front of the bed over the logs and down to the frame then headed out of the hole. Front tires were on their tip toes...ratchet strap I left a couple cranks loose was tight as a drum. Near the top of the ravine I turned the steering wheel looking down at the front tires...truck went straight and barely put a mark on the ground from the turned front tires scrubbing across it. Yeah...glad I left the other two log sections off of that load.

 

[jcappeljr]

Looks good,good fab work.

 

[Andrmorr]

I want one of those grapples on my truck...besides being crazy useful it would guarantee no one parks near you at the mall!

 

[spicergear]

I built that grapple for logs, but have found it great for ton's of uses; rocks, steel, snipping off small trees, ripping up smaller root balls, pulling old posts, munching up old square wire fence into a 'bale,' grapping straps to lift and unload something. I cleared about a quarter mile of old grown up fence this past summer using it to rip up everything. The knuckleboom would only be *maybe* half as useful as it is without that grapple and the rotator.

 

[Skull Crusher]

Pretty useful idea to come up with! Nice work! Gives me even more motivation to finish mine too!

 

[rchalmers3]

Great ideas and fab work! The first image in post #8 could be used for the winter month spread in an MV calendar!

Rick

 

[spicergear]

Thanks guys- I realized a while ago that hauling what I needed to on a deuce was just too much off road and basically would be overloading the rear suspension. I've rolled out of some sketchy terrain with 12,000 to 14,000lbs of logs and not worry...these 939's are tough...and Bruiser just doesn't care.

 

[fireball]

figure out how to mount that log splitter on there and your buddy will accuse you of seeing him coming

 

[Artisan]

Get some BLACK paint for that grapple and some green for the tan areas
then loose the WOOD stanscions or add some beefy metal but a GREAT
start INDEED!

OH, some graphics w/ maybe company name on he grapple...

 

[Daytodog]

That's exactly what I bought my 923A2 for. Mod it with a dump and add the knuckleboom. You have a really nice setup and did an awesome job. Now if I can just figure out a way to stay home, still get a paycheck so I can work on mine full time. NICE JOB!!!!

 

[Andrmorr]

That's exactly what I bought my 923A2 for. Mod it with a dump and add the knuckleboom. You have a really nice setup and did an awesome job. Now if I can just figure out a way to stay home, still get a paycheck so I can work on mine full time. NICE JOB!!!!

only 1 foolproof way...a winning lottery ticket! Alternate dumb luck way is if you accidentally slip on some grapes at Walmart...but that would probably hurt too much and slow down the MV work...