On Tue, 17 May 2011 19:37:43 -0500, Ignoramus31865
wrote:

I have a GM 3/4 ton pickup.

I won, in an auction, a "Ramco RM5000" crane. This crane is similar to
the Harbor Freight truck crane, but is a lot beefier.

It is pictured he

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Ramco-RM5000-Truck-Crane.jpg

(not mine, but an identical model).

This is rated for 5k pounds, I am sure for the boom fully retracted.

It has a 8,000 lbs jack. I will put in a longer boom too, and a
winch. I am aware that extending the boom will decrease capacity
proportionally, so a boom that is 4 foot would decrease capacity of
the crane to, say, 1,500 lbs or whatever. I have to call the mfr to
find out. This is stillw ay better than my HF crane.

I have a very large 3/4 inch steel plate, I would say 3x4 feet, that
is rusting in my backyard.

What I thought of doing, is making a cutout on the plate to fit around
a wheel well, and mount it in the back of the truck's bed, and put the
crane on top of it. The Ramco crane would sit in the rear right corner
of the bed, just like this Harbor Freight crane does now:

http://goo.gl/KAN0Y

It has to be a large plate, to spread the weight of the crane and the
levering action that its base would apply to the bed. This particular
plate weighs around 300 lbs and is large enough.

That would help you to pop wheelies, Ig.


My question is, what sort of constraints do I still have. I would hate
to overturn my truck, break suspension, etc. I would also think that

Just pay closer attention to the same things you already do: centers
of gravity, velocity, trajectory, and such. With a jack and heavy
object in the back of the bed, your rear axle becomes a pivot at the
right weight.


for heavy lifting, I would need to jack up the right rear wheel too.

No, maybe brace the frame (or underneath the 3/4" plate) instead?


Any practical opinions?

Wouldn't most heavy things be large and tend to be put onto the
trailer via a winch and ramp? What you really need is to sell that
crappy old mil trailer you have and get a dropbed dump trailer.

Or for the truck, an extendable bed-mounted ramp with winch at the cab
side. Why lift when you can slide?

--
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no
distinctively native American criminal class except Congress.
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