When I had my mk17 delivered, it was on a drop deck with ramps. We first attempted to off load it by lifting it up and driving the semi and trailer out from under. I had my John deere 410 backhoe and a Cat 950 loader, the loader was going to lift the heavy end with the knuckle boom and rear ends and the 410 was going to lift the front end at the docking plates. We were able to lift the MK17 just barely off the deck of the trailer however the stabilty was less than safe and we went to plan B. As it turned out plan B was to pull the MK down the back end of the trailer using the ramps. It was loaded on the trailer in Barstow with the knuckle boom crane facing the rear of the trailer, this added a layer of difficulty to our pulling it back off the trailer. We attached the loader bucket via a couple of chains to the pintle hitch at the rear or the trailer. We also attached my backhoe boom to the docking plates in front with chains and proceeded to muscle the beast a foot at a time down the ramps. It did work out OK, I wish I had brought a camera for this moment.
I was able to later (acouple of months) load the MK on my equipment trailer by chaining my 410 backhoe bucket to the docking plates, lift the front end of the trailer and drive/push it ass end up my equipment trailer. This should not be attempted by the faint of heart or timid operator. It is a white knuckle experience to say the least and extreme caution should be used. The point is it can be done, make good and sure you have a true path lined up to your loading ramps, they don't turn real well being pushed by a chained up bucket and loader. Also by pushing the crane end up first you can reverse the process at the unloading point. I ended up doing this several times before I made a A-frame pintle hitch for the beast, at which point in time it was fully towable with a 10 wheeler.
In hind sight I spent a couple hours on my backhoe bucket, just recently, straightening out a 1 inch thick fork lift hook attachment with a torch and 10 lb. sluggo, ouch
![Wink :wink: :wink:](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Hope this little story helps! On a side note my MK17 with knuckle boom crane weighed in at 24,000 lbs. Bring a bigger hammer to the party!!