I have a bunch of ISO containers I here on my property, and moving them is a real bear. A few years back I got my hands on a small mobilizer (sorry, don't know the model) and converted it from a "rails-under-the-shelter" type to a "plug-into-the-ISO-corners" type. Pictures below. It barely lifts a 45' hi-cube empty, but it does lift it. This coupled with a skid steer allows me to very, very slowly move the containers around on mostly level ground. The tires were flattening out, and it's clearly overloaded, and the lift was only maybe 8-10 inches so I barely avoided some high-center issues. I wanted something bigger, and really what would help a huge amount would be to have steering capability at both ends (tractor at one end, skid steer at the other.)
I came across a beat-up M840 (M841? the tag says "DOLLY, TRAILER, FRONT: M841") today (actually converted to M720 by the Air Force on another tag) which is a lot beefier. It was so cheap I couldn't say "no", so I bought it and now I'm starting to figure out how to convert it so it can move ISO containers. I'm thinking a conversion bracket like I did with the smaller mobilizer, that I can separately bolt onto the ISO and then lift with the M841.
Pictures of both the old unit that I converted and the new M840 one below. I'd appreciate advice from anyone (ForestMog ?) who has done a conversion, or if anyone has pre-made plans to save me some time.
JT
Steering end of the "old"unit:
ISO container adapter bracket I made out of the lateral bars. The bolts into the corners are through pipe welded to both sides of the tube steel. The bolts have "pill-shaped" plates welded on the end of the bolt that fit through the ISO corner hole, and then turn 90 degrees. I had to mark the tail end of the bolt with orientation scratches so I make sure to tighten the bolts with the plates in "locked" position.
Bracket in place, and mobilizer placed on top. Mobilizer has four pins in total that hold the mobilizer to the bracket (this was part of the original design.)
And moving to a paintable position...
And after sanding, priming with POR-15, painting, and we're moving to final placement behind the shop:
Here's the M840/M720 I just purchased. It's a bit beat up; I'll probably need to get the cylinders re-sealed and I have no idea if the manual Enerpac pumps work.
I came across a beat-up M840 (M841? the tag says "DOLLY, TRAILER, FRONT: M841") today (actually converted to M720 by the Air Force on another tag) which is a lot beefier. It was so cheap I couldn't say "no", so I bought it and now I'm starting to figure out how to convert it so it can move ISO containers. I'm thinking a conversion bracket like I did with the smaller mobilizer, that I can separately bolt onto the ISO and then lift with the M841.
Pictures of both the old unit that I converted and the new M840 one below. I'd appreciate advice from anyone (ForestMog ?) who has done a conversion, or if anyone has pre-made plans to save me some time.
JT
Steering end of the "old"unit:
ISO container adapter bracket I made out of the lateral bars. The bolts into the corners are through pipe welded to both sides of the tube steel. The bolts have "pill-shaped" plates welded on the end of the bolt that fit through the ISO corner hole, and then turn 90 degrees. I had to mark the tail end of the bolt with orientation scratches so I make sure to tighten the bolts with the plates in "locked" position.
Bracket in place, and mobilizer placed on top. Mobilizer has four pins in total that hold the mobilizer to the bracket (this was part of the original design.)
And moving to a paintable position...
And after sanding, priming with POR-15, painting, and we're moving to final placement behind the shop:
Here's the M840/M720 I just purchased. It's a bit beat up; I'll probably need to get the cylinders re-sealed and I have no idea if the manual Enerpac pumps work.
Last edited:
