Rattlehead
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- S.E. Michigan
Went on a recovery trip this past weekend to pick up my new project. It’s a rusted out Chevy C60 with a nice 16.4’ Hiab knuckeboom crane. 2500 lb rating at max extension. Not as big as I would like, but it was a very good price and should work well for my intentions.
My plan is to make a trailer out of the chassis, leaving the crane in place. The crane’s hydraulics will be run from a modified riding mower with 18hp engine, which will be mounted across the frame rails of the trailer. I left the front wheels on it for now to move it easily. Flip up the weather cover that I made from the lawn mower’s fenders and start the motor. Thought about tapping into the hydraulics on my M932A2 but then it would only work with this truck and not the deuce, unless I add hydraulics to it as well.
The trip. Left 830 am, a friend of mine following in another vehicle. Get within maybe 7 miles of the 110 mile trip, the tractor starts losing power. Switched tanks to the full one, no change. It was topping out at 30 mph by the time I got it to my other friend’s driveway where the C60 was waiting. Fuel filter plugged that fast. Had one spare, didn’t think that was enough, so went to town in the car and got a couple more. Luckily no more problems with it on the trip back.
We ended up cutting off the C channel that was the back bumper of the C60, and welding it to the front frame rails to give enough surface area to bolt the clevis mounts to, which we pulled off the front of the tractor. Also had to disconnect the pitman arm, as the wheels would not return without doing so. Power and braking wise, the tractor pulled it well.
Got to play with the crane a bit yesterday, which is running off the truck’s pto now. Unloaded my job box full of tools, chains, etc from the tractor nicely.
Still need to figure out some landing gear for this project, as well as a bed (the flatbed is in bad shape), and air/hydraulic brakes. But for now just get the drivetrain pulled, cab scrapped, tongue fabricated and lunette installed so it can be moved around.
My plan is to make a trailer out of the chassis, leaving the crane in place. The crane’s hydraulics will be run from a modified riding mower with 18hp engine, which will be mounted across the frame rails of the trailer. I left the front wheels on it for now to move it easily. Flip up the weather cover that I made from the lawn mower’s fenders and start the motor. Thought about tapping into the hydraulics on my M932A2 but then it would only work with this truck and not the deuce, unless I add hydraulics to it as well.
The trip. Left 830 am, a friend of mine following in another vehicle. Get within maybe 7 miles of the 110 mile trip, the tractor starts losing power. Switched tanks to the full one, no change. It was topping out at 30 mph by the time I got it to my other friend’s driveway where the C60 was waiting. Fuel filter plugged that fast. Had one spare, didn’t think that was enough, so went to town in the car and got a couple more. Luckily no more problems with it on the trip back.
We ended up cutting off the C channel that was the back bumper of the C60, and welding it to the front frame rails to give enough surface area to bolt the clevis mounts to, which we pulled off the front of the tractor. Also had to disconnect the pitman arm, as the wheels would not return without doing so. Power and braking wise, the tractor pulled it well.
Got to play with the crane a bit yesterday, which is running off the truck’s pto now. Unloaded my job box full of tools, chains, etc from the tractor nicely.
Still need to figure out some landing gear for this project, as well as a bed (the flatbed is in bad shape), and air/hydraulic brakes. But for now just get the drivetrain pulled, cab scrapped, tongue fabricated and lunette installed so it can be moved around.
Take a look at the smaller trucks used by the telephone and tv cable companies in your area. A lot of them use an Onan generator with a stinger mounted hydraulic pump for the bucket. Not sure on the gpm of the pump but the generators I've seen are around 5kW..... I've even seen some used ones for sale on the auction sites.