M109 body removal lessons learned!

[fungus]

First, I'm writing to y'all with all 10 fingers, nobody got squashed!

I don't have much room (much less level surface) back in our woods. I parked Percival in the most level place I could find, then welded hooks on two 8" I beams. I hooked these onto the rear bumper/guards and planned to use them as ramps for the shelter to slide down. The mounts on the box rails end up being about 6" wide, so it should fit on the web of the beam and act as a guide as it slides down.
I then used my backhoe to pull it back off the truck. I got about 2ft of progress, then the box slid off the wood strips and was precariously sitting off the rails of the truck.
I ended up getting my dozer involved, and since I'm alone up here I was jumping back and forth between equipment and doing my best to spot too. It was a bit of a nightmare.
What happened: the box wouldn't tilt back onto the I beams until it was halfway off (pivot point), so the beams did nothing to guide it in the beginning 6 feet of drag.
The box mounts _can_ act as guides, but ONLY if the wood strips don't shift. The wood strips are milled to go over the frame bolts/rivets, so if you get lucky the strips will stay in place because of the bolts.
If you can't top lift these boxes, it seems that the best bet is to drag them off the back the way others have done on a LEVEL SURFACE. If you can't find level, choose to drive straight uphill.
I got lucky and somehow didn't flip this thing. Having an extra pair of experienced eyes would help a lot, and keep everything clear on the sides the distance this would roll if things literally go off the rails like they did with me.

 

[fungus]

Post 37 shows someone doing a "hook and run":

M109 box removal

How about an anchor point and come-a-long, that way you can control it while sliding off the frame. Use a couple off road jacks for when you get so far off the bed, and another friend or 2 to lower it slowly. once the back is down then lift the front a bit, drive out then set it down. Just...

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[marchplumber]

First, I'm writing to y'all with all 10 fingers, nobody got squashed!

I don't have much room (much less level surface) back in our woods. I parked Percival in the most level place I could find, then welded hooks on two 8" I beams. I hooked these onto the rear bumper/guards and planned to use them as ramps for the shelter to slide down. The mounts on the box rails end up being about 6" wide, so it should fit on the web of the beam and act as a guide as it slides down.
I then used my backhoe to pull it back off the truck. I got about 2ft of progress, then the box slid off the wood strips and was precariously sitting off the rails of the truck.
I ended up getting my dozer involved, and since I'm alone up here I was jumping back and forth between equipment and doing my best to spot too. It was a bit of a nightmare.
What happened: the box wouldn't tilt back onto the I beams until it was halfway off (pivot point), so the beams did nothing to guide it in the beginning 6 feet of drag.
The box mounts _can_ act as guides, but ONLY if the wood strips don't shift. The wood strips are milled to go over the frame bolts/rivets, so if you get lucky the strips will stay in place because of the bolts.
If you can't top lift these boxes, it seems that the best bet is to drag them off the back the way others have done on a LEVEL SURFACE. If you can't find level, choose to drive straight uphill.
I got lucky and somehow didn't flip this thing. Having an extra pair of experienced eyes would help a lot, and keep everything clear on the sides the distance this would roll if things literally go off the rails like they did with me.

Now what? I figure you have a "plan" as you went to all that work to remove the cargo body...................SO.................??????

 

[fungus]

We're going to use the box as a kitchen on the homestead, since it's insulated it'll do well for water storage in winter too. It's built tough enough that it should hold up decent against the black bear around here, the windows even have mesh on them already too.
As for a different bed, I have a flatbed on an old C50 that already has a good headache rack, I need to weld some stake pockets on but otherwise it's about ready to use. I need to double check the rail width. Looks like the deuce is 34" outside the rails.

 

[HDN]

Does anyone know if there are any high-lift jacks available that could support cargo truck beds? I think it would be easier to jack a bed up and then drive the truck out from under it.

Or buy a 5-ton wrecker?

 

[marchplumber]

Does anyone know if there are any high-lift jacks available that could support cargo truck beds? I think it would be easier to jack a bed up and then drive the truck out from under it.

Or buy a 5-ton wrecker?

I like the wrecker idea!! Plus you can make redneck swings, car removal, sooo many things

 

[fungus]

Does anyone know if there are any high-lift jacks available that could support cargo truck beds? I think it would be easier to jack a bed up and then drive the truck out from under it.

Or buy a 5-ton wrecker?

If I were planning to ever mount this again, I would definitely consider truck bed camper jacks. One bed camper I recently looked at was pushing 3000lbs, so I bet you could find jacks with enough capacity. About 1000lbs each. You'd need to come up with a mounting scheme, but then it would be self-supporting and stable, and you could remount it by just backing under it. They might need to be removable since this box is already pretty wide.

 

[G744]

Once I had a deuce with the 17' expansible van on it.

My M543 wrecker was at the end of it's rope, so to say, lifting it enough to drive the truck out from under it.

Those boxes are ungainly heavy!

I pulled it because it was bent up by DRMO or some unit such that it couldn't be expanded, so it went to be a storage shed on the ground.

No fingers lost, either.