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I recently posted that I purchased a 1981 E350 16foot box truck. The gate is about waste high and I don’t yet have a ramp. I have a pick-up this coming Wed for 4 more large copiers and would like to load them in the box-truck, any ideas for how to rig something without killing myself or my grandfather, lol? I can always use my trailer but it really scares me having those 200 pound machines strapped down while out on the highway.
I would say get a ramp before wednesday. OR you can buy one of them picup truck crane things and mount it in the rear of the box truck.
It's what I'm going to have to do. Most ramps in the big stores are 6ft length, and I need something around 10ft.Quote:
Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper
build oneQuote:
Originally Posted by Jeremiah
When I need something like that, I get a 2x8 or two to use as a ramp and a ratchet strap hooked to a tie-down hook at the front of the pickup bed. Ratchet it part way till I can use the 2x8s for leverage to get it into the bed.
any chance the place has a dock ? they might have wheels on em
Look up discountramps on the net. Best money you will spend for your safety sake. As a former copier tech, be careful if it has liquid toner. If you tilt it, the liquid will come out and you will loose your grip and footing wherever it spills. Keep that in mind if you have to tilt it inside the place as well. If it contains no liquids, then disregard this.
Offhand I'd say this would be a cheap investment if your planning on quite a bit of the bigger stuff, or even the big servers. I bought a small server and it was all I could do to drag it to the car and throw it into the trunk.Quote:
Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_11911.jpg
Pickup Truck Crane - 1/2 Ton Capacity
Here's the bigger brother;
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_18656.jpg
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-2-hal...nch-37555.html
If you go with one of these you might want to read this also; http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Harb...t-Truck-Crane/
Check with your yard. The yard I deal with always has a few old aluminum U-Haul ramps laying around.
This is what I take everywhere:
http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/...ale-Biceps.jpg
Works great!
“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning.” — Albert Camus
Mech that is to perfect. we passed up 12 large copiers Saturday most only going for 5-15$
It would be a good idea to have some help with you. You should be charging them for those large copiers, plus an added charge for each flight of stairs, a good starting rate is $100 per copier and $50 per copier for each flight of stairs.
How high off the ground is the bed of that box truck? Sounds like it could be inconvenient for everyday scrapping. Thinking I'd be looking around hoping to find a lift gate somewhere
-about 3 feet-Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
It's perfect in many regards and not so perfect in others. Considering i traded in my 94 Toyota Truck and $400 bucks for it, it think i got a pretty good deal.
The pros:
-I can drive to yards farther away with better prices and take highways without worry of things falling off my trailer
-I save a lot of time unloading my lawn equipment off my trailer and back on to make scrap hauls
-I save a lot of time tarping and straping down metal and plastic
-It serves as a shed and frees up space from my basement
-It stores a good deal of equipment
Cons
-Loading large equipment is troublesome
-Horrible gas milage
-It's old and will need work
I've been thinking about this and would most certainly charge if there was ever any stairs involved. I normally take them for free not so much for the scrap value but for the convienance of the business (these are from banks) so that thay they give me other items.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
what kind of motor and tranny does it have ? if you put your finger into the tailpipe and wipe it around inside, how much residue comes out on it ?
hope I grow up to be half the man she is! YIKES ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Hypoman
What does this have to do with his original posting?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
Jeremiah, if you go with one of them H.F. cranes, from what I've seen of pic's around that people have added larger plates on the bottom to keep the bed of the truck from warping (bending) but with a box truck the floor should be sturdier.
you'll see that at the bottom of #14 Mech
I think it’s got a 351 in it, automatic, dully. It runs really good to have 175k on the engine and transmission and 312k on the frame. It needs a new radiator for sure, it’s got a small leak.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear
I remember hearing that for every 3 inches of height you need 1 foot of ramp length, which by my calculations i would need a 12 foot ramp. Like another stated, I'm probably going to have to build one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
I'm going to check into the crane. It might be the most economical option.
You could also hope for lots of loading docks in your future ; ) a 350 is a one ton chassis vamped up by about 500 pounds I believe. You really need to get to know that truck well, and a repair manual from auto zone might have most of the information you need. You can check the door for GVWR, and possibly even find a cheap place to get it weighed empty, then your payload is that amount subtracted from the GVWR. 175K is a lot on those motors, but treated well it will hopefully last you awhile. Is it carburetor or fuel injector? Did you get any maintenance records? Usually, the most neglected area of maintenance on regular vehicles is a simple transmission oil and filter change (not a difficult task at all, simply get you a large pan to catch the oil, back the trans pan bolts out 3 turns or so, enough to give the pan some play, but not fall off, then with the pan placed to catch the fluid, pry one corner loose to let it drain, pull the pan, put a new filter, replace it all, and refill the tranny) That one oil change procedure could save you a $1500 (or more) road tow and tranny replacement cost, and it is certainly time it needs one. A simple repair manual for that model truck will pay for itself the first time you use it ; )
does the tranny shift out of first gear almost as soon as you start to move? I'm guessing it does, being as you have a heavy duty van (I drove an E300 a lot of miles during the 80s, and late 70s) If so, you probably have a C6, much heavier duty than the lighter C4 (i think the 4 had a 9 bolt oil pan, and the 6 had 11 bolts), and if it's the C6, i'd certainly recommend taking really good care of it, those are very good tranny's, and very hard to come by