What does $13k in aluminum build

[jon f mn]

Nice work.

Did you use a spool gun?

Spool gun and tig, depending on the job.

 

[jon f mn]

Nice work!

He must mow a lot of lawns to justify 3 trucks set up like that.

He has a facility and crew in Rochester and another in Sauk Center. He is running 2 crews in Rochester and one in Sauk right now, but is expanding every year.

 

[joeysmith]

Nice work

My only suggestion is running it by his insurance/work comp agent an make sure it meets their standards.

Might get into a jamb down the road if someone gets hurt

 

[jon f mn]

Here are a few more pics of the project, I finished after dark, so no good pics of it finished yet, maybe this weekend. Here are some pics of the ramp mechanism and a video of it working. The latch was intended to be 2 flats with a tip, but the hooks bent when I tested it for strength, so I added the channel to the top for more strength. Now you can put the full force against it and it holds if someone does that by mistake.

Ramp latch

rumble.com

The double link is so that you cant put down pressure on the ramp when down so nothing gets bent.

This is the spout I made inside the box to divert the leaves and fill the front of the box.

This is a closeup of the door latch and of the door support so the hinges dont carry the door when driving.

Where the blower enters the box i figured on that hose sliding in to fill the gap, but it is not necessary as it work fine with the gap needed for the bed to dump.

As always on a job like this, there are a few things I missed, like supports on the side of the box for the sheet, a way to hold the door open when dumping and such, so he is bringing it back this weekend to finish. I should get some better pics of it all done then. Here are the last 2 pics I took last evening with it all loaded as it will be for fall clean up.

 

[Ericp351]

That bed can not hold a D8. You well confirmed you Minnisota temperament. 18 k sounds like f550 gross, not payload. No matter, as those numbers assume load properly distributed. Ya got too much aft, and no means to even improve tires much easily. I twice referred to the possibility of your son succeeding and requiring even a modest investment and improvement in equipment. Think land scapping with a Bobcat, moving rocks, et cetera. Traditional "next step" beyond basic mowing. Some men , companies, outgrow same, but you may know your own son. Starting with a better truck, then actually engineering modifications has been done by the competent and optimistic before. Saves capital greatly in long run, let alown providing for safety, et cetera. Your kid, little shinny rig, nice summer enterprise. Enjoy! Eric out, seek constructive learing as you may.

 

[Scott 730]

Troll.

 

[Ericp351]

Bombastic simpleton.

 

[1948CaseVAI]

Nice engineering and superior welding as you always produce. Sorry that some let envy of your skills get in their way. Very well done!

 

[jon f mn]

That bed can not hold a D8. You well confirmed you Minnisota temperament. 18 k sounds like f550 gross, not payload. No matter, as those numbers assume load properly distributed. Ya got too much aft, and no means to even improve tires much easily. I twice referred to the possibility of your son succeeding and requiring even a modest investment and improvement in equipment. Think land scapping with a Bobcat, moving rocks, et cetera. Traditional "next step" beyond basic mowing. Some men , companies, outgrow same, but you may know your own son. Starting with a better truck, then actually engineering modifications has been done by the competent and optimistic before. Saves capital greatly in long run, let alown providing for safety, et cetera. Your kid, little shinny rig, nice summer enterprise. Enjoy! Eric out, seek constructive learing as you may.

Lol, another learing center graduate.

 

[oldsarge]

Bombastic simpleton.

Yeah, he ain't watched Jon build stuff before, We have!! & Loren is gone

 

[RBnWA]

Good job Jon. A job like that you will miss a thing or 2. BTDT. RB

 

[MM-TX]

If you look up a few of Ericp’s posts he is generally both negative and argumentative. Oh well.

 

[Ericp351]

Gentelman, is this the Minnisota way of saying that you think I stepped on a delicate toe? Good news, I lack any sissy-woke type thin skin. Anyway, I made my comments specific and constructive, with the appropriate detail. I trust you may agree that I am not the one who cobbled up a truck deck for his son,s lawn mower business without bothering to even calculate the load capacity of same. I never met the boy. Probably never will. I mentioned that he may need a larger capacity rig someday, and this one is impractical to expand. I was going to calculate the strength of what he built, provided he provides the material specs, not just his son,s outlay, and his plans. Now, why should I at all bother ? Any of you cheerleaders going to actually help and truly support? Plan? Calculate? Troubleshoot? I personally think it is regrettable [at best] if this continues as stated. 3 undersized trucks squandered on 3 matching decks where strength calculations are limited to driving a 40hp tractor [less, 2 short tons ain,t much?] up a ramp and prayers, maybe. Good luck! I do have a soft spot for youngsters trying their hand at business. Sometimes their businesses even can grow. Again, this ain,t my fight. I try to build in margins, not just post color prints for the Minnisota arm chair warriors. I trust you are better with jail bait type phones than slide rules. Sad. Forgettable.

 

[Jimmydog]

You aught to be right proud of yourself!
You make this grown man feel lazy.

 

[jon f mn]

Gentelman, is this the Minnisota way of saying that you think I stepped on a delicate toe? Good news, I lack any sissy-woke type thin skin. Anyway, I made my comments specific and constructive, with the appropriate detail. I trust you may agree that I am not the one who cobbled up a truck deck for his son,s lawn mower business without bothering to even calculate the load capacity of same. I never met the boy. Probably never will. I mentioned that he may need a larger capacity rig someday, and this one is impractical to expand. I was going to calculate the strength of what he built, provided he provides the material specs, not just his son,s outlay, and his plans. Now, why should I at all bother ? Any of you cheerleaders going to actually help and truly support? Plan? Calculate? Troubleshoot? I personally think it is regrettable [at best] if this continues as stated. 3 undersized trucks squandered on 3 matching decks where strength calculations are limited to driving a 40hp tractor [less, 2 short tons ain,t much?] up a ramp and prayers, maybe. Good luck! I do have a soft spot for youngsters trying their hand at business. Sometimes their businesses even can grow. Again, this ain,t my fight. I try to build in margins, not just post color prints for the Minnisota arm chair warriors. I trust you are better with jail bait type phones than slide rules. Sad. Forgettable.

Why would you want to sacrifice usability of a tool for the project at hand for some mythical future possibilities that may or may not ever exist? And if it ever happens that he needs a heavier truck, like an ex military truck, I can build him a bed on that when the time comes.

 

[Bill of TN]

The lawn business must be a very lucrative business where you're at.....nice job by the way....

 

[Dingo3]

Why would you want to sacrifice usability of a tool for the project at hand for some mythical future possibilities that may or may not ever exist? And if it ever happens that he needs a heavier truck, like an ex military truck, I can build him a bed on that when the time comes.

Anyone serious about using a 50 plus year old ex military truck as an every day company vehicle won’t last long. You did good, nice job!

 

[Richard Nixon]

My son runs a lawn care business and wants trucks set up so he can stop using trailers and his employees can quit lifting ramps. So he bought 3 retired Schwans trucks and I built the first bed, finally finished late last night. It's a fairly complex build with a side dump box for clippings and leaves, a bed with beaver tail, and hydraulic lift ramp. This is what it looked like to start. Lol

View attachment 166987

That is over $9000 in aluminum, a slight miss calculation meant another trip for over $3,000 more later to total over $13,000.00 just in aluminum. The front is a side dump box, 8' wide and 6' deep. The sub frame was pretty complex because it had to be flexible to twist with the truck frame, but rigid enough to keep the box from flopping around. I think I got it done, we will see if it holds up.

View attachment 166988

The box was next. He wanted it with short sides so it doesn't catch so much wind when driving when they are not using it, and with fold up sides for more space when in use.

View attachment 166992View attachment 166993View attachment 166994

The bed was also a bit more complex than average as he needed it low for loading and 11' long so he can haul his big tractor for leaf cleanup and 2 zero turn mowers for mowing. That meant dropping the main rails down between the truck frame to get the slope we needed.

View attachment 166995View attachment 166996View attachment 166997

Figuring out the ramp lift took some serious pondering. I basically copied some designs from farm machinery I've seen over the years, but even then it took some trial and error.

View attachment 166998View attachment 166999

Here are a couple videos of the ramp. I have since put a restrictor in the line so it moves slower.

Truck ramp ooeration

First try on the ramp

rumble.com

Ramp in use

Hydraulic truck ramp finished

rumble.com

Thats all I can post at one time, I'll add more later.

Very nice.

 

[dlbuck]

Gentelman, is this the Minnisota way of saying that you think I stepped on a delicate toe? Good news, I lack any sissy-woke type thin skin. Anyway, I made my comments specific and constructive, with the appropriate detail. I trust you may agree that I am not the one who cobbled up a truck deck for his son,s lawn mower business without bothering to even calculate the load capacity of same. I never met the boy. Probably never will. I mentioned that he may need a larger capacity rig someday, and this one is impractical to expand. I was going to calculate the strength of what he built, provided he provides the material specs, not just his son,s outlay, and his plans. Now, why should I at all bother ? Any of you cheerleaders going to actually help and truly support? Plan? Calculate? Troubleshoot? I personally think it is regrettable [at best] if this continues as stated. 3 undersized trucks squandered on 3 matching decks where strength calculations are limited to driving a 40hp tractor [less, 2 short tons ain,t much?] up a ramp and prayers, maybe. Good luck! I do have a soft spot for youngsters trying their hand at business. Sometimes their businesses even can grow. Again, this ain,t my fight. I try to build in margins, not just post color prints for the Minnisota arm chair warriors. I trust you are better with jail bait type phones than slide rules. Sad. Forgettable.

I bet you are the life of the party. Oh nevermind you probably don't get invited to any.

 

[sadcase]

Gentelman, is this the Minnisota way of saying that you think I stepped on a delicate toe? Good news, I lack any sissy-woke type thin skin. Anyway, I made my comments specific and constructive, with the appropriate detail. I trust you may agree that I am not the one who cobbled up a truck deck for his son,s lawn mower business without bothering to even calculate the load capacity of same. I never met the boy. Probably never will. I mentioned that he may need a larger capacity rig someday, and this one is impractical to expand. I was going to calculate the strength of what he built, provided he provides the material specs, not just his son,s outlay, and his plans. Now, why should I at all bother ? Any of you cheerleaders going to actually help and truly support? Plan? Calculate? Troubleshoot? I personally think it is regrettable [at best] if this continues as stated. 3 undersized trucks squandered on 3 matching decks where strength calculations are limited to driving a 40hp tractor [less, 2 short tons ain,t much?] up a ramp and prayers, maybe. Good luck! I do have a soft spot for youngsters trying their hand at business. Sometimes their businesses even can grow. Again, this ain,t my fight. I try to build in margins, not just post color prints for the Minnisota arm chair warriors. I trust you are better with jail bait type phones than slide rules. Sad. Forgettable.

welp, there is always one know it all! get a life dude!