Alrighty, since this was almost 2 years ago, and I've got a new truck now, and I really need a bed for it. So i figured my welding skid would be ideal, because then i could drop it and use my truck for other stuff when I'm off or have a need for something other than my welding bed. Working out of a regular bed absolutely sucks, and now that I'm working only 40 hours a week, i figured this would be a good time to actually get around to building this thing (aka money and kinda time are lining up). I could have bought an electric winch, but the duty cycle scared me, so I've decided to do a hydraulic one. Unfortunately, my truck doesn't have a pto option, so I'm gonna use a pony motor and basically build a small hydro pack thing to run the winch, and will likely add hydraulic hoses so i can run other stuff too.
I was scrolling on Ebay and the like, and found a Braden 10k oilfield winch that will be perfect (and i could afford), so i go pick it up tomorrow. Going to have to rent a storage shed to build this out of town (northern Indiana area), but i could work on it after work. I'll probably hunt down all the parts to build the hydraulics and winch setup, then order steel and get to work. I'm thinking of doing the tandem trailer as well, not sure exactly what I'm gonna do with it because i want a larger one, but it would be a hell of a start, and i would be able to haul around 10/12k of materials without getting a cdl, which would bump my tree game up several notches with a serious winch setup, gin pole crane for loading, and increased trucking ability, not to mention i could avoid rentals more.
Pics and slow updates to follow....
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