So I have some spare parts laying around (hydraulic jack, boat trailer winch, some sqaure steel tubing) and I'm thinking of welding together a pick-up bed crane, like this:

http://www.discountramps.com/car-tru...ed-crane-5.jpg

As some of you may have seen, I have two 500lb steel blocks in my pick up bed for the winter. As you can imagine, they are a pain in the *** to load and unload every winter and spring. I think the crane would be a great way to solve the problem. I have seen hitch-mount types, and the kind you bolt right to the floor of the bed (I assume to the frame). I was thinking of attaching it to the truck through the square holes along the top of the bed-rail. Do you guys think this would hold a 500lbs weight or not? The bed is rust free, so it is solid. I just don't know if it is 500lbs-solid.

 

Guessing you are talking about the stake bed pockets. I wouldn't advise using those for a crane. Only thing in there is sheet metal. Looking at 100 lbs of crane & 500lbs of weight, think you'd tear your bed up. Use the hitch or mount to frame thru the bed. If it was me I would make it easily detachable. Friend of mine has a harbor freight crane mounted to frame thru bottom of bed. It works ok but he loses bed space.

 

I can see you swinging something out of the bed and the whole bedside come down off the truck!!! Depending on how tall the crane is, the leverage could be exponential and likely just rip the bedside off with 1000+ lbs of shear force.

I kinda like those little cranes myself, but for the few times in my life I would use it I don't want to loose bed space to it. I have a fold up engine crane in the garage that takes care of most of it.

 

 

Ewww it's got a toyota in the pictures

 

500lbs of weight at the end of a lever arm...I sure wouldn't advise trying it if you like your bedside.

 

joegeds I am talking from experiance when i say they work good if done right. If you dont add stabilizers then the flex you out under heavy loads. I got mine for cheap after a buddy ripped the bed out of his truck using the supplied hardware to mount it. I learned through trial and error. I reinforced the bed floor and i flexed but worked until it crushed the under supports of the bed so i bought some one and a half by six steel 1/4 wall rectangular tube and replaced the support with it. I then welded a 12x14 piece of 1/4" plate to it and bolted the crane to it. Only then did it work well, after words i welded a screw jack to an extension so i could put it under it and prevent the truck from leaning under a heavy load. I can say it took 1438lbs with out an issue. and was the best investment i made, and my buddy who bought the truck is still using it today.