Home-made Fine Adjust Outriggers

[Ga Mtn Man]

Being weak of back and too light in the wallet for the WM $1200 price tag, I decided to have a go at making my own version of the FAOs for my LT40.  I found an 8000 lb drop leg jack for $47 plus shipping that seemed like it might just fit the bill.  The jacks had to be cut down by  4" to get them down to the same retracted length as the WM FAOs and new feet had to be fabricated for the operator side ones.  I replaced the top wind handle with a big hex nut held in place with a split pin.  I've used them on a couple of jobs now and they work great.  Setting up the mill is much easier on my back and adjusting for settling during the day just takes a few turns of a socket wrench.  They are not as heavy built as the WM ones but I think they should hold up just fine.  Time will tell.  Thanks to the FF members who helped me out with some of the dimensions.  You know who you are.



 
 

 
 

 

[Magicman]

They look fabulous Paul.  Nice craftsmanship.   

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

All you need now are BOOTS for them feet.  :D :D :D

[Rockn H]

They look good 

[Larry]

Those look like they are factory made and you saved some money.  Excellent job Paul.

I replaced the top wind handle with a big hex nut held in place with a split pin. 

I've replaced the crank handle on a winch and also on a milling machine knee with hex nuts.  Now I use a cordless to do my cranking.  I assume you can do the same.

[Chuck White]

Looks like a quality job for sure!

[WDH]

Very professionally done.

[LaneC]

That is some fine engine-oo-ity. You sure saved quite a bit of $ too. They look very good.

[Nomad]

     Those look great!  And the offset foot is about as close as it's possible to come.  Glad they're working out for you. 8)

[drobertson]

Nice! I need to do the same,    david

[lls256]

Looks great!  Do you have any idea who  the manufacturer  of the drop down jack is?

[thecfarm]

This should be added to the WM modification thread.  8) Good idea.

[hunz]

Well done! I will definitely be doing this when the lt-35 arrives. Do you have part numbers handy? Where you purchased online?

[customsawyer]

Great job on those. Now you have me thinking.

[Qweaver]

That's a really good idea to replace the hand crank with a nut.  Did you weld the nut on?

[Ga Mtn Man]

Thanks for the compliments guys.  The jacks were bought at Surplus Center and are made by Northfield Industries.  They have a facility in IL, so I thought I was buying a US made product.  Nope, made in China.  Still, the quality looks pretty good.  The nut is held in place by a split pin since disassembling the jack is the only way to grease the acme thread and thrust bearing.

[j-dland]

     Thank you GMM for this thread. As an afterthought, wouldn't it be pretty simple to cut the offset feet from the old WM jacks and weld them to the new jacks? Just a thought.

[pineywoods]

Only problem I see is "where did I leave that ratchet wrench"

[Ga Mtn Man]

     Thank you GMM for this thread. As an afterthought, wouldn't it be pretty simple to cut the offset feet from the old WM jacks and weld them to the new jacks? Just a thought.

I thought about doing that, but it would have made the jack too long. 

[Ga Mtn Man]

Only problem I see is "where did I leave that ratchet wrench"

On my current job it's acting as a paper weight to keep my cut list on the hydro box, but I can see me losing it at some point :laugh:.  I plan to make an adjustment wrench similar to the one that WM makes but I'll still have to come up with some where to stow it.

[Magicman]

I use a T handle and the WM "speed" wrench.  I regularly use both.  The WM wrench for the initial setup, and the T handle for tweaking after setup and while sawing.

[Bill Gaiche]

Pineywoods, he's only 51, not likely to forget like us, wheres that DanG wrench. bg

[millwright]

I did the same thing on my lt35 about 2 years ago with no problems at all.

[orion388]

Thanks Paul for getting me off my butt and finishing this little project!

John



  

  

  

  

 

[Magicman]

Outstanding.   

[Ga Mtn Man]

Nice job.  Your back will thank you.  I think I will steal your lug wrench idea.

Are you at all concerned about the rear outrigger dragging on uneven ground? 

[MIsawyer]

good work they look great

[orion388]

Thanks ...

Have not towed it anywhere since the install, but am pretty sure there is plenty of clearance.

John

[Ga Mtn Man]

So I just now got around to changing out the two loader-side outriggers.  I had the parts laid out on the bench and it occurred to me that the drop-leg jacks are the same size as the WM outrigger legs.  Instead of butchering up the mounts of the WM outriggers so I could re-use the mounting plates (I was too cheap to buy the metal to make new ones) I could do this instead:


 
Drill two 13/16" holes, one for "travel" position and one for "extended" position.



 
Because of the inner tube, the adjustment pin on the mount doesn't go in as far as on the original outrigger (about 1/8" vs. 1/2") so I widened the locking slot just enough to lock the pin firmly in place against the inner tube of the jack.  I know the pic is blurry but I think you can still make it out.



 
Jack in the travel position.  You could drill another hole and raise it up even further if you wanted to but this position is at the same height as the factory FAO.   



 
Extended position gives even more extension capability to the jack...sort of a double drop-leg jack. ;D

These jacks were shortened by 4" but that may not be necessary as you could drill additional holes to allow the jack to be raised up as high as needed for travel.  The nice thing about doing it this way is that it requires almost no modifications to the WM outriggers, so you could change them back if you ever needed to.

[orion388]

AWESOME fix GA...

John

[Magicman]

You have taken FAO's to a new level for sure and your modifications are truly awesome and very innovative.     I suspect that WM would be interested in your design.   :P 

[Ga Mtn Man]

Thanks Magicman but I suspect the fact that the adjustment pin doesn't go very far into the hole will be troubling to some.  I'm OK with it.

[Rockn H]

Ga Mtn Man, I like your setup and I've got a question...   When you have the WM pin in the highest hole on the outrigger (outrigger all the way down) and you start cranking inner tube down,  does the inner tube finally clear the hole for the WM pin to go on in?

[Ga Mtn Man]

If you cranked it down that far yes it would but I always drop the inside tube down to the nearest hole above ground and then crank it down to finish, usually 2-3 inches.  I see no reason you couldn't crank it down till the pin sets all the way, set the drop leg and then crank it down tight.   Of course, if you do it that way you'll have to retract the pin AND turn the crank/wrench at the same time when you need to raise the jack.

[WDH]

Paul,

You are very handy.  Did you ever watch the Red Green Show  ???  :D :D.

[Ga Mtn Man]

Words of wisdom I can relate to:   

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[WDH]

 :D :D :D

It is good that you are handy  .

[Ga Mtn Man]

So true.  :-\

[flatrock58]

Ga Mtn man.  What part of the jack did you have to cut 4". 

thanks,
Steve

[Ga Mtn Man]

I cut 4" off of all the tubes and the threaded rod.  I did that so they would not hang down any lower than the lowest part of the mill (the toe roller cylinder mount) but it may not really be necessary to do that.  If you mount them as I did the two loader side jacks using the WM mounts, you may be able to just drill the bottom hole further down (or perhaps drill three holes for multiple positions) on the outside tube which would allow you to fully retract them for travel.  This occurred to me after I had done all of mine  :. 

[flatrock58]

Thanks Ga Mnt Man.  I will look and see how that will work.   No issues with the pin only going in 1/8"?  I would only worry about losing the jack while transporting.  I guess I could drill the transport hole through all 3 pieces to make sure it does not come out.  Looks like I am going to have to buy some larger drill bits! The largest I have is 1/2".

[Ga Mtn Man]

It actually goes in more than 1/8th inch, closer to 1/4.  The springs on the pins are pretty strong so I think there is very little chance of them falling out, so long as you make sure the pin is in the hole that is.

[Kbeitz]

You could weld a trailer jack swivel mount on them for transport.



 

[boscojmb]

You could weld a trailer jack swivel mount on them for transport.

I have 8 of the swivel jacks on my mill. The jack can rotate on the mount a few degrees in each direction. My mill will rock back and forth quite a bit every time the saw head changes direction. I end up blocking my mill up every time I move it.
I really like my mill, but I am going to replace the swivel jacks with something else.

[Kbeitz]

I just made my out riggers and the mill is rock solid...



 



 

[Napoleon1]

   I know this is an old thread but I recently made some homemade fine adjust outriggers. I used bulldog tw180 10k jacks. They retract to 18 inches.  This is for those who want a short jack to make your own fao. The foot on these jacks are 8 x 8 1/2. With a lift capacity of 7000lbs. I think they will handle a log. They are 3 inches square. 

[Kbeitz]

Pictures ?

[Napoleon1]