Put my Oscar on a trailer, burnt only once(badly)

music_boy · December 30, 2003, 03:35:38 PM

Been working on putting my Oscar on a trailer. Bought an old boat trailer, re-habbed the springs, axle, and bearings. Had to replace one tire and rim. Put new lights on it too. Found some metal to use to level the tracks and welded them in place after making sure it was lined up right. Then lined up the track, and tacked it. The boat bunk sleeves were taken off and I cut the sleeves in half to make jack stands. Lowes sells small joist jack that I welded together, welded an eight inch bolt, and welded the sleeve on top. fits nice and is pretty stable. Put a regular trailer jack up front. Made some brackets, cut holes through and used an old ladder I found for the ramps. A Steel rod goes through the brackets, through the ladder rungs to the other side and into the last bracket. These will raise verticle and help stabilize the mill head during transportation.

I was able to remove the boat winch from up front, cut it a bit, make and mount two brackets on the side above the wheel. The end slips over the axel. A pin fits through the winch mount stem. Fell into a deal for the 4000 lb boat winch and it mounted right up.
If all goes right,( haven't tried it just yet) the winch hook grabs the strap and pulls the log onto the trailer and track bunks. Wallah!!

Pics are kinda out of order.
My concern right now is this, will pulling a log of 18" diameter turn the trailer over? Don't see me working on logs over 8 ft either.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Rick

D._Frederick · December 30, 2003, 04:06:32 PM

Rick,
You did a nice looking job of mounting your mill to the trailer.
I think that you may have problems with the strengh of the aluminum ladders taking the weight of a 1000 lb log. If one leg of the one ladder has to take over half of the log weight, it may fail/bend. If your log gets caught, the winch will lift the side of the trailer were the winch is mounted. If you are standing there operating the winch, you can see if it starts to lift and then stop the winch. Your system is a lot safer than rolling with a cant hook.

music_boy · December 30, 2003, 04:36:27 PM

DF
I thought about the ladder strength but they were available and look really cool! ;D Figured I'd give them a try. I have a backup plan ready and may end up changing over anyway. I don't think the photo shows but the bracket for the ladder has a "catch" on it that I still need to cut down. I figured if it caught, like you said, the trailer will start tipping. I'm hoping that the size logs I'll be cutting won't be too heavy to tip it from weight. I'll find out soon, I hope.
Too bad you can't weld guitars :D :D :D :D :D :D
Rick

redpowerd · December 30, 2003, 05:23:12 PM

then howin they make steel git fiddles? ;D
thats a nice lookin rig, nice windows too.

Tom · December 30, 2003, 05:25:31 PM

The "burnt badly" concerns me. Are you alright?

Larry · December 30, 2003, 05:37:21 PM

The trailer and supports look good to me. Winch setup up looks great also.

I had a little experience with aluminum ramps on a trailer few years ago. A guy wanted 10 pinoak trees to plant in his yard. I dug the trees and wrapped the rootball with burlap. The guy shows up with a 16' trailer with aluminum ramps. I wanted to just drop the trees on the back of the trailer and slide them to the front but he insists the ramps are super strong and he has loaded cars on them in the past. Told me way too much work pulling the trees to the front of the trailer and he would also have to take the ramps off to do it my way. He wants me to drive my little tractor with the tree in the FEL and drop it at the front of the trailer. After a lot of guff from him I say ok I"ll do it. Half way up the ramps with the first tree they start to bend and all of a sudden break completely. We end up doing it my way.

The moral of the story is if your ladders don't support the log they will give away fast and pulling the trailer over is a good possibility.

music_boy · December 30, 2003, 05:53:33 PM

Steel guitars aren't welded, they're "brazed" :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Pics are taken at the shop bldg where I work. I can work on stuff on my own time and expense.
Thanks to all for the complements. This was a pretty big project for me and all.
I decided to do a couple of welds on my lunch time and only put on a pair of cotton gloves.
??? :

Of course , piece of slag fell on the glove, burned through, and blistered the webbing on my left hand. Nothing serious. It thought made for a more exciting title.

:-/ sorry. Appreciate the concern.
Sounds like I better trash the aluminum ladder deal.
Thanks ya'll
Rick

etat · December 30, 2003, 05:55:14 PM

That's really cool. Sometimes think about cutting you a couple of boards that will sit inside the ladder on top of the rungs to reinforce it. White oak would be heavy but would do nicely. You could make em so you could put em on for using and take em off for transport. Hope you didn't get burned too badly. Usually doesn';t take long to look at HOT steel, especially if you get against it. :'( :'(

redpowerd · December 30, 2003, 06:03:36 PM

that reminds me ;D
a buddy of mine(welder) was peenin off some slag when a good chunk landed right on his belt. he didnt notice it untill it burned thru his belt. in haste he grabbed his belt and shook it down into his pants!

lucky for him he wasnt wearin breifs ;)
it just rolled out his pantleg ;D

ive had a chunk land right into my bootlaces. thats fun.

shopteacher · December 30, 2003, 06:16:24 PM

Real nice job music boy! However now that you have Oscar on the trailer I don't see no room for Burt and Ernie. :(

Jeff · December 30, 2003, 06:17:45 PM

The old feller that used to come weld at the mill always wore work boots without laces. I figured him for lazy that he coulndt even lace up boots in the morning till I was helping him one day and some slag fell in my tied boot. He was a pretty bright feller. :D

music_boy · December 30, 2003, 06:34:48 PM

Bert and Ernie were the Cop and Taxi driver on "It's a wonderful life."
(Christmas trivia) Or, Oscar may have them in the trash can with him.
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
rick

Kevin · December 30, 2003, 07:03:05 PM

Maybe a swing down support would help.

VA-Sawyer · December 30, 2003, 07:06:09 PM

Looks pretty good Music_boy. Sorry to hear about the burn, just part of welding it seems.
I'm also a little concerned about the ladders. Is there some way to put a jack or leg in the middle of each span going down to the ground? If the length of the span is cut in half, it will be four times as strong. Another option would be to weld some aluminum angle to the top and bottom of each ladder rail. If you used 6061-T6 1.5 inch angle .250 thick it should hold up ok. About 2" of weld every 6" along the angle stock.

RIck
VA-Sawyer

music_boy · December 30, 2003, 07:18:44 PM

Thought about the middle span support idea. Like the oak board support idea too. Maybe that and a middle drop down support would make what I already have work and be safe. I don't have aluminum welding capabilities though.
Thanks
Rick

DanG · December 31, 2003, 12:14:21 PM

Nice job, M-boy! You might consider a pair of jack stands, like they use when working under a vehicle. They're cheap, strong, and adjustable. A pair of'em at mid-span on your ladders would halve the span and probably triple the strength.

music_boy · December 31, 2003, 02:29:11 PM

DanG
That's a good idea. I like it. Happen to have a set too.
Thanks
Rick

ADfields · December 31, 2003, 02:56:09 PM

After over 20 some years in the heavy towing and recovery business I can tell you it will be about 100 times harder to roll that trailer over with a winch then you think!! ;) In other words I don't see it happening from your log loader even with a 4000 pound log snapping the ramps all at once. Due to the angles you have going there it would just scoot around some if the cable held. The danger I see right off is braking that cable and the end of it coming to see you!

My uncle has 7 fingers total, best friend lost 6 front teeth and an eye and I have a 7 inch long scar on my love handle, ALL FROM SNAPPED CABLES!! DON"T stand near the winch when it's under a load, that is never a good plan! :P Also, it looks to me like you will run out of cable and be pulling the hook into the winch when the log gets 1/2 way up the ramps the way it's rigged out. That is if I'm seeing what I think I am.

It's looking great so far! 8) When do you test it and post the pix? ???
Andy

etat · December 31, 2003, 03:40:54 PM

Ok, this may be nutty, wouldn't be the first time I thought something that was nuts. Pulling that log up those ramps might put a lot of strain on that winch. That's a given. If it were a pretty nice round log could you pull it up the ramp just enough to get a couple of boards under it. Then if you could wrap the straps around it, and again, I have no idea how to do this, so as when you start pullin again as the straps unwind, they would 'roll' the log up them, rather than pullin dead weight. Maybe a remote to work the winch long enough that you could be at one end of the log so if you had to push or pull to help keep balance you could do it from the end of the log, seems to me a safer place to be. As I said, just something to ponder over.