How to unload a GLOAT

[Don Abele]

So how do you get a 600 pound gloat out of the back of a RAM 3500 dually with a bed that's almost four feet off the ground?

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=87720&stc=1&d=1209868294

I picked the cherry picker up at Harbor Freight a while ago when they had them on sale for $79. I had about an inch to spare in regards to height.

Yes, I could have used the bed crane, but then I would just have had to pick it back up with the cherry picker to get it into the shop.

It's 10:30 pm and I just got this into the shop, so a more thorough gloat about the Hammer AS-31 jointer/planer will have to wait until tomorrow. I picked it up at the Woodworkers Expo in Hartford, CT.

Be well,

Doc

[Dewey Torres]

Very nice saw and buy on the picker. I bet you could sell that for close to what you paid for it when you are done. Order one more thing and it will have paid for itself... maybe it has already. Good job! Let us know how the saw works for you (once you get it set up).
Dewey

[Greg Cuetara]

Wow. Great gloat! It looks like you will enjoy your new 'toy' Let us know how it works out. BTW congrats on the promotion.

Greg

[Dewey Torres]

HEY HMCM,
Is that what I should do with my Master Chief Pay when and if I get it? Care to counsel a CTTCS? (My way of saying congrats on the 1% list):)
GO NAVY!
Dewey

[Ben Cadotte]

I have a Gloat unloader like yours. :)

It saw quite a bit of use when I moved. Most difficult was a full sized 1 hour photo lab machine. Weighed about 900#'s and was huge.

I bought it at a local auto parts store when they had a good deal. It has paid for itself over and over.

[Don Abele]

Dewey, that's a jointer/planer combo unit not a saw. It's the AS-31 which is about 13" wide.

As for it coming from the Master Chief pay raise...I wish. You know our pay raises are not that much. If I saved my increase in pay, it would take four months to pay for this thing! :eek: And since I was 11 of 20 HM's that were advanced I won't get paid until probably October.

Nope...this was funded primarily though my stimulus check and then some from the savings. Don't know if buying a German made machine will help stimulate our economy...but it sure is heck going to stimulate me :D

Be well,

Doc

[Dewey Torres]

Doc,
As I have always told my sailors...

"Better to be last increment on this cycle than first increment on the next!"

Again congrats and looking forward to more pics.
Dewey

[Dave MacArthur]

Great photo, I love the cherry picker ("Shop crane!") for moving tools around.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I've had to let the air out of the tires of my truck to unload it with a shop crane before. Now for heavy stuff I use my 5x8 utility trailer, its only 2' off the ground and has a ramp and a wood floor, so I can nail my load to it if I want.

[Steven Hardy]

I've had to let the air out of the tires of my truck to unload it with a shop crane before. Now for heavy stuff I use my 5x8 utility trailer, its only 2' off the ground and has a ramp and a wood floor, so I can nail my load to it if I want.

Utility trailers are great!! Dont feel like unloading the stuff now??? Just unhook it and deal with it later!

[Narayan Nayar]

Don, you're going to love yours. I just redid my ductwork and put my new A3-31 in place a few weeks ago and, well, you're going to love yours. :)

[Jim Becker]

Very nice, Don! That works and "only an inch to spare" apparently was just right!

[Larry Fox]

Congrats Don and quite a good idea for unloading.

[Peter Quinn]

Don, was that your machine on display at the show? I went to drool at all the big machines and kick the tires on the Felder/Hammer stuff in person, looks like the highest quality stuff up close. Congrats.

PS, sorry if I may have drooled on your machine, but I did wipe it off with my sleeve!

[Chris Padilla]

Very nice, Don! That works and "only an inch to spare" apparently was just right!


Doc,

Regarding that inch...you coulda let some air out of those tires! ;)

Nice haul...you'll love that piece of machinery...my 16" wide J/P is just heaven!!

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

So, what exactly *is* the gloat...the new machine? The Ram 3500 Dually? or the bed crane? :)

Nice work getting it out, and congrats.

[Don Abele]

...I use my 5x8 utility trailer, its only 2' off the ground and has a ramp and a wood floor...

I actually have a large utility trailer with a wooden deck and both car ramps and a loading ramp. It's 7x24. I didn't use it this time because I would have had to haul it the two hours down to CT. Besides, with both the bed crane and shop crane, I can easily get anything in and out of the bed.


..."only an inch to spare" apparently was just right!

If you notice, I actually had to bolt the load leveler directly to the crane. I took the 6" chain/hook off. But as I said, if it didn't reach, I would have just lowered it with the bed crane, then picked it back up with the shop crane to move it into the shop.

About a year a half ago, I picked up an old Blue Jet Xacta saw with 52" rails (to compliment my white one) - unposted gloat, got it free! Anyway, I used the bed crane to pick the whole unit up at once - no problem, swung it right over the side and into the bed. Once I got back and lowered it down on a mobile base, it was a pain to get it into the shop. That's one of the reasons I got the shop crane.


Don, was that your machine on display at the show?...

Yup, that was mine. They also sold the shaper, the 16" J/P, and one of the sliders.


So, what exactly *is* the gloat...the new machine? The Ram 3500 Dually? or the bed crane? :)

John, I've had the dually since 2000, the bed crane for about 5 years, and the shop crane about a year. Only thing new in that pic is the Hammer!

Be well,

Doc

[Lee Hingle]

Don,
What is the weight limit on that "gloat unloader"? I am thinking of picking one up at harbor freight in time for the delivery next week of my gloat - a 1970 12" Oliver jointer (1785#) that I picked up on ebay for $587. :)
Lee

[Don Abele]

Don, What is the weight limit on that "gloat unloader"?...

Lee, if you look at the orange lifting arm, you will see 4 holes. If you use the furtherest one back, it has a capacity of 2000#, the next hole is 1500#, then 1000#, then 500# for the one I am using.

With my bed crane it's 500# at it's furthest hole and 1000# at the closest - yet both of these arm assemblies are identical - go figure.

I will tell you that I have lifted over 1000# with the far hole on both of them with no problem.

With that said, if you are going to routinely lift heavy stuff, Harbor Freight also sells the same type of "shop" crane but with a 4000# capacity. It's lift range is 4000/3000/2000/1000.

The model I have folds up for storage which is really nice because this beast is huge and heavy (over 200#).

Also, you'll really need to get the right accessories for it as well. I have a whole collection of lifting slings which range from 6' long up to 12' (buy them in pairs) and the red thing is a load leveler which lets you adjust the load side to side to balance it. The leveler is a nice to have, the slings are not.

Be well,

Doc

[Lee Hingle]

Thanks Don! I'll be checking these out at Harbor Freight first chance I get.

Lee

[Karl Brogger]

If you tell me your dually is a Cummins I'll be REAL jealous. I had my eye on an 04' in Omaha, but I couldn't justify the $35k price tag. I'll have to stick with the 2500 HO for now.:(

[Ed Gerken]

Nice score! I wish I had the room to house such a tool, let alone the quandry of unloading it using other fun tools!

Since your trucks' too tall loaded, I assume you might hit this limit often. Might be a pain to deflate/inflate dualies, especially with a small compressor. Instead, make a portable ramp for the cherry picker. Or stack some boards or pallets on the ground to use the bed hoist to lower onto that, then the cherry picker to take it from there.

In my 12 years at a paleontology museum operating for most of those years on a shoestring, we ran into similar problems with moving dinosaurs around. You learn to improvise!

-Ed

[Don Abele]

If you tell me your dually is a Cummins I'll be REAL jealous...(

GUILTY!!! :D

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=87797&stc=1&d=1209956500

Of course, you shouldn't be jealous. It has a 42 gallon tank and I filled it the other day before going to pick up the Hammer...I was on 1/4 tank and it cost just over $150 to fill the tank :eek: I used 3/4 of a tank going down there and back (so it essentially cost me $150 to pick it up).



Since your trucks' too tall loaded, I assume you might hit this limit often. Might be a pain to deflate/inflate dualies, especially with a small compressor. Instead, make a portable ramp for the cherry picker. Or stack some boards or pallets on the ground to use the bed hoist to lower onto that, then the cherry picker to take it from there...

Ed, on the couple of occasions where the shop crane couldn't get it out of the bed, I hoisted with the bed crane and lowered it to about 6" off the ground and attached the shop crane. Take the load up on the shop crane and remove the bed crane. It's a smooth hand-off.

I would never think of deflating my duallies - that's A LOT of work, even with my 60 gallon / 3HP IR compressor. This is why I have the combination of the bed crane and the shop/floor crane. And if they won't work, I go to the 7x24 utility trailer.

Be well,

Doc

[Brent Dowell]

Those Cherry pickers really come in handy for more than pulling engines.

I've used mine for loading/unloading a 900# gun safe and other things that are just to big to move by muscle alone

[Ed Gerken]

Good that you have a procedure that works, Doc. A mid-air handoff might make me kinda nervous, I'd prefer just one machine handling the load at a time, but it must be you have the kinks ironed out. Still, while using a pallet or two might be less handy, it's probably a bit safer.

I'd like to mount one of those minicranes to a garden tractor!
-Ed

[Karl Brogger]

Of course, you shouldn't be jealous. It has a 42 gallon tank and I filled it the other day before going to pick up the Hammer...I was on 1/4 tank and it cost just over $150 to fill the tank :eek: I used 3/4 of a tank going down there and back (so it essentially cost me $150 to pick it up).

Yeah, but with a bigger tank you can probably put over 700 miles away before having to fill it. I've got an 01' 6spd Cummins but its a short box. I'll never own a full sized short box pickup again, and I figure I might as well get a dually if I'm going to get something bigger anyway. Diesel is just artificially inflated right now. I've been told that the new ULSD takes more refineing that the LSD did, but regardless its still easier to produce than gasoline. Just the energy criminals having their fun with us.

[Don Abele]

Yeah, but with a bigger tank you can probably put over 700 miles away before having to fill it. I've got an 01' 6spd Cummins but its a short box. I'll never own a full sized short box pickup again, and I figure I might as well get a dually if I'm going to get something bigger anyway. Diesel is just artificially inflated right now. I've been told that the new ULSD takes more refineing that the LSD did, but regardless its still easier to produce than gasoline. Just the energy criminals having their fun with us.

If I'm doing all highway driving I average about 18 mpg - so that's 756 miles on a tank. City driving brings it down to 13 mpg - that hurts!

That's why I own a "commuter" car that gets 35 mpg that I drive my 68 miles EACH WAY to work every day!

I've heard many rumors about why diesel is so expensive (like it competing with home heating oil production), but none explains why I am spending almost $5.00 a gallon and eight years ago when I bought the truck in Maine diesel was under a dollar!!!

[Lee Hingle]

Don,
Can't thank you enough for steering me towards the Harbor Freight shop crane. Unloaded my machine without a hitch!
Lee