Dovetail truck bed for hauling skid steer?

[Dnewell]

I’m looking for some advice or real world experience as it seems not many people do it so I’m assuming I’m missing something. I’ve been wanting to build a dovetail truck bed with ramps to haul my loader around. It seems to me that it would be extremely handy and I have an old international truck that I love that doesn’t pull a trailer real well and I think would be the perfect fit. My main work is going back and cleaning up water line repairs and new installs along with maintaining the water line easements. So I rarely need extra attachments that wouldn’t fit, and for those few times I have trailers and a pickup or dump truck to pull the trailer with, I really like this old international and would love to keep her around. A 14’ bed with 6-7’ dove will fit perfectly also would have 5-6’ ramps. The first pic is the truck, the service bed came with the truck, and really serves me little purpose. The following pics are examples of what I’m thinking.

 

[mowingman]

That is a quite common way of hauling skid steers down in Texas where we used to live. In fact, my son-in-law has three old IH trucks fitted with dovetail beds, that he uses to move his skid steers/CTL's. They all have small DT466 engines as I recall. I had one years ago rigged that way. It only had the little dT444 engine, but I only hauled on flat land. A very easy way to haul without worrying about dragging around a trailer. If your bed is long enough, you can even stack an extra bucket or small attachment up in front of the loader.

 

[CM1995]

Foundation companies here use that set up for their waterproofing crews. Tar tank on front and skid on back for gravel around the perimeter. Running used box trucks with flat beds under 26k GVW.

 

[Dnewell]

It sure does seem like an easy way to me to haul my loader around, just don’t ever see it done around here. I know it pretty much ties the truck to one thing but in this instance it’d give me a long flatbed that I don’t have and get to keep this old gem. Plus like I said when I hook a trailer on it with the loader it makes it a dog. I feel like with the loader on its back it’ll do much better with the added bonus of getting in and out of tight places.

 

[Keith Merrell]

Check this out https://phoenix.craigslist.org/cph/hvo/d/tucson-1986-freightliner-backhoe/7596290740.html

 

[Dnewell]

Yes that is pretty close to what I’m thinking, just worried I’ll be wasting my time and money if I’m incorrect on how handy it’ll be!

 

[MG84]

A rig like this is something I’ve been thinking about as well, either single axle or tandem. But then I keep thinking, why even have the dovetail at all, just use a regular flat bed and aluminum ramps.

They make nice aluminum ramps that come in 10-20k load rating, 10’ long which in my simple mind is the same as a 5’ dovetail + 5’ ramp on a truck or trailer. Maybe there’s something I’m missing about this equation but I might give it a try.

 

[willie59]

Yes that is pretty close to what I’m thinking, just worried I’ll be wasting my time and money if I’m incorrect on how handy it’ll be!

Only you can answer that. Seems you have one of two choices, 1) haul skiddy on a trailer with whatever truck, which a trailer has it's own expenses of maintenance and the hassle of dealing with a trailer, or 2) a designated skiddy truck. Yes, truck will have maintenance costs as well, likely way more than a trailer, along with yearly tag renewal and truck insurance, and that the truck will pretty much only be useful for hauling the skiddy, not to mention that now you're employing two trucks to do a job, the skiddy truck and the job supply support truck which requires two drivers, but if those points aren't an issue with you, then heck yeah a skiddy haul truck would be handy.

 

[1693TA]

Friend of mine is a landscaper and dabbles in flat concrete work and does this. Has a dump trailer he hauls mulch, topsoil, fill sand, or concrete tearout in and the skid steer on a truck having a 14' contractors dump body with removable ramps. These ramps slide into pockets at the rear of the bed so no real carrying them. The skid steer at times is carried in the dump trailer also depending on needs.

 

[Joel59]

I've been giving this serious consideration as well. I have (2) international 4700 single axle dumps, a 6500lb. skid steer, and a 5 ton excavator. I really hate to open the whole CDL can of worms, but if my thinking is correct this could provide a good way to move my equipment on my own without the CDL as it would be underweight requirements.

 

[1693TA]

CDL is not bad once you attain it. Get a Class A if you do and be done. Only thing different is the medical exam certification every two years to keep current and certainly don't want to get a DUI.

 

[Joel59]

Now its the month long course and cost though!

 

[Dnewell]

A rig like this is something I’ve been thinking about as well, either single axle or tandem. But then I keep thinking, why even have the dovetail at all, just use a regular flat bed and aluminum ramps.

They make nice aluminum ramps that come in 10-20k load rating, 10’ long which in my simple mind is the same as a 5’ dovetail + 5’ ramp on a truck or trailer. Maybe there’s something I’m missing about this equation but I might give it a try.

I’ve looked into that a little but you’d need at least 12’ ramps to make it feasible. And just take a 12’ board to the back of one of those trucks, to me it doesn’t look too fun to load and unload, also I believe there would be the problem of not supporting the back end of the truck which could easily pick up the front end when loading/unloading. Just my thinking though could be totally wrong!

 

[Dnewell]

Only you can answer that. Seems you have one of two choices, 1) haul skiddy on a trailer with whatever truck, which a trailer has it's own expenses of maintenance and the hassle of dealing with a trailer, or 2) a designated skiddy truck. Yes, truck will have maintenance costs as well, likely way more than a trailer, along with yearly tag renewal and truck insurance, and that the truck will pretty much only be useful for hauling the skiddy, not to mention that now you're employing two trucks to do a job, the skiddy truck and the job supply support truck which requires two drivers, but if those points aren't an issue with you, then heck yeah a skiddy haul truck would be handy.

The insurance and tagging I’m not too worried about because I really don’t want to sell the truck, and it’s around $250 a year. I guess I’m sentimental on the ole gal. Now maintaining the truck you are dead on, it will and does cost way more than a trailer. I just like the thought and seemingly ease of transport from job to job as some days I hit 5 or 6 different spots. I just really wanted to be sure there wasn’t something I was missing where it’s not a good set up, minding I do a long enough dove and ramps so it’s not too steep!

 

[MG84]

I’ve looked into that a little but you’d need at least 12’ ramps to make it feasible. And just take a 12’ board to the back of one of those trucks, to me it doesn’t look too fun to load and unload, also I believe there would be the problem of not supporting the back end of the truck which could easily pick up the front end when loading/unloading. Just my thinking though could be totally wrong!

Longer ramps would be better, but there is usually a ditch or bank you could use to make the angle less steep. Used to be common practice around here hauling dozers on the back of a flatbed, just back up to a bank or pile of dirt and drive it right on. Fwiw, both of my single axle dumps and single axle grain truck have the bed pivot right at the end of the body/frame, and very little stick out behind the rear axle, almost no chance of lifting the front end off the ground when loading. Another thing that has crossed my mind is using ramps to bridge the gap between the deck of my pintle hitch trailer and the dump truck. Load the skid steer in the bed, then load other equipment on the trailer.

All that being said, I do like the idea of a dedicated equipment hauling truck, especially in areas where access is often tight. What about finding a used roll-back bed? It may cost more but would have a lot more versatility.

 

[Dnewell]

Longer ramps would be better, but there is usually a ditch or bank you could use to make the angle less steep. Used to be common practice around here hauling dozers on the back of a flatbed, just back up to a bank or pile of dirt and drive it right on. Fwiw, both of my single axle dumps and single axle grain truck have the bed pivot right at the end of the body/frame, and very little stick out behind the rear axle, almost no chance of lifting the front end off the ground when loading. Another thing that has crossed my mind is using ramps to bridge the gap between the deck of my pintle hitch trailer and the dump truck. Load the skid steer in the bed, then load other equipment on the trailer.

All that being said, I do like the idea of a dedicated equipment hauling truck, especially in areas where access is often tight. What about finding a used roll-back bed? It may cost more but would have a lot more versatility.

I actually had an old rollback for a brief time. I wasn’t too fond of it, it was slow to load and unload and just felt unsafe, if for some odd reason the parking brake failed while it’s sitting on the deck when I get out to roll it back up. It just didn’t sit well with me, and also if it was just a little damp it was very unsafe without hooking up the winch which made it even slower. I did like not having the trailer though, so maybe you just helped me answer my own question making me think about it differently. The ramp bed would take care of both of the problems I had with the rollback.

 

[1693TA]

The landscaper buddy I mentioned has a wireless remote control for his hoist(s) and drives the tractor up into the bed and lowers the hoist so everything is flat when he exits the tractor.

 

[Dnewell]

The landscaper buddy I mentioned has a wireless remote control for his hoist(s) and drives the tractor up into the bed and lowers the hoist so everything is flat when he exits the tractor.

Now I wish that would have crossed my mind back then, I’m sure I could have retro fitted something like that to it, that would have been alot better

 

[crane operator]

The equipment rental places by me have gone to tandem axle rollback trucks for all their smaller equipment deliveries. So much easier to get around with than the full size ramp tail trailers.

They still use the trailers for the bigger forklifts and manlifts, but anything they can get on the rollbacks get delivered that way.

 

[Dnewell]

The price on the truck is $30,000. NO REASONABLE OFFER WILL BE REFUSED!!!

I appreciate the offer but it’s looking like I’ll be into mine for around 3k!