Loading Mini-Ex onto truck

[Squizzy246B]

OK..I have only been promising these pics to Jeff for ages (well since I told he we just jumped the mini into the truck anyway). So here it is...pic's courtesy of my 6 year old daughter. The power lines are well clear (I know I know .

I hope I'm not taking up too much space but I thought I'd show the whole sequence as there has been a lot of discussion recently on this. We use the same procedure for any sized Ex that will fit in a dump truck. The jury is still out on the "blade first" bit. I like it that way cause it sits firm against the headboard and keeps out of the way...but its also good to have "down" the ramp when you are unloading.

Any comments are most welcome...constructive or otherwise...I can take it

 

[Squizzy246B]

Here is the next set.

 

[Squizzy246B]

This is the break over point where we lower the bucket into the bed and ease the machine over the change in plane. The Yanmar is real easy for this but the Kubota (161) always wants to bang down hard.

 

[Squizzy246B]

And here's the last couple:

 

[nobull1]

I load my mini the same way on my trailer except the blade out the back. The reason for the blade out the back is so when I curl the arm in and drop the boom, the bucket goes up tight against the blade. When I chain I crisscross over the bucket and it gives no potential movement. Great pic's by the way:thumbsup

 

[Wulf]

Squizzy... kind of off-topic but I was wondering whether you wear your seat belt when you load and unload your mini and operate your machinery.

 

[Squizzy246B]

Squizzy... kind of off-topic but I was wondering whether you wear your seat belt when you load and unload your mini and operate your machinery.

Wulf, always when loading and unloading and then anytime we are on a steep site, working around a large hole etc. I don't normally wear a seatbelt when we are just laying blocks.

 

[Wulf]

Wulf, always when loading and unloading and then anytime we are on a steep site, working around a large hole etc. I don't normally wear a seatbelt when we are just laying blocks.

That's a good habit and hope everyone reading these posts does the same. It's tough to buckle up each time when you are hopping up and down in and out of the seat, but risk awareness is important.

 

[jhill]

I have a Kubota KX -41. I can't load mine with the blade backward and the boom forward. I tried that once and it rocked back on the blade. Fortunately my neighbor was there with his tractor and he pushed against the ROPS with his loader so I could get on.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

Where is your safety chains for the ramps :nono

I know the workers compensation board of B.C. gave the local rental shop supreme doo doo about walking a mini up ramps without the ramps being chained to the truck. Even thou the ramps hooked into the back of the deck the ramps were still able to spit out and one did when one of the guys walking the machine up onto the 2 ton I wasn't there but the guy running the mini left some stuff in his underwear :bouncegri

Do you pin the front of your dump box down to keep it from lifting up when the weight starts on the end of the deck ?

The Yanmar looks good nice and shiny :thumbsup

 

[nobull1]

I use my boom, arm and bucket as an adjustable counter weight. As I am going up the ramp I just extend or retract the arm and makes it a smooth trip. It takes a little practise, but after quite a few trips up and down you get to know your machine. This is what works for me, but all machines are different.

 

[nobull1]

Where is your safety chains for the ramps :nono

I know the workers compensation board of B.C. gave the local rental shop supreme doo doo about walking a mini up ramps without the ramps being chained to the truck. Even thou the ramps hooked into the back of the deck the ramps were still able to spit out and one did when one of the guys walking the machine up onto the 2 ton

I had that happen to me a few years ago. I was unloading my cub tractor from the back of my one ton with the ramps hooked into the tailgate. As I was backing off both ramps spun out, there I was sitting on the tractor with the back wheels on the ground and the front wheels on the truck. If had gone back a couple more inches I would have had the cub on top of me. It happened so fast I didn't know what had happened.

P.s. 1954 cubs don't have ROPS

 

[Squizzy246B]

For Ex's 3.5 tonnes and less we use one pin per ramp. For Ex's 4 tonnes and over we use two pins per ramp...... for Excavators between 3.5 and 4 tonnes ...well ....we don't have one

Anyway, the back of the dump bed is channel or RHS. The pin is drilled right through from top to bottom and a 11/16 lynch pin is shot through the ends of the pins so they wont come out. No regs for chains.

The excavator is not lashed in the dump bed. From what I have gathered on this forum; It would appear we have similar binding guidelines for equipment on flat decks to what most of you guys talk about. I have not been able to find anything specific in our regs about machines inside the dump body. You could safely assume that the same guidlines would apply (I expect) but over 40 to 50 operators in my area I know of none that secure a skid or a mini inside the dump bed. I don't know wether this is a grey area....there is some other regs or whatever but I have been pulled over by the heavies with the skid in the back of the 9 tonner and nothing has ever been said. A trip down the freeway in the morning will pass at least a dozen skids in six wheelers with not one of them chained.

That all said and having been operating that way for years I'm thinking of fitting two D rings in the dump body and putting two binders X to the back of the machine with the blade against the head board. Ultimatley the regs and the actual legislation state that it is the drivers responsibility to ensure a load is properly secured.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

You should have some chains holding the excavator in the box one way of doing it is load the machine into the truck so the blade faces to the tailgate.

You back the machine up till the tracks touch the headache rack then you lift the blade up as high as it will go take some chains from the headache rack to the lifting lugs on the top of the blade. Get the chains snug and even on both sides then drop the blade till the chains get tight it will pull the machine in tight. We do it that way when we were hauling the 161 Kubota in a rolloff box. The machine never really went anywhere even with the box tilted up in the air dropping or winching up the box with the machine.

The easiest thing to install on a flatdeck for tying stuff down is belts they don't do damage to stuff like chains they are easier than chains. You weld the belt winches to the deck and hooks on the driverside or your case passenger side and the winches are on your driverside.

The fine for us for hauling a load that isn't lashed down is 598 dollars you don't want too many of those. The worst part is if they catch you they give you a fine but your stuck on the side of the road and you have to call somebody to bring you some chains to strap the load down. Or they will police escort you to your destination at your cost.

 

[Jeff D.]

OK..I have only been promising these pics to Jeff for ages...

Thanks for providing the pics Squizzy.:thumbsup

 

[OzDozer]

Ya know .. I reckon that bloke loading the excavator is so ugly .. they should've fined his Mother for unloading him ..

 

[Squizzy246B]

Ya know .. I reckon that bloke loading the excavator is so ugly .. they should've fined his Mother for unloading him ..

This is why I always stay in the truck when I go to the rubbish tip

and Ford...the method you describe for securing to the dump (sounds to me) like about the worst way you could possibly do it. If you have to put the blade down to tighten the chains then you are applying up force and reducing your coefficient of friction. It would neither reduce lateral nor tipping moments. I would advise people to think long and hard before using that method.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

Like I said its the way we were moving the 161 Kubota and the same contractor has been doing it this way for 10 years. The machine and box is almost at 45 degrees for part of the way up the rails then you drop the rails lower then pull the box on. Oh ya the 161 Kubota has steel tracks its never slid around ever even when its wet and raining. With the bucket and boom pushing on the floor of the rolloff box the machine isn't going to roll forward.

Hey I'am not going to doubt a contractor that has been in the excavating and logging business for 30 years. What ever he showed me worked.

 

[Countryboy]

Like I said its the way we were moving the 161 Kubota and the same contractor has been doing it this way for 10 years. The machine and box is almost at 45 degrees for part of the way up the rails then you drop the rails lower then pull the box on. Oh ya the 161 Kubota has steel tracks its never slid around ever even when its wet and raining. With the bucket and boom pushing on the floor of the rolloff box the machine isn't going to roll forward.

Hey I'am not going to doubt a contractor that has been in the excavating and logging business for 30 years. What ever he showed me worked.

The chains are just keeping the hoe from sliding down the incline to the other end of the box. With that set up they are not holding it down, in fact like Squizzy said, they are placing and upwards force on it. If you were to hit something at a decent rate of speed, theoretically the machine could flip over the cab of the truck. The purpose of securing a piece of equipment is to halt movement on any plane of motion. Just because it has been done for 10 years doesn't mean it has been done right for 10 years.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

With fladecks when we hauled minis on the F-550 or tandem axle crane truck we used to use 2 belts over the tracks one over the front and one over the back . We also put a belt over the boom to keep the house from swinging side to side. The 4 inch wide straps

www.kinedyne.com/flatbed/flatbed-detail.asp?FamilyName=4Inch&Cat=WinchStraps

Then you weld on these winches

www.kinedyne.com/flatbed/flatbed-detail.asp?FamilyName=WeldOnWebbing&Cat=Winches

I use these type all the time too

www.kinedyne.com/flatbed/flatbed-detail.asp?FamilyName=4LongHandle&Cat=RatchetStraps