Son's 4-H Project A Great Addition To Farm
When Jeff Lee dumps a truckload of grain, he can thank the 4-H contest that inspired his son Ray when he was 16 years old. Ray converted a conventional bed 1982 GMC 3500 to a lift bed that’s also equipped with hydraulics and a winch. With son Ray now working at Iowa State, Lee keeps the truck busy hauling hay, grain and scrap metal.
Ray started by stripping off the old bed and building a subframe for the hoist and a new shorter 10-ft. bed. The short bed left room for an 18-in. sub bed behind the cab to mount hydraulic reservoir tanks, a spare tire and exhaust stacks. There’s also enough room to fit a return line filter system from an old backhoe.
For hydraulic power, Ray added a trans-mounted pto with a direct mount 20 gpm, 2,500 psi, Parker closed-center, pto driven, variable displacement hydraulic pump from an old utility line truck. His dad says the closed-center system ensures there’s no lag in the lift as with an open center, where the lifted bed will drop slightly when the pump activates. The closed center system comes to pressure and starts moving with no hesitation or drop.
Lee says his son also had to do some cutting and rearranging on the original truck frame to make room for the old wagon hoist he installed. Mounting the hoist was complicated by a gooseneck hitch with a flip-over ball. It sticks up through a removable plate in the bed when needed.
“He had to install the hoist backwards to clear the gooseneck hitch bolster,” says Lee. “Getting it right was probably the toughest part of the whole project. There isn’t any unused space.”
The closed center system uses solenoid-operated, hydraulic valves. Lee’s son installed three separate hydraulic circuits. One runs to the hoist and one to the rear of the frame for auxiliary uses. The third runs to the gooseneck hole in case they want to use a hydraulic gooseneck dump trailer at some point.
“With three valves, it would be messy controlling them all with cables,” says Lee. “Ray used regular industrial solenoid valves that he bought off eBay.”
To control the hydraulics, Ray installed a mechanically linked 8-ball shifter in the cab for the pto. To operate the hoist, his dad simply hits a solenoid switch installed in a panel on the dash, along with switches for the other two circuits. He can also use a remote cable for them.
“We keep a 30-ft. cable with a pendant control in a toolbox on the side of the truck,” says Lee. “We have a 6,000-lb. Ramsey winch on a flatbed trailer. The cable and pendant control plugs in behind the cab and gives me lots of options when loading the trailer.”
While nearly all components were salvaged from other equipment, Lee says his son built the actual lift bed using half new and half salvaged steel. One chunk of 1/2-in. thick, 10-in. I-beam ended up as a rear bumper on the truck. On the front end, he mounted a pusher rack made from heavy pipe with a 2-in. receiver hitch at its bottom.
Other improvements to the truck included a total rebuild of the 4-barrel, 350 cu. in., 4 bolt-mains motor with 4-speed Muncie manual transmission. Ray installed a brake controller cut-out switch for backing up. He also installed numerous field lights, repaired body damage on the old truck, reupholstered the seat, and had the truck repainted.
“When Ray took it to the fair, the judge didn’t believe he could have done all the work, but he did,” says Lee. “He got a special honor prize.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jeffrey R. Lee, 5023 Monroe Rd., Tipton, Mich. 49287 (ph 517 431-2655; tiptonfood@aol.com)
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Son s 4-H Project A Great Addition To Farm PICKUPS Miscellaneous When Jeff Lee dumps a truckload of grain he can thank the 4-H contest that inspired his son Ray when he was 16 years old Ray converted a conventional bed 1982 GMC 3500 to a lift bed that’s also equipped with hydraulics and a winch With son Ray now working at Iowa State Lee keeps the truck busy hauling hay grain and scrap metal Ray started by stripping off the old bed and building a subframe for the hoist and a new shorter 10-ft bed The short bed left room for an 18-in sub bed behind the cab to mount hydraulic reservoir tanks a spare tire and exhaust stacks There’s also enough room to fit a return line filter system from an old backhoe For hydraulic power Ray added a trans-mounted pto with a direct mount 20 gpm 2 500 psi Parker closed-center pto driven variable displacement hydraulic pump from an old utility line truck His dad says the closed-center system ensures there’s no lag in the lift as with an open center where the lifted bed will drop slightly when the pump activates The closed center system comes to pressure and starts moving with no hesitation or drop Lee says his son also had to do some cutting and rearranging on the original truck frame to make room for the old wagon hoist he installed Mounting the hoist was complicated by a gooseneck hitch with a flip-over ball It sticks up through a removable plate in the bed when needed “He had to install the hoist backwards to clear the gooseneck hitch bolster ” says Lee “Getting it right was probably the toughest part of the whole project There isn’t any unused space ” The closed center system uses solenoid-operated hydraulic valves Lee’s son installed three separate hydraulic circuits One runs to the hoist and one to the rear of the frame for auxiliary uses The third runs to the gooseneck hole in case they want to use a hydraulic gooseneck dump trailer at some point “With three valves it would be messy controlling them all with cables ” says Lee “Ray used regular industrial solenoid valves that he bought off eBay ” To control the hydraulics Ray installed a mechanically linked 8-ball shifter in the cab for the pto To operate the hoist his dad simply hits a solenoid switch installed in a panel on the dash along with switches for the other two circuits He can also use a remote cable for them “We keep a 30-ft cable with a pendant control in a toolbox on the side of the truck ” says Lee “We have a 6 000-lb Ramsey winch on a flatbed trailer The cable and pendant control plugs in behind the cab and gives me lots of options when loading the trailer ” While nearly all components were salvaged from other equipment Lee says his son built the actual lift bed using half new and half salvaged steel One chunk of 1/2-in thick 10-in I-beam ended up as a rear bumper on the truck On the front end he mounted a pusher rack made from heavy pipe with a 2-in receiver hitch at its bottom Other improvements to the truck included a total rebuild of the 4-barrel 350 cu in 4 bolt-mains motor with 4-speed Muncie manual transmission Ray installed a brake controller cut-out switch for backing up He also installed numerous field lights repaired body damage on the old truck reupholstered the seat and had the truck repainted “When Ray took it to the fair the judge didn’t believe he could have done all the work but he did ” says Lee “He got a special honor prize ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jeffrey R Lee 5023 Monroe Rd Tipton Mich 49287 ph 517 431-2655; tiptonfood@aol com
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