Custom-Built Man Lift Trailer

Custom-Built Man Lift Trailer TRACTORS Made-It-Myself Cole Hardman custom-built his own man lift using parts from a surplus military trailer a lift from a junkyard bucket truck and lots of steel from his scrap pile The result is a versatile man lift he is confident will fit multiple needs “I needed it for building a farm shop ” says Hardman “I’m also a beekeeper and figure it will be handy for swarm removal ” The military trailer cost him $450 at a military surplus auction Equipped with air brakes it had carried a big generator and was built to be pulled behind a 5-ton truck “I stripped the air brakes off as it would be towed behind a 1-ton truck without air brakes ” says Hardman “It also had a mechanical parking brake that I set when using the man lift ” The bucket truck was scheduled to be scrapped However the lift with its 37 ft working height was still in good shape and equipped with auxiliary hydraulics Hardman spent about $1 000 on it The only repair needed was to rewire the boom unit “I used a piece of 1-in steel from a bridge that was being torn down to fabricate a mounting plate ” says Hardman “With it bolted to the trailer bed I set the lift in place ” Hardman came up with simple and easy-to-set outriggers He welded 2 1/2-sq in receiver hitches on all four corners The outriggers are 8 000-lb trailer jacks mounted to 2-in sq tubing “I just slide the outriggers into the receiver hitches and adjust their heights ” says Hardman “I have less than $3 000 in the whole thing About half of that is the steel tubing and trailer jacks ” The hydraulic pump on the lift was powered by a pto while on the truck Hardman plans to replace the pto drive with a small engine to power the pump In the meantime he’s using the lift’s backup 12-volt pump “It runs great ” he says “I have two deep cycle batteries mounted on the trailer plus a plug with 2-gauge wire so it can run off the truck’s electrical system as well ” says Hardman “The lift is rated for 350 lbs with the boom extended or 500 if not extended I plan to use it to set trusses in place ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Cole Hardman 236 Freeman Rd Irwin Penn 15642 ph 724-309-0994 colehardman@comcast net

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