Unloading pickup with help from my tractor

[prosperity]

I thought I would pick the brain of you good folks about something I need help with.

For a quick summary, in the spring and summer I haul my own firewood and usually some #2 stone for some driveway repairs. In the last 2 years I've found myself with a nasty case of RA and just simply can't run a shovel or any hand tools anymore. Also it just kills me to load/unload firewood by hand. Last year I paid to have my firewood and some gravel delivered, but the cost is just crazy since I live ~30 miles from any of the vendors. I would like to figure out a way to do this myself as I have always depended upon myself for everything with taking care of our little homestead.

And I know it is kind of ridiculous, but I only have a 5'5" bed on my pickup - more of a grocery hauler I know, but have to use what I have.....right?

The idea of the Welcome to Loadhandler.com seems like it might work, but I just don't like how it attaches to the tailgate and puts the stress on it. Also I have a full bed liner that is not the slippery plastic type, and don't see how the tarp deal of the loadhander would slide on it. I've read some reviews and looked at a couple videos and just not sure about it. Any positive thoughts about this?

So I get to thinking with that theory in mind, of something that I could lay in the bed of the truck and be able to pull it off with my tractor. I have a JD 2520 with 48" bucket to pull something off with. My initial thought was maybe one of those heavy rubber floor mats that I see at Tractor Supply for livestock - take a couple 2x4's and bolt on to one end with a chain attached to that to pull it off with my loader. I guess a heavy tarp might work the same and be cheaper, but I've never seen a good heavy tarp for sale anywhere.

Like I said - just throwing this out there to see if someone might have a different idea for unloading my pickup.

 

[Clint S]

Can you bucket lift one of these bags.
Bulk Bags (FIBC's) | Dino Bags

 

[sweettractors]

I saw a guy unload a load of wood from a pickup by hooking his tractor front loader and tow straps into his truck front tow hooks and raising up. The bed emptied very quickly and efficiently. Ken Sweet

 

[newbury]

I agree, look for some of the bulk bags. Thats what they are designed for. I've got several from a construction project, one carried stone for concrete.

You might be able to buy the stone in one of them even.

Then fix up a hoist to unload.

 

[prosperity]

Great idea with the bags - going to look into this.

Thanks!

 

[Ken45101]

Minimum order quantity on those bags is 200 :: I doubt that they are cheap. It also appears to be a two man operation to get the lifting loops over the forks.

 

[bandaidmd]

A set of pallet forks and a few pallets are a huge labor saver, depending upon how much lift capacity you have you could build some sides on a pallet and carry the stone in it.

Another way would be a sheet of 3/4" or double up 2 -1/2" pieces of plywood under the load as a slipsheet. Screw and glue some reinforcement strips on the end where you put the holes to run a strap or chain thru

 

[chim]

I was thinking this over after reading the post last night. How about a wide piece of used conveyor belt almost twice the length of the bed?

Lay the belt in the bed with one end against the tailgate and the other end sticking up at the front of the bed. Make a couple holes in this end to pass chains through.

Fill the bed

Flop the belt back over the load

Whe you want to unload, drop the tailgate, hook chains to the end of the belt that is draped back over the load and pull it slowly with the tractor so the belt rolls the load (rather than slides it) toward the back of the bed.

It may work or it may leave too much material spilling off the sides of the belt and leave you with too much hand work.

 

[Relic]

why not a tandem axle dump trailer?they come in all sizes.just a thought.

 

[newbury]

Minimum order quantity on those bags is 200 :: I doubt that they are cheap. It also appears to be a two man operation to get the lifting loops over the forks.

He might be able to buy a load of stone IN the bag.
I've three bags, 2 came with sand and 1 with gravel. The contractor "gave" them to me but said they had a $10 deposit fee at the yard.

 

[Danny C]

I was thinking this over after reading the post last night. How about a wide piece of used conveyor belt almost twice the length of the bed?

Lay the belt in the bed with one end against the tailgate and the other end sticking up at the front of the bed. Make a couple holes in this end to pass chains through.

Fill the bed

Flop the belt back over the load

Whe you want to unload, drop the tailgate, hook chains to the end of the belt that is draped back over the load and pull it slowly with the tractor so the belt rolls the load (rather than slides it) toward the back of the bed.

It may work or it may leave too much material spilling off the sides of the belt and leave you with too much hand work.

Not to mention damage from material spilling over the side and scratching the paint or top rail.

 

[prosperity]

A set of pallet forks and a few pallets are a huge labor saver, depending upon how much lift capacity you have you could build some sides on a pallet and carry the stone in it.

Another way would be a sheet of 3/4" or double up 2 -1/2" pieces of plywood under the load as a slipsheet. Screw and glue some reinforcement strips on the end where you put the holes to run a strap or chain thru

The plywood idea is a good alternative. I like that idea better than my floor mat idea.

why not a tandem axle dump trailer?they come in all sizes.just a thought.

I thought of that the other day. There is a rental place near where I would get my firewood and stone. I'll have to stop and find out the rate. The only problem with that is an extra 60 mile round trip to return it when done (@18 mpg).

The places around here that deliver want $2.50 per mile round trip - and that is for a single axle load or a tri-axle. Trying to avoid paying that. Also my driveway isn't clear enough for 5 months a year for an empty dump truck to be able to make it back out.

 

[DJ54]

A rather pricey option would be one of those dump bed inserts. I've seen 6 or so in my area in the last few years. A person could always check Craigslist for used one's, if not wanting to pay full price.

Personally, I've got a 1 ton dump, and wouldn't trade it for anything..!!

 

[Dutch445]

i like the conveyor belt idea, but , not sure about rolling the material over itself.
a clean sheet of plywood over your bedliner, then just pull out the belting and load
similar to the crank style, except use your tractor to pull it out!

not sure about a dump box insert, what truck do you have with only 5.5' bed? what do
you usually carry weightwise for a load?

i was thinking of picking up a small dump trailer myself. even a 4x8 would be better capacity than you
have in your box, and easy to dump, or just unhook for later use.

another option, remove your box completely, and build a custom bed, and integrate a "loadhauler"
type of system in it, like a live bottom truck!

 

[Danny C]

HAve you considered a dump trailer? They're great, but a bit expensive. Personally, I think they're worth every penny! NAd you can use it with your tractor too!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would bet that those of you suggesting putting plywood on and pulling it out have never tried it. Wood does not slip easily on steel or other material which is one of the reasons folks put it down on trailers when loading a steel track vehicle. I did that one time with a fuel tank (full) thinking it would slide out of my truck easier. I had to end up putting a strap around it and using a come-along to pull it out of the truck, it just wouldn't slip.
Also yesterday, I had a 6 foot tiller on a wood pallet loaded into my truck and it needed to be pushed in a couple of inches to get it off my tailgate. When the forklift started pushing, I thought it was going to slide my truck tires before it moved, it took that much force to skid it in a few inches.

I did have good luck unloading a bunch of sugar cane crushing's once using chains and 2x4 lumber laid on top of the chains prior to piling on the cane fibers. When ready to unload, I just put some straps on the chain and pulled the chain back over the top and it took almost all of the cane stalks off the trailer. One thing I forgot to do was anchor the back end of the chain so when it got to the last few feet, the chain started slipping under the cane stalks and just pulled out rather than roll off the last bit. I was able to use the FEL to scrape that off.
Another issue with bags of rock, you had better have a heck of a lift capacity if you want to lift or even slide it out of your truck. One of those super sacks full of crushed corn weighs about 1500 # and with rock, you could overload your pickup quickly and not be able to get it out of the truck. I would hate to have to hand unload rock from a sack.
I think a good idea would be to use some pallets to stack your material on, but prior to using them, attach some thick PVC strips to the skids underneath. This would make them slide out easily.

 

[Katahdin]

Minimum order quantity on those bags is 200 :: I doubt that they are cheap. It also appears to be a two man operation to get the lifting loops over the forks.

I purchased 8 of those bags from here. Shipping was quick.

Dino Bags Firewood Bags

 

[corl]

I would second the idea of a dump trailer. I have a single axle trailer rated at 5000lb gross. It is easy to load with a FEL and the sides are not to high. Can carry 2 cubic yards of anything and you can (I have) put side on it to carry more light stuff. It is far easier than using the truck and having the problem of cleaning it all the time. You dump stuff in and it dumps stuff out. I used it for years as a grain wagon as well. I almost never use the truck bed for dirty jobs, just use the dump trailer. Mine it a BriMar and I love it. Don't know how I lived without it for so long.

DT508LP-5 - Bri-Mar

 

[kevin37b]

Love your posts Fowler .

 

[timster2]

If you make a plywood box the size of your bed and the height that you need place a few pieces of plastic pipe 1" or so under the box and roll the box out of the bed. Put some stop straps at the end of the roll out to stop the box from coming all the way out and you have the equivalent of a small dump trailer. If you are worried about the bed or tailgate use a couple of 2x4 to make a track to run the pipes on that extends to the end of the tailgate.

I have a full size GMC van and use this method to haul plywood and lumber. I have two saw horses that are the height of the van floor and can slide the load out right on to the sawhorses saves a lot of lifting. When I go to HD I get one of the flat carts that are about 20" high or so load it up and slide the load into the van on some pipes works great only have to handle the load once.