Any Tacomas with a pickup bed crane?

I picked up a pickup bed crane. I want to modify it a lot but it would be neat to see how others have done it. I need it to pick up gasoline engines of all kinds, up to about 700 pounds.

Thanks!

 

You might be breaking new ground.

Been done on 1st gen, but couldn't find any threads for 2nd gen, probably because of the composite bed.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-on-this-forum.228610/

 

In a plastic bed? Yikes. I would mount it to a trailer hitch stinger.

 

I have a crane on mine.

 

I realize that's just a camera crane, but nevertheless that's awesome

 

Carbon Fiber. But, yah, crane would be a no go unless you did some serious steel plate reenforcing.

 

Nice!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/camera-crane-truck.626354/

 

Yikes indeed. I'm considering mounting it to the trailer hitch instead but storing it when it's not in use is where I'm having difficulty in figuring out if it did get mounted there.

 

Exactly. It could be done but just because it can be doesn't necessarily equate to it should be.

To copy someone else's qoute: I'm stupid, I'm crazy, I have access to alcohol, and I have access to a lot of tools that I don't know how to use. Lol

 

Thanks! I can make it happen but I only want to do it once. Off the hitch instead of in the bed seems a lot easier until I want to store it on the truck when it's not in use and in the bed instead of off of the hitch seems like it would be easier until I want to hang 700 pounds off of it. Lol.

 

The crane I picked up isn't going to work for me so I'm just starting to kick around ideas of what might work.

It's going in the passenger rear bed corner and not in/on the hitch. Its minimum reach from its base has to be 60"+.

Its boom has to fold horizontally so that it can be straight and so the end of the boom can be in the middle of the bed at any point of its reach. I'm tossing around the idea of garage built hinges/pivots and power window motors with their regulators to fold/unfold the boom (horizontally).

The boom has to be under the top of the bed whenever it's not in use but it has to be able to be extended above the bed so that it can be swung over the passenger bed side and/or the tailgate while being used.

I'm considering using hydraulic rams and electrically powered motors to spin hydraulic pumps using parts made for boats to raise/lower the boom (and possibly fold/unfold the boom idk).

It'd be nice to have everything on a wired remote control with momentary switches in that panel to control every movement of every moving part of the crane.

Super rough ideas without a whole lot of thought and absolutely no calculations have been done.



The addition of a crane is going to save me a ton of time, sweat, and frustration. Dragging a cherry picker through gravel is no fun especially if that picker has an engine on it. Climbing in and out of the Bobcat isn't much fun either and damn that thing drives slow.

 

That’s a very tall order especially with a plastic bed. Anything is possible when you use hydraulic rams, but you’re going to get into some serious money and plumbing. Pump, reservoir, valve body, hoses, and rams. It all needs to be speced to provide enough lift, while not being so massive that you overload the truck.

 

Don't know where you are going too mount that in a plastic bed.

 

On a steel platform with a large contact area on the plastic beds floor.

 

Okay good luck to you sir.

 

Have you considered either cutting the bed and mounting to the frame or maybe drill some larger holes and make some bracing that ties into the frame that the crane can mount to via the holes?

 

It's crossed my mind. I don't think it's necessary if the contact area on the beds floor is big enough. I've had the truck carry engines while they're on their oil pans, which isn't a lot of contact area on the beds floor, and the bed hasn't had any problems yet.

 

Interesting idea. How about building a stucture that attaches to the frame and goes through the bed floor. Think kind of like a LT bedcage/shock tower.

 

You're forgetting about the leverage that the crane is going to have with 700 pounds hanging from it. I think a heavy plate that uses at least the middle and back 4 bolts of the bed is your best bet. Good luck and keep us posted, anything is possible if you keep trying.

 

I concur with bhigbee, you should consider bolting a piece of steel to all of the bed bolts, and then weld gussets to the sheet of steel as needed for rigidity and support. That or a steel tube frame that connects to all bed bolts. Either way, that's a lot of extra weight, so something on the order of Deaver Stage 3 leaf springs are going to be required to support the weight. Or you could just get a F250, but even with a full size truck, you would still have some modding to do.