Lifting crane / block

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
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NZ
I have an interesting problem I'm thinking on. We live on the side of a lake, we have a boat park (basically an inlet into our lawn about as wide and long as our boat, with deck all around it). This inlet attracts weed and other washed in organic matter.

I currently clean it out using a stake driven into the lake bed outside the boat park, a dredge (actually an old metal lattice shelf with ropes on it), and some pulleys so I can use the tractor to pull the dredge outwards into the lake.

This works well enough, but leaves a pile out in the lake that eventually washes away.

My better half has been thinking about some way to lift the gunk out of the lake, then we could put it in the compost pile, and it wouldn't wash back in.

I'm in the market for a new tractor, and if I got a backhoe then I could attach some sort of mesh bucket to the backhoe with a rope, and then could lift that mesh bucket up with the backhoe, and dump it into a trailer to take to the compost. The backhoe would reach over the decking, where the FEL won't.

I'm considering fabricating something to achieve a similar effect without having to buy a $7K backhoe.

I've got a picture in my head of a metal boom on a pivot on top of a post. So I could pull the mesh bucket up using a pulley on the boom, then swing the boom around to dump into the trailer. The boom would need to reach over the deck (so about 2 metres / 6 feet to give some clearance). I can imagine a pulley system on the boom so I can pull the load up with the tractor, but counter weighting it so it doesn't fall over would be complex. Has anyone done something like that before?

Another option is that the new tractor (probably a B2601) will have SSQA. I could make a SSQA attachment that was like a bale spear, but longer, with appropriate bracing. That would allow my FEL to then extend far enough over the deck to be over the water, then again a pulley on the end of that, and use the curl plus lift on the FEL to lift the gunk out of the water, and then drive the tractor to the trailer (or all the way to the compost pile). I have a ballast box, and a B2601 will lift about 400kg at the pivot pins, I'd probably only lift about 100kg of gunk in a load anyway (maybe less) - so even on the end of a reasonably long spear probably still within the lift capacity. Certainly it would beat raking or shovelling it out by hand. Again, has anyone done something like this before? I could probably prototype with some chains and clamps on the bucket of my current BX to see if the concept can work.
 

greenacresnorth

Active member

Equipment
L2501,BH77
Feb 18, 2018
175
28
28
38
Morganton,NC
ive got a better concept for you, get a SSQC landscapers tree boom, build a small hydraulic clam shell bucket out of expanded metal and flat bar to keep weight down, use a 3rd function valve to run the clam and boom lift/bucket tilt to control lift hight and radius. you can make the clam pivot fixed in the rotation axis so you dont have to mess with a hydraulic swivel and would be easier to run.
 

PaulL

Well-known member

Equipment
B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
113
NZ
something alone these lines but lighter duty
Hmm. That could work, but I wasn't planning a 3rd function valve, again that adds cost (and I see there isn't currently a dedicated 3rd function available for the new B2601 loader).

On booms, thanks for the tip, I see this: https://www.paladinattachments.com/products/tree-booms or this: https://www.budgetap.com/product/jib-booms/, which are along the lines of what I'd have in mind.

I think a basic bin about 6 foot by 3 foot, made from mesh and maybe lined with some sort of cloth, would easily pull up most of what I want whilst still draining the water out, and I can weld that up pretty easily compared to making a clamshell with rams etc.
 
Last edited:

greenacresnorth

Active member

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L2501,BH77
Feb 18, 2018
175
28
28
38
Morganton,NC
that simple truss boom design would work to, build it out of 2" DOM or any decent structural tubing, put a single pulley on the end with a 2000lbs electric winch on the end. would be more difficult to control but would get more reach than a tree boom.
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
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Might not even need a winch. It's not that deep, and a boom that long will get a lot of height just from curling the bucket. More comes down to whether the hydraulics will lift enough weight at that distance - but I only need about 6 foot, not all that length he had.
 

Sodark

New member

Equipment
2018 B2650 HST ROPS, BH77 Backhoe
May 15, 2018
171
8
0
Pacific Northwest US
Could you possibly leave submerged an appropriately sized length of fencing or wire mesh/hardware cloth with a pipe or fence post on the ends, the farthest one out having cable attached and running back over itself? Then every so often just clip that cable to your tractor and drag-curl it out of the water lifting the debris out? Not sure if I'm describing what's in my brain adequately... Way too early.
 

mikester

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M59 TLB
Oct 21, 2017
3,125
1,609
113
Canada
www.divergentstuff.ca
Why dont you simply rent an excavator or hire a guy with a drag line to do it for you? Get it dredged every 10 years or so.

Putting a hoe on a little tractor is going to give you what - 6 foot reach? Do you realize how heavy wet muck is? You seem to have high expectations of a little tractor.
 

Sodark

New member

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2018 B2650 HST ROPS, BH77 Backhoe
May 15, 2018
171
8
0
Pacific Northwest US
Why dont you simply rent an excavator or hire a guy with a drag line to do it for you? Get it dredged every 10 years or so.



Putting a hoe on a little tractor is going to give you what - 6 foot reach? Do you realize how heavy wet muck is? You seem to have high expectations of a little tractor.
It's lakeweed and debris. This is a regular chore, needing to be done every week/month, I assume.
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
113
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Why dont you simply rent an excavator or hire a guy with a drag line to do it for you? Get it dredged every 10 years or so
There are pretty strict rules about the lake, and putting machinery in it without consent is a definite no-no.

The backhoe won't reach the water from the edge, it would be just to lift the dredge. If I could put a machine in the water I could just drive the tractor round and use the FEL to clean it out - the water is only a bit over knee deep and it's fresh water.
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
113
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Could you possibly leave submerged an appropriately sized length of fencing or wire mesh/hardware cloth with a pipe or fence post on the ends, the farthest one out having cable attached and running back over itself? Then every so often just clip that cable to your tractor and drag-curl it out of the water lifting the debris out? Not sure if I'm describing what's in my brain adequately... Way too early.
Interesting. I think that'd pick up too much weight to lift though. I have considered a mesh gate across the opening to stop so much drifting in, and that's still on my one-day list.
 

GreensvilleJay

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BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
Apr 2, 2019
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Greensville,Ontario,Canada
Sink 4 6by6 corner posts,appropriate beams and make a 'sun shelter'. Now use a collection of ropes and 'mesh'( chain link ??),lower into water.Pulling on overhead ropes will raise the mesh,collect the mess and it'll all drop out onto the ground. This of course could be semi-automated with a 12V ATV winch. If I still had a picture of the one I built 20 years ago... I recall the beams on the 'waste' side overhung the grass walkway, so the 'mess' was easy to dispose of.

Jay
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
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Sink 4 6by6 corner posts,appropriate beams and make a 'sun shelter'.
Great idea, also not legal unfortunately. No structures on the lake bed - took us a year to get consent to rebuild the decks over the boat park. So I need a temporary structure of some sort.

Your solution I think relies on the mesh sitting on the bottom, then lift it up after stuff has drifted in? I think I need something much more temporary.
 

Dunbar

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L2501 LA525 QA PFL2042 Forks RCR1860 FDR1672 BB1560 EA55 WR Grapple FitRite TnT
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Texas
Lots of folks at lakes around here use a floating boom across the lake side of such an inlet to keep floating debris out. It could have an attached curtain of wire, chain link, mesh or something that hangs down with a weighted bar at the bottom to basically curtain off your slip. Rig a way to raise it or swing it to get your boat out. Make it bolt on (removable) and don't ask for permission just do it. If they complain, remove it for a while then put it back. I doubt if whatever river authority will come after you. It's usually your neighbor that can't keep their nose out of other people's business that causes the stink. You can wear them down where they give up.
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
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Lots of folks at lakes around here use a floating boom across the lake side of such an inlet to keep floating debris out.
Excellent idea, I hadn't considered a floating one. If it's flexible I can just untie and pull it out of the way.

It's usually your neighbor that can't keep their nose out of other people's business that causes the stink. You can wear them down where they give up.
Most of my neighbours are ex farmers, they don't complain about anything. It's the people coming past that tend to complain.
 

GreensvilleJay

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BX23-S,57 A-C D-14,58 A-C D-14, 57 A-C D-14,tiller,cults,Millcreek 25G spreader,
Apr 2, 2019
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Greensville,Ontario,Canada
floating buoy sounds like a great solution.
If you add your name to it, people could find you ( good idea or bad ?)
 

PaulL

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B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
113
NZ
Screen Shot 2019-07-01 at 8.50.16 PM.jpg

Screen Shot 2019-07-01 at 8.50.42 PM.jpg

I made a prototype on the weekend, with assistance from the father-in-law. He recalled hay lifters that were similar to a clam bucket. We made a boom for the bucket (using strops to attach), and then the clamshell plus a rope to open, and a centre pull to close it when lifted.

Overall it worked, but the dynamics of the thing weren't ideal - closing the jaws requires lifting, and it tends to lift beyond the weed I wanted to pull out.

I also eventually broke the strops holding the pole onto the bucket - they were too lightweight.

Trying again this week but building just a basket which I lift out with the tractor, I think that will be less complex than getting the clam to work.
 

Dave_eng

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M7040, Nuffield 465
Oct 6, 2012
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Williamstown Ontario Canada

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PaulL

Well-known member

Equipment
B2601
Jul 17, 2017
2,098
1,105
113
NZ
Our weed isn't really growing in the park, it's more weed and gunk that drifts in, then sinks and rots.