Man Lift?

Peter Rideout

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Nova Scotia, 45°N 64°W
The earlier thread on "time to stop climbing ladders" and Jonathan's tumble off the milk crate got me thinking of all the "up high" exterior work staring at me around this place.
I see there's yet another retired 1 ton telephone truck for sale down the road and it got me daydreaming...
Has anyone ever seen a conversion of one of those man lifts onto a little trailer you could maneuver around with a farm tractor? I'm picturing stabilizing legs, an electric motor to run the hydraulics. It would sure beat setting up scaffolding, to say nothing of a wiggly old extension ladder.

Making it safe would, of course, have to be job 1, followed by using it with common sense. My wife and I decided long ago we would only use traditional materials around the old place, but I'm thinking ten years from now when I'm in my mid-sixties, something like that would be a far better way to paint those second-storey dormers!

Work safely. and Happy New Year to all.:wave:
Peter
 
I had a bucket truck and there is nothing handier. I rented a lift and it would not reach outward away from the base like the truck would. There a lot of places I couldn't reach with the lift that bucket would. If it were me, I would just leave it on the truck. It is a heck of a lot easier to move the truck then a trailer and there isn't all the work for trying to make a trailer that is stable enough. The truck is ready to go.
 
Yeah, and if the engine is shot in the truck, have someone or you build a pto shaft from the tranny to the tractor. Most of those have the hydraulic pump on the pto side of the truck tranny. Then just drag it around with the tractor and utilize the tractor for the pto.
 
Yer a redneck, ain't'cha, Jonathan? :) :) :)

That or a Yankee, one of the two.

Peter, if your job is too short-lived to warrant setting up pole jacks (which is how I sided my house & replaced all the windows), you can save a fortune by just renting a bucket trailer or bucket truck. They're not really very expensive, either way.

If you just relish the project, though... then all bets are off. Lots of factors I can haul out of the mental cupboard for a project like that, fail-safes & interlocks & dual controls, all sortsa' stuff.

If you're leery of heights... don't ever ride one straight up in the air, especially not when there's any trace of wind. DAMHIKT. :)
 
If you're leery of heights... don't ever ride one straight up in the air, especially not when there's any trace of wind. DAMHIKT. You mean like this Tim:thumb:
That would be a 120 foot lift
The second pic is of my car from the top.
Number 3 Rick at the top
4 well that would be me at the top
 

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Yup, those are good ideas.

I actually did rent one of those for a weekend a few years back Chuck, to do some work at the peak of the barn, 40 feet+. Reached up there with boom to spare. It was pricey though, $200 a day IIRC, so to have one around for a big 2-3 week painting or shingling job would put me in the poorhouse.

If I did just leave the truck as-is, I could probably only reach about half the buildings, due to hemming ourselves in over the years with landscaping, hedges, a septic field etc. Although, it would reach both ends of the big barn, and, we could decorate the county's biggest Christmas tree! I suppose, along the lines of Jonathan's idea. a person could run a shaft to an AC electric motor to run the hydraulics, so you wouldn't have to run the truck all day if you were up there painting.

I MUST NOT talk myself into this! Too many other places for our resources.

On the other hand, too bad Christmas is past. "Look what I bought you for a gift this year, dear!":rofl::rofl: (I'd be moving a cot out to the shop)

Have a great weekend guys.

Peter
 
Here that tow one rents out at 180 a day and 600 for the month. Last I knew:thumb:
That 120 rents out around 5k for a month.
 
That lift was not even on one of my sites. Me and Rick found out the company had rented one and drove an hour just to go play with it.:thumb:
Our boy Cody was petrified of the 70 so me and Rick used to take him tom the top and drive around a bit just to watch his knuckles turn white.:rofl::rofl:
We tried to drive the 120 at the top but the drive system shuts off when you get up so far so fools like us can't hurt our selves. :thumb:
 
this is as far as i go up supported by something that skinny. it's called the skyscraper. been on it once, that was all that was needed:rofl: the whole arm is 160 ft long, does about 60 mph, and your pulling about 4 g's.
 

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