I'm wondering of others here have experience or opinions on these small cranes for lifting objects into a pick-up bed or other adjacent location. There are two general types-- one is supported on the ground with a hitch receiver connection for stability and the other is mounted in the pick-up bed itself. Additionally, some are hand operated hydraulic or boat-winch style. I'm interested in versions that have a 12V winch for powering the lift. Does anyone have experience with these or viewpoints based on design? Mostly it will be used for lifting feed bags, rocks or other heavy items, but I'm curious if one design is more combersome than the other. Photos below of the ground-mount vs bed-mount styles. I would be using it most with a metal-bed UTV 4X4. Thanks!
HitchCrane.jpg
BedCrane.jpg
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I use the 2nd type to lift my sidecars that weigh about 250Kg on the my tray truck, it has a fabricated steel deck as the tray.
The truck itself is Chev C30 tray about 10 ft x 7 ft.
I use thelift for any load I cannot easily handle otherwise.
With my broken back injury they are great to use.
I do use a 2nd 900 CCA Cold Cranking Amps battery for it, charged from the truck system.
The receiver mounted ones are extremely cumbersome. The bed mounted ones need extensive fabrication work to connect it to the frame, there is nothing but sheet metal and wiring harness’s in that corner of the bed.
I ended up getting a toting trailer with a winch so I can drag things onto the trailer by myself.
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Thanks for these responses. John D., "A Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV), also known as a side-by-side (SxS), is an off-road vehicle designed for both work and recreation." A photo of the Kubota with steel bed that I would be using is shown below. But I agree with R Scott from what I've read-- there is not enough support in the bed sheet metal to be of much use in supporting the crane physics without modifying under the bed with reinforcing steel. In this regard, I was thinking of bolting the crane mast to 2 X 12" lumber in a configuration that would provide the necessary support for a few hundred pounds of lift. The Kubota is gas-powered, but a solar panel afixed to the roll bar over the driver's station might be used to maintain a beefy 12V LiFePO4 battery for powering the winch on the crane. I kind of like the idea of a separate trailer that would have the crane mounted to the bed: This could be a highway-approved trailer as well for use with the pick-up truck, but also used in the farmyard when attached to the UTV trailer hitch. Thanks again and more input welcomed!
KuboRTV520.jpg
“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein