Truck hoist design ideas wanted.

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I will be building a hoist for my /07 dodge ram pick up. I am looking for ideas, anyone have any good ones for me. I want to make it easily removable. Actually the hoist part I already have figured out it's the mounting. I was thinking of using the towing receiver but I want to be off to the side by the bed rail. Still thinking of using the receiver for added strength and then maybe mounting to the frame as well. The main purpose of this is for my new welder (Miller gas powered) weighs 320lb. I am strong but not that strong. Any ideas, plans? Already have ideas but they could probably be imporved on.Thanks.
Reply:look at the hitch mounting bracket at spitzlift.net250DXMM251MM175225G plus 251D-1
Reply:Thanks I have seen some like it but there web sites really don't have great pics of them. This site had a few better pics. got some good ideas. Picked up some materials today, start fab tomorrow.
Reply:Originally Posted by Four eyeI will be building a hoist for my /07 dodge ram pick up. I am looking for ideas, anyone have any good ones for me. I want to make it easily removable. Actually the hoist part I already have figured out it's the mounting. I was thinking of using the towing receiver but I want to be off to the side by the bed rail. Still thinking of using the receiver for added strength and then maybe mounting to the frame as well. The main purpose of this is for my new welder (Miller gas powered) weighs 320lb. I am strong but not that strong. Any ideas, plans? Already have ideas but they could probably be imporved on.Thanks.
Reply:The site that dedmetal listed above shows a set up that initally mounts to the reciever. But it has a support that is easily dropped down directly under the lift to give more support. After reading your reply though it made me think. That support is fine but when lifting a load that is not on center (which it never will be with this design) maybe a little more support might be needed. I am only intending on lifting 320lb. right now but who knows in the future? Might try to pull an engine with it some day. Maybe another flip down outrigger support and one to the frame might be in order. Thanks for making me think.Anyone else want to complicate things more!!!!!!
Reply:I built several for the county here several years ago. They were for loading license plates in boxes that weighed 480#. They were mounted in the rear corner of the bed. Two pieces of 2"x1/4" square went between the bed and the frame and was welded to the frame on both sides. The mounting holes went through the bed and the tubing. That was ten years ago and they still use them only on different trucks, so I guess they must have been good enough.
Reply:I got a bit further with my own crane mounting project over the weekend. The channel bumper was the only good thing on the truck when I got it! I still had to replace the corner of the sheetmetal top to beef up the mounting position. There is more I plan to add underneath to tie in to the bottom of the channel. Attached ImagesCity of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:That really looks like the right way to do it!!!I don't know how many of those cranes I've see just mounted to the bed of the PU.  They tear out every time.  Even with backer plates under the floor of the bed, they get a crookedy over time"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Here's one i came across a little while back, thought it was a cool idea.
Reply:Just stumbled across these pics. of my old truck crane I made about 18 years ago. I designed it for my 87 dodge Dakota and used it for over 12 years in two vehicles. These pictures are of my 89 Dakota which was the second truck I mounted it in however a little differently. The steel underneath that the crane base is mounted on is also on the right side of the bed and served the purpose of chaining down loads. Both are bolted to the truck frame rails with extra welded support. It is a hinged design so that it would lay down almost out of sight and out of the way. I used gas springs to counterweight the effort needed to upright it. The Warren winch rotates on a pad from a store position to a work position to save room. I was also going to make it easily removable but this design made it possible to just keep in the truck at all times.Would like to see your design and build. Post some pics. if possible. Attached Images
Reply:Lots of good ideas. Some are overkill for my needs. Mine is pretty much complete I will post up some pics in the next couple days.
Reply:Beat you to the punch!  I needed to elevate the lower half of mine to clear the side boxes and such. At first i was going to make an extension to bolt underneath everything, but stumbled onto a perfect left over section of pipe. So, I sucked up my pride and attempted some pipe welding...it ain't pretty,  but it will get the job done! I rotated the whole thing so as to always weld uphill. If it breaks, I know a guy who can fix it!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Just in case anyone is still following this old thread...I started with a Harbor Freight crane, cut it down, and fabbed a base that would tuck away in a corner of the truck bed.  The base is tied in with the frame below.  http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=34904&page=2What you can't see are the outriggers - two on each side under the frame. Attached ImagesMiller 211 MIGMiller 375 Extreme Plasma CutterMiller Maxstar 150 STL TIGOxy-Acetylene torch