trialanderror
ArboristSite Operative
one day at work a fellow co-worker asked me if i could pull his well point up.
i said "sure, not a problem."
he said "oh, it's a problem, i've tried all that i could and i can't get it out. it's almost 45ft down."
i said "really, i'm sure, it's not a problem."
so i go about building it to get the job done....
i asked dad if he had a snatch block that's quite stout. he said 'yeah, over there', as he kinda just waves his arm behind him as he's welding....
so i go about to try and find it. and i found it. ended up getting my brother to help me. used a peice of pipe so we both could carry it. it was a double pulley block.
and i'm serious, between the pulleys, the housing, and the clevace and pins, it's all of 150-180#'s....the pulleys measured 14" across. the U bracket and cleavace is 2" thick material...
anyone have any idea what ton rating it would take? i've ran across those 12ton ones online and they're only 3 or 4" across.....
so anyways, the story continues.....
so i quick scabbed together some I beam, a serious support made out of 3" channel to rest the triple pulleys on for the top 'block' you could say, maybe 5ft from the bed of the trailer, where i pinned them with a peice of 2" solid round stock, and set that across the pair of 6" I beams that ran to the front of the trailer and chained down.
on the toungue of the trailer we've setup a tiny 5hp briggs , that drives a gearbox, that drives a sprocket, that drives another sprocket, that drives the wormgear for the winch (we're talking about a slow idle on the engine, and winding a 10" drum to pull the cable about 1" every 3-4 seconds....)
now, i've got it setup to stretch to the back of the trailer, over the center pulley, down to the snatch, up to a 2nd pully, back down to the snatch, up to the 3rd pulley, then back down and hooked to the snatch block....
now, before i started making this big pulley mess, this winch, on a slow idle, will, and has, pull 25 ton without a problem. now multiply that by 5.....
we get up to the guys place and get the trailer over the well pit and get everything together, took a short peice of chain, did it 1/2 through the clevace and wrapped each end of the chain on the pipe, one below the other. and fired it up and put everything in gear....and waited....and waited...waited...and waited...
i calculated maybe 1" of lift after about a minute....kinda slow....
big triaxle trailer, ~5500 empty. triple H beam for the frame, re-enforced with 4" c channel on the sides back and front. also setup to pull some pins make it 8Ft longer if needed. 1/4" diamond plate deck. 8ftx16ft. long story short, it's a heavy trailer.
so the winch is winching....back end of the trailer is going down....down...and keeps going down, the wheels on the back axle are a few inches into the dirt...the tires on the middle axle are 1/2 buried.......soon the tongue comes up....keeps going up....now the pintle eye is lifting......next the truck axle is off the ground....
point still hasn't budged...
un-wound everything then put some cement blocks under the trailer's sides at the exteme backend.
tried it again
trailer goes down...down....down....hits the blocks...things get tight....tighter...tigther... (mind you this whole time the engine is a slow idle, like there's no load on it...)
POP!!
cement blocks break....
wtf!?
take the pressure off things. go about and saw up some serious peices of oak, and stuff those under the trailer...
i go about it again....things getting tighter, tighter...tighter.......realllly tight....kinda scared to look down the well pit tight....tighter....tiiighter.....now you can just begin to hear a load on the engine....i throw the clutch and let it sit for a minute with pressure on things....
nothing happens.....everyone is scared no one volunteers to look at it... so i said F it and just pull on it some more....
so i start to slip the clutch...get a few more cranks on the gearbox....
BOOM!
cables go wild, trailer jumps up in the air, my beer goes flyin...
holy!!
everyone runs over to check it out...
it pulled!!!
naturally the first few inches are the worse...
and yeah, the next 44ft and 10" was painfully slow. but, easy $800.....and only a 1/2 day of quick scab together welding....
so anyways, my story, this snatch block, dad said he bought it at a miliatry surplus for $20. i think it was a steal....just not sure what's it's rating is...anyone knows please share it....
serious tension on things though. the chain crushed that 2" pipe like a funny straw....
and with this kind of a pulley setup, i still was no where near maxing what the engine/winch would do...
i said "sure, not a problem."
he said "oh, it's a problem, i've tried all that i could and i can't get it out. it's almost 45ft down."
i said "really, i'm sure, it's not a problem."
so i go about building it to get the job done....
i asked dad if he had a snatch block that's quite stout. he said 'yeah, over there', as he kinda just waves his arm behind him as he's welding....
so i go about to try and find it. and i found it. ended up getting my brother to help me. used a peice of pipe so we both could carry it. it was a double pulley block.
and i'm serious, between the pulleys, the housing, and the clevace and pins, it's all of 150-180#'s....the pulleys measured 14" across. the U bracket and cleavace is 2" thick material...
anyone have any idea what ton rating it would take? i've ran across those 12ton ones online and they're only 3 or 4" across.....
so anyways, the story continues.....
so i quick scabbed together some I beam, a serious support made out of 3" channel to rest the triple pulleys on for the top 'block' you could say, maybe 5ft from the bed of the trailer, where i pinned them with a peice of 2" solid round stock, and set that across the pair of 6" I beams that ran to the front of the trailer and chained down.
on the toungue of the trailer we've setup a tiny 5hp briggs , that drives a gearbox, that drives a sprocket, that drives another sprocket, that drives the wormgear for the winch (we're talking about a slow idle on the engine, and winding a 10" drum to pull the cable about 1" every 3-4 seconds....)
now, i've got it setup to stretch to the back of the trailer, over the center pulley, down to the snatch, up to a 2nd pully, back down to the snatch, up to the 3rd pulley, then back down and hooked to the snatch block....
now, before i started making this big pulley mess, this winch, on a slow idle, will, and has, pull 25 ton without a problem. now multiply that by 5.....
we get up to the guys place and get the trailer over the well pit and get everything together, took a short peice of chain, did it 1/2 through the clevace and wrapped each end of the chain on the pipe, one below the other. and fired it up and put everything in gear....and waited....and waited...waited...and waited...
i calculated maybe 1" of lift after about a minute....kinda slow....
big triaxle trailer, ~5500 empty. triple H beam for the frame, re-enforced with 4" c channel on the sides back and front. also setup to pull some pins make it 8Ft longer if needed. 1/4" diamond plate deck. 8ftx16ft. long story short, it's a heavy trailer.
so the winch is winching....back end of the trailer is going down....down...and keeps going down, the wheels on the back axle are a few inches into the dirt...the tires on the middle axle are 1/2 buried.......soon the tongue comes up....keeps going up....now the pintle eye is lifting......next the truck axle is off the ground....
point still hasn't budged...
un-wound everything then put some cement blocks under the trailer's sides at the exteme backend.
tried it again
trailer goes down...down....down....hits the blocks...things get tight....tighter...tigther... (mind you this whole time the engine is a slow idle, like there's no load on it...)
POP!!
cement blocks break....
wtf!?
take the pressure off things. go about and saw up some serious peices of oak, and stuff those under the trailer...
i go about it again....things getting tighter, tighter...tighter.......realllly tight....kinda scared to look down the well pit tight....tighter....tiiighter.....now you can just begin to hear a load on the engine....i throw the clutch and let it sit for a minute with pressure on things....
nothing happens.....everyone is scared no one volunteers to look at it... so i said F it and just pull on it some more....
so i start to slip the clutch...get a few more cranks on the gearbox....
BOOM!
cables go wild, trailer jumps up in the air, my beer goes flyin...
holy!!
everyone runs over to check it out...
it pulled!!!
naturally the first few inches are the worse...
and yeah, the next 44ft and 10" was painfully slow. but, easy $800.....and only a 1/2 day of quick scab together welding....
so anyways, my story, this snatch block, dad said he bought it at a miliatry surplus for $20. i think it was a steal....just not sure what's it's rating is...anyone knows please share it....
serious tension on things though. the chain crushed that 2" pipe like a funny straw....
and with this kind of a pulley setup, i still was no where near maxing what the engine/winch would do...
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