Welding Rig Pictures

[J hall]

Ok, there are a lot of you who are doing portable work, and some who are either setting up rigs or looking to do some improvements.

How about sharing some pictures?

Jeff

[calweld]

I've never tried posting this many pictures before so we'll see how it turns out. My truck is a 1985 IHC 1900, DT466 engine. The first two pictures are last year's version, with two welders 325 amp Hobart and 301G Miller. The last two pictures are the current version with just one Lincoln Commander 500 on it. Since the lincoln has both CC/CV and high amps, carrying two machines seems redundant now. There's also a Gardner-Denver air compressor in front, you probably can't see it in the pictures. There's been about 5 versions of this truck over the years, it's a constant work in progress. That's why it's painted primer brown -- easy to match
I actually bought the basic truck and bed -- had a miller 4G on in. Doubt anybody here has heard of it -- built in 1972, basically a tig machine, also good for SMAW, 400+ amps. Used it until it was getting to be too much trouble, then got the Hobart. I built the cable/ladder rack not long after I got the truck. There are 12" high 1/4" sideboards welded all around on the right side of the bed, this is for metal, grinders, and anything else that doesn't fit in the boxes.
The vise on the back is purely decorative. I somehow managed to break it 4 years ago never got around to replacing it. Haven't really missed it anyway.

[fun4now]

well not quite to the size of calweld's keep in mind mine is set up to alow for my lawn mower to pull it makeing it even more mobil then when just using the pull handle.
MIG, plasma, and o/a torch setup all in a mobile setup. perhaps i should look into its owne power sorce.

just couldnt help it.

[J hall]

Calweld. Thanks, I always liked those big trucks. A good friend told me if I had a bigger truck it would be packed full of junk anyhow
F4n, hey, if it fits your needs that's all that matters!

[Eric Carroll]

I dont have many pics, but here is one.http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2...l/DSC00110.jpg

[Rvannatta]

The vise on the back is purely decorative. I somehow managed to break it 4 years ago never got around to replacing it. Haven't really missed it anyway.

Calweld:

You got the right idea---start out with a truck big enough.----

I note you have some red paint squirted on one of the connectors for a welding lead--- (as do I) wonder why the welder makers can't think of making some color coded things. Of course Miller loves to put polarity
switches in their welders----but it isn't real easy to tell which lead is which when you are looking at the welder end of them.--unless you apply some
paint to them..... 30 years ago the welders (at least our Big 40 did) had leads that bolted to the machine and so maybe color making wasn't a big deal, but now it seems that plug in leads are pretty standard--as is the need to know which lead is which....

Also have you considered rotating the exhaust stack on the welder? I suppose it never rains in Lodi, but I look at that exhaust stack and see
a rain scoop barrelling down the highway!

You are fortunate to have that style cab for your truck, OUr '77 hasthe old style Loadstar cab and it sort of sucks. -- saggy doors etc. Our latest flatbed (a '95 4900) has that cab and it seems to be tight and nice.
It certainly drives nicely,--- I've had down to the Bay area and back

[Sberry]

Most of you have seen mine but here it is again.

[calweld]

That exhaust stack is one of those little nagging things I keep planning on doing, but never do. We actually do get rain here in Lodi, but I doubt much gets in that hole even facing forwards. Anyway, if you use your equipment enough it burns the water out anyway . How come nobody noticed the chrome stacks on the truck????
Everybody here thought I was nuts when I bought that truck, but it's really worked out well for me. Fuel mileage aside, it's actually cheaper to run than a one-ton or super duty type truck -- since it's so overbuilt for what it does, nothing breaks and few things wear out if you keep it greased and maintained. The running gear is all off the shelf class 7 and 8 truck parts, easy to find and not that expensive. Air brakes stop on a dime and are easy to maintain.

JHall - yes, it does get packed up with junk, once or twice a year I empty everything out of the bed and shovel the trash out. Then I start over again. I usually keep a thousand pounds or so of steel on the truck, sometimes more, I'm usually doing repairs or onsite fab and engineering, you never know what you're going to need. One of the boxes has about one or two hundred pounds of nuts and bolts, sometimes welding isn't the best way. About 10-15 coffee cans worth, sorted by diameter but bolts nuts and washers all together in the same can. It works for me.

I think we've seen your truck already? It's the red one? One thing, be sure to read your owner's manual the section about changing the rearend oil. On a constantly loaded small truck that is very important. Don't ask me how I know just take it on faith.

I keep kicking around the idea of building something like f4n has --only without the wheels. I'd like to mount the trailblazer with a set of bottles and a small toolbox on some kind of pallet so I can load it on the pickup or flatbed for the quick little service jobs. Anybody have something like that?

[fun4now]

I'd like to mount the trailblazer with a set of bottles and a small toolbox on some kind of pallet so I can load it on the pickup or flatbed for the quick little service jobs. Anybody have something like that

yea just a lil wile ago i was reading about some one doing that with an I bolt to lift the hole thing on and off, ill look back and see if i can find it and post ya a link if i can, maybee he will show it off befor i have a chance to find it though.

[Rvannatta]

. How come nobody noticed the chrome stacks on the truck????

Oh I saw the chrome stacks, but they are pretty common on log trucks
around here so I didn't give them another thought. Even our Jimmy Service truck has them: "www.vannattabros.com/truck38.html". They are really a good thing on a service truck, because you have the engine running a lot while you are working around it (to power the aircompressor and crane), and the stacks up save you from eating a lot of exhaust smoke.

Everybody here thought I was nuts when I bought that truck, but it's really worked out well for me. Fuel mileage aside, it's actually cheaper to run than a one-ton or super duty type truck -- since it's so overbuilt for what it does, nothing breaks and few things wear out if you keep it greased and maintained. The running gear is all off the shelf class 7 and 8 truck parts, easy to find and not that expensive. Air brakes stop on a dime and are easy to maintain.

What I really like about a service truck with air brakes is the parking brake. With the spring locks you don't worry about the truck running over you. Unlike some places, we don't need a transit (or highwater) to figure out where the high spots are and when I anchor a truck and then need it running to power the auxillaries, I want to be able to find it again without having to go look for it.

I think we've seen your truck already? It's the red one? One thing, be sure to read your owner's manual the section about changing the rearend oil. On a constantly loaded small truck that is very important. Don't ask me how I know just take it on faith.

Well the rear end in our 4900 has a tag on it warning of special oil init.--that plastic stuff. It isn't red however: see "www.vannattabros.com/truck41.html" for our 4900. the flatbed conversion is down the page a ways. It went its first 340,000 miles as a Penske reefer truck, and then we put a flatbed with a hoist on it.
It handles all our misc freight that will fit on an 18 foot flat bed and weighs less than 7 tons. For things a little bigger we can drop a 20 foot flat bed on our log truck and haul around 15 tons, and if it won't go on a 20 foot flat or weighes over 15 tons, we gotta a charge account with a lowboy company and if they can't haul it, it's welded down. Oh yes, I forgot we have one of those tilt bed equipment trailers too which is suppose to haul 40,000 lbs but a logger is hard pressed to think of a piece of equipment that he has that weighs that little. Oh yes, the welder that We just bought, but then we bolted a truck and a crane on to it...... oh well....

[Rvannatta]

I'd like to mount the trailblazer with a set of bottles and a small toolbox on some kind of pallet so I can load it on the pickup or flatbed for the quick little service jobs. Anybody have something like that

yea just a lil wile ago i was reading about some one doing that with an I bolt to lift the hole thing on and off, ill look back and see if i can find it and post ya a link if i can, maybee he will show it off befor i have a chance to find it though.

Around here the pallet mounts are popular in sawmills, but you wouldn't want one if you are going to haul it in a pickup. Sawmill guys are loggers scared of limbs. they tend to fab pallets for welders out of 1/2" plate and make a bail for it out of 6" I beam and put a couple of job boxes on it for good measure. the mill wrights always have access to a forklift so the welder goes whereever a fork lift can go, and if it is 'up' somehwhere there is probably a crane on the mill site so the pallet goes for a crane ride.

[calweld]

I was thinking of a steel pallet so i could move and load it with a forklift. Just a handy "kit", with everything I would need right there. Sometimes I go to Oregon or Nevada to work, this way everything stays together instead of rolling around in the back of the pickup. Just something to think about . . .

[HAWK]

Here's my rig from a few years back. I have since changed trucks, but the set up is basically the same. The welder is a Miller 301G. The compressor is a single stage Rol-Air, and the plasma a Miller 2050. There is also a Dynasty 200DX on the dock (not seen in this view). This job was on site 1/4" aluminum fab work.

It's a lot smaller than a lot of rigs and sometimes gets cluttered. All in all I have been very happy with this "compact" set up. It allows me to get the job done.

[admweld]

My Rig Again

Heres my rig most of you have seen already but here another one.This is with just theTB300 onboard now the rig is carrying both BB402 and the TB.

[Portable Welder]

Cal Weld, your truck is screaming that it needs a crane on it.
Like you said lots of spare load capacity in researve.
But becare full about getting a crane on your truck.
A crane is one of those things that you dont miss if you never had one but once you have one you cant do without it.
I get people asking me all the time, ( Do you really use it much ) and I tell them all the time.
In fact there are alot of jobs out there that I get now, that I never used to get and all because I have a crane.
I dont mean a big crane just a mechanics type crane.
Beware, When I was building my truck I thought yea I'll just get a crane, then I found out how much they cost, I figured about $ 5,000.00
I was only off by about $7,000.00 by the time I got all the Pumps, hoses and built the hydraulic tank I had about $ 14,000.00 in to it.
However it pays me back on a regular basis.
My friend who is going to help me post my truck is bussy with finishing his race car for Auto Rama in March so my truck should be posted after that.