I am going to pick up a skid steer (bobcat 610) on Wednesday and I am thinking of putting it on the back of my truck. It weighs 3800 lbs, which is well within my payload capacity. Other than looking very strange, I don't see any real issues with doing this. I know the center of gravity should be pretty low (I stack firewood close to 3 ft high and the center of gravity on a skid steer should be about 1.5 ft I think). I will need ramps, of course, since the bed is about 3 ft off the ground. Has anyone done this before? Was it difficult to load or unload? Thoughts?
Tie the ramps to the truck when loading so they don't kick out. Those will have to be some HD ramps too!
Personally, I would rent/borrow a trailer....Most likely a reason why I have never seen a skidsteer in the bed of a pickup. Congrats on the new toy.
Go rent a trailer from a rental place, and be done with it. I wouldn’t want to try and back a skid steer onto a truck, you can’t see behind you plus add in the height you need to gain. The potential for some unintended excitement is extremely high. the only way I would put on one a truck is with a loading dock or earth berm that’s easy to drive up. Use to load sleds and wheelers that way.
I load/unload s770’s on a 20ton deck over trailer pretty often. That is frightening enough there will be some pucker factor getting on the bed of a truck with ramps.
You might be needing a new tailgate after this attempt. I wouldn't do it unless from a raised ramp/dock in both locations. I don't know what kind of truck you have, but on mine only 2 small cables support the tailgate in the down position. Loading up the Lopi Mike in Okla
I'll assume you have a dually? I have hauled over 9k on a flatbed Ram 5500 for more than 1400 miles before. I wouldn't say it was a pleasant experience, but it got done. Agree with others in being careful not to damage the truck loading or unloading. Will the tires fit between the wheel wells? That'd be a concern for me. Might crush them driving over.
I was talking with the neighbor today and he offered to haul it home for me. I'll make ramps for the truck later. I will definitely get video of it on the truck when it happens.
Unless you are a experienced ( and I mean very very) operator no way. A SS does not have very much clearance under it and with most ramps even with my 7 ft very heavy duty ones that angle at the ramp bed interface is going to get cought by the underside of the SS. Another thing that bed steel is at most 20 ga. and there isn't enough support for that four point load. do your self a favor and just hire a car recovery hauler - best money you will ever spend. Or as suggested a trailer. I used to haul my 485NH around on my 10K trailer and that was always interesting as in either direction ya can't see much when going up the ramps on to the bobtail, And that was only about 14". Then there is the matter of securing the load as well. Those little hook areas are not meant for that kind of load. Take the neighbors offer if he has a heavy enough trailer, and a single axel unit isn't heavy enough. Most DOT's require four independant chain tie downs with tensioners as well. Ratchet straps are not a good option. They stretch too much.
Take a look at the build thread that was linked. My new bed will take a lot more than one of those sheet steel units. I have 7" oak timbers and 1.5" doug fir decking. I'm not worried about point loads. The wheels on a 610 are very close together and the breakover angle to get on the bed isn't bad at all. (My lawnmower makes it with the mower deck installed) The angle between the ramps and deck would be about 20⁰, which is nowhere near enough to catch a belly pan. The neighbor has a skidsteer trailer that he hauls his t550 on, so it will be more than enough for my "little" 610. I don't even know how many hours I have in a skid steer.
Sorry didn't back tract to build. Was referring to standard pickup beds. Pulled off some pretty good stunts and got lucky, but could have gone the other way quickly. Every time I look to move something now days that might be a bit off the wall I am reminded of an acquaintance who was crushed to death by a small machine tool( 2.5 ft x 2.5 ft x 5.5 ft tall, 1000# very top heavy ) that got away from him and helper .
