Welding rigs -- Details

[wroughtnharv]

April of this year I picked up a set of toolboxes at Sears. What I liked about them were they had locks or catches so the drawers wouldn't slide out. As heavy as some of these drawers can get I could just see one breaking off when I hit a bump because it was open.

[wroughtnharv]

On the other side of the truck I carry different tools for different projects I'm working on.

The cabinet has at least two portabands, four or five drills, and different grinders etc. The drawer to it's left has fasteners and special stuff like teeth for the auger on the tractor, special fence tools, rarely used stuff.

On top of the cabinet I'll usually carry the Hilti rotary laser along with the cordless sets and the DeWalt portaband.

The open section might carry the Stihl quick saw and or chain saw along with fuel. Or it might carry the Little Beaver hydraulic power source etc. It depends upon the job. If I'm using the tractor a lot then it'll have diesel and lubricants etc..

[wroughtnharv]

I find welding as an enabler to do what I want to do. It's literally a glue gun.

So I set my truck up to be as versatile as possible for all the different types of work that I do.

One of the things I did was put two inch receivers in each corner for holding tools. Here's a pipe vise in place. I also have a minibender by Riley Mcmillan that fits in there along with a machinest vise, a Williams Low Buck pipe notcher, and a Vogel pipe notcher.

There's also a shot of the Vogel in it's place in the receiver hitch when I'm welding up pipe fence.

[wroughtnharv]

The bed is thirteen feet long. I wanted an eight by eight steel flatbed for working and hauling. I have pulled everything off of the bed and welded down bending dies and formed pipe on site.

She's equipped with a gooseneck hitch in the bed, the receiverhitch on the back, and a pintle hitch for my big trailer.

The bins behind the rear axle go all the way through. That's where I carry long stuff like digging bars and post hole diggers, shovels etc. The floor of those bins are expanded metal, makes keeping them tidy easier.

I also put expanded metal floors where I might carry fuels. Most fuel fumes are heavier than air and will seep down and out, hopefully.

I made the bed myself. It's due for a freshening up, that'll come with the next truck, hopefully a four door.

She weighs fifteen thousand lbs most days which is alright because her GVW is nineteen five hundred.

She works good, just gets stuck easy.

[duncan_m]

There's some mighty impressive rigs in this thread.. hopefully you all wont feel to impotent when you see how well equipped and "ready to work" mine is!

The truck is a 1968 J1 Bedford (British Truck).. the equipment on the back, well.. lets just say I'm ready to go anywhere, weld anything! No job to big or too small! Bridges, boats, decks, girders, pipelines.. Just call me! 1800-I-WELD.

[Skipper]

Thats a sweet service vehicle there. Where you shovel the coal in at?

[wroughtnharv]

That reminds me of my first welding rig. It was the early 70s and we, dad and me, had bought Miller Roughneck 1e. I found this 52 or 53 Chevy three quarter ton cab and chassis rusting into the ground in a backyard.

It costs me $50. And I took a chance at that price. Someone had dropped in a 283 V8 and the owner wouldn't allow me to remove it from the property, not even to test drive it. So I poured some gas in the carb to get it started and rocked it back and forth to make sure that at least first and reverse worked along with the clutch.

Brings back some memories, ton of fun.

[MAC702]

Thats a sweet service vehicle there. Where you shovel the coal in at?

I do see the hole for the crank...

[duncan_m]

I do see the hole for the crank...

Well spotted There is indeed a crank hole in the grille! I have the original crank handle as well! But its not for starting the truck (you'd break an arm in all likelihood) its just for turning the engine during repairs etc

[calweld]

Ok, here we've got the view looking down into the bed from behind. This is the big difference between mine and almost every other rig I've seen. I've got a 12" high open box on the passenger side, this is where I keep my metal, also my grinders, bottlejacks, chains, shovels, and cleanup from jobs goes into here. Feeders and plasma get tossed back here too, also portapowers when I think I'll need them. I usually clean it out twice a year, everything comes off, then I restock the metal with various common sizes I use, in long lengths, 10' and up. This would include channels from 4" on down, flats from 1/2"x 6", 4", and 3", same in 3/8" and 1/4", angles 2", 3", and 4" by 1/4", 2" and 3" square tube, and usually a little pipe. There's a few pieces of plate and sheet metal up in front. I also usually have some 1/2"x 4" plow steel flat bar for wear strips. Other sizes and shapes get thrown on as needed. Over the years I have a pretty good feel for what I need on the truck, anything I don't have I can usually make it or cut it out of what's there in a pinch. This is about a month before my fall cleanup, inventory in the bed is a little low right now, it's mostly more cr*p than anything else.
Also note the additional fire extinguisher up by the air compressor . . . I'm a big believer in placing them strategically . . . they are very cheap compared to the alternative.
In front of the welder I've got boxes of innershield, they'll have to go somewhere else when it starts raining. Up in front there are boxes of grinding wheels, more bolts, pipe fittings, hydraulic fittings, etc. etc. There's also a pair of rubber boots up there, I haven't yet found a job I was too proud to do.
I like lots of ladders, the orange one is an eight-foot stepladder, steps go up each side, it's extremely strong and stable, there's also a combination stepladder/extension ladder on the ladder rack (opposite side of cable rack), I also keep a six-foot stepladder in the bed on top of the steel, it comes off almost every time I work.

Last side box is all welding rod -- 7018's, 6010's, stainless, nickel, bronze, carbon rods for air-arc, hardfacing. I think there's even a couple old cans of 11018, I just use them sometimes to stick something together just to try using them up, don't want to waste the good stuff. This box will be getting reorganized soon, I do so much with wire now I hardly need it, just keep a few pounds of the common stuff and the specialty rods, everything else stays home unless needed. Last two months, had one 1/8" 7018 rod in there, never used it, had a small crack in a hydraulic cylinder to do last week, finally opened up a new can. Probably last me 10 years now.