# hook lift



## yorkpaddy (Jan 31, 2001)

I'm interested in hearing about hook lifts. here is my situation, i'm 18, in college, i have my own lawncare company that I run with my c-1500. During the winter and spare summer time i work construction. One of the construction guys wants to set me up with a full route, pulling a trailer with either an f-350 utility body, or an international dump truck (the guy is kinda stubborn) that I would need a CDL for. He also has an isuzu cab over i'm trying to convince him to outfit for me.

There is no way i'd use the international to do lawns, its to big (I might use it to do excavator/bobcat), I like the f-350 and trailer, but the bed on the f-350 isn't dump and there is a ladder rack that gets in my way. The F-350 is 4x4 though, and i have a free place to dump that has dificult access, 4x4 really helps getting up to it (its up a steep dirt hill)

Ok, now on to the isuzu, and the hook lift. I saw an ad for a galbreath hook hoist in a mag. http://www.galbreath-inc.com I'm thinking I could sell it to him because, we could drop one of the containers off at jobsites for debris. and I could keep a flatbead unit on the truck most of the time for lawns, pulling a trailer behind me. another advantadge of the hook lift is that we could use it to haul the excavator and skid-steer. The trailer he owns is only big enough to hold one at a time, with this set up, we could put the excavator or bocat on the truck bed, and pull the other one in the trailer behind it.

my questions
1. are these things that I could do with a roll back, instead of the hook lift, (interchangability, availability of different bodies...)
2.does anyone else have a similar setup?

anything else?


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## thelawnguy (May 20, 2001)

The city bought this system on a Ford 8000(?) they used it for a year and now the truck and all the attachments sit in a field. The big complaint was that it is very top heavy second complaint you have the truck down all attachments are down, third unless one guy is responsible its too easy to damage stuff dropping and attaching bodies.

There may be more to it but this is what has been relayed to me.


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## Chuck Smith (Dec 30, 1999)

I moved this thread here from the Plowing Forum, because it has nothing to do with plowing.

~Chuck


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## diginahole (Feb 1, 2001)

*Roll Back VS Hook Lift*

For your purposes I think a hook lift would be better than what we call a roll back in these parts. A roll back truck doesn't have dump capabilities, it is meant to be used as a ramp truck for towing cars and such. However a roll off system is more similar to a hook lift. It can have interchangable bodies and the ability to dump. A hooklift has a better dump angle than most roll off systems. The payback for greater dump angle is smaller lift capacity from ground level. The hook lift system has to lift the front of the body up 4 1/2 to 5' whereas with a roll off the weight is dragged up the rails for a time before the truck bears all of the weight. In either case damage to system and truck is hard to avoid with an inexperienced operator. Because hook lifts are not as popular as roll offs they are more expensive. I believe for the landscape industry a hook lift would be my choice of these systems if i had the bucks, but i still use just a dump body (1/3 the cost).


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## yorkpaddy (Jan 31, 2001)

a roll off is what i was thinking of when I say roll back. I have seen a lot of roll off dumpsters at the dump. I am relatively inexperienced, how do you hurt the system when loading it and unloading it. I dont think the lift ability as compared to a roll back will be that big of a factor, given that the weight capacity of the truck is the limiting factor. Do they make roll off systems that are small enough to put on an isuzu or f-550? OH, and now I remember why I wanted my thread in snowplowing, On galbreath's website they mentioned it makes it easy to unload sanding and salting equipment. I'm wondering how you could unload a v-box without breaking off the impeller and other lower aparatus, although the idea of seems very useful


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## diginahole (Feb 1, 2001)

Damage occurs when you try to pull the deck on a roll off and the truck is somewhat askew. The guides under the deck will often tear up the rails that they are supposed to roll up. Have you ever seen someone try to pull up a heavy box and the front end of the truck jumps about 8 feet off the ground? That can blow out spings or air bags in the rear, or when the inexperinced operator gets scared and slams down the whole truck front end damage often results. Lifting any heavy loads with any inexperienced operator is risky business. 
I have seen roll offs and hook lifts on a few one tons in our area. The roll offs appear to by homemade but I know Hiab/Atlas Polar makes a small hook lift. I looked at them about 4 years ago, the system was about (+-?)$7K w/o a deck.
As for the salter, you could land a salt unit on a frame to keep the lower assembly from being damaged. Or, maybe just a couple of legs attached to the unit itself?

Blair Deutekom


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## SLSNursery (Dec 21, 1999)

*Hook body*

My Isuzu NQR is getting the finishing touches put on a hook lift (Stellar systems) this week. It will have a flatbed with a dovetail and ramps for mowing, or moving tractors, skidsteer, etc. We will have a couple of dumpsters for mulch and debris, and maybe a chip box. We don't use this truck for plowing, but to mount a sander on a skid is a piece of cake. Just put a U shaped bracket at the rear under the spinner, mounted to the I-beams of the sander if possible. Have the U bracket (which needs to be heavy) made with a roller in it, and have the whole U structure pin into place with heavy pins so it can be removed when sanding if necessary.

As far as dumping, the stellar gets to 54 degrees which is better than most. I plan to put a system on a 33,000GVW truck when I can. It will be pretty heavy, but a friend of mine uses it regularly to deliver materials, or move dumpsters. The key is to make all the systems match in size or what I understand to be Bail height (height of hook), this way the bodies are all interchangeable.

I'm not sure of your intentions, or relationship with the construction guy. These are pretty expensive (15K) options for someone to be 'set up' with. I would be glad to post a picture when the truck comes back though.


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