Super Cheyenne aka the "Devil Cowboy"

[landarts]

Another side project I had to wrap up over the weekend was to modify the gantry I built last February for removing cabs and beds on these trucks. I built it out of scrap 2" thick heavy wall tubing. It was built in sections with thick wall 1 3/4 tubing sleeves so I could break it down and store it away when not in use. The only thing I had to purchase was the hand winches that were rated at 800 lbs. each, and a couple of pulleys for the metal cable. So I had about $100 into the project.

Well, the first time I used it was to pull the bed off of this truck and it worked, but not flawless. One of the winches kept jamming at the cog wheel and I had to smack it a few times with a hammer to get it to work while taking off the bed. Then when I tried to remove the cab the other side started doing the same thing. I believe the winches were not of good quality so I did some research to find better-made hand winches for the gantry. After doing all the research the winches were going to cost more than an electric winch rated at 3500 lbs., so I decided to modify the design and make it work with a removable electric winch.

I had already had some items for the winch, a few extra pulleys, and a female receiver hitch which will make it removable. It took me about an hour and a half to put it all together, weld it up, and test it. We now have a portable, breakdown gantry that can roll around and handle the task with ease. I also use this as a paint tree to hang parts from when painting.

Pic 1 -Original manual gantry
Pic 2 -Electric 3500 lbs. winch added
Pic 3 -Side view of receiver hitch to make it removable
Pic 4 -A battery tray that lifts off when not in use, had to do this so I do not have to pick up the battery every time I want to move the gantry.
Pic 5 -Gantry all hooked up and working