Thread: Some help if ya can?

Originally Posted by milwise

You could look at putting a sea container on site with a shielded lock system.

milwise

That's not a bad idea. Cost of course rears it's ugly head. A vermin-proof, weather-proof shipping container is going to cost between $2000 and $2500. Probably allow for $150 to $200 each time it is moved by tilt tray (without the skid steer inside).

However it might be possible to convert that expense into a plus. The shipping container could be painted up into an advertisement. Plus it might be possible to store other equipment as well and extend the scope of the operation.

In fact with the skid steer inside most of the time when unattended the combined weight of it and the container (2.2 Tonnes) would stop most people with their own tilt tray from driving away with it on board.

Certainly worth a thought when on a site for an extended period of time. The main problem I see for Al (ignoring the need to part with money for the moment) is where it is stored when it is not on site. Most back yards can't cope with such an imposition.

Regards
Paul

Who or what is going to stop them beaking into the container??...and if you put the effort in to paint it with an advertising logo,then they will 'TAG' it...take your gear home everyday,it's the only safe answer i reckon..MM

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

Who or what is going to stop them beaking into the container??...and if you put the effort in to paint it with an advertising logo,then they will 'TAG' it...take your gear home everyday,it's the only safe answer i reckon..MM

That does not always work. A glazier I know was told "Don't leave your gear in the container, we've been done over a couple of times on this site" so the first night he ever takes his tools home, his van was broken into in his drive and the lot stolen.
Regards

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

Who or what is going to stop them beaking into the container??...and if you put the effort in to paint it with an advertising logo,then they will 'TAG' it...take your gear home everyday,it's the only safe answer i reckon..MM

MM

I think millwise's intention was to have a safety devise on the container. You can buy commercial devices, but in the past I have made up my own from a piece of circular pipe (100mm from memory). The lock sits inside the pipe so that it is impossible to get bolt cutters onto the padlock. It doesn't utilise the four sets of handles already on the container.

My containers are down in NSW, but if nobody has put up a pic before about the first week in May I will take a pic and post it here.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

MM

I think millwise's intention was to have a safety devise on the container. You can buy commercial devices, but in the past I have made up my own from a piece of circular pipe (100mm from memory). The lock sits inside the pipe so that it is impossible to get bolt cutters onto the padlock. It doesn't utilise the four sets of handles already on the container.

My containers are down in NSW, but if nobody has put up a pic before about the first week in May I will take a pic and post it here.

Regards
Paul

What's to stop them taking off with the container??

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

What's to stop them taking off with the container??

MM

From post #32:


"In fact with the skid steer inside most of the time when unattended the combined weight of it and the container (2.2 Tonnes) would stop most people with their own tilt tray from driving away with it on board."

By the time all the gear was in the container you would be looking at around 6 tonnes (assuming the bobcat is approaching 3 tonne ). It needs a serious tilt tray to load that. Most car recovery tilts are considerably less than that.

Also we are starting to look at a different scenario altogether. Al's grief has come from joy riders out for fun and games. If they have the gear to lift up six tonnes of shipping container I think we are considering a very different sort of criminal.

There is probably no perfect solution. Only compromise .

Regards
Paul

Just a further comment on loading shipping containers, my limited knowledge tells me that although they are not really heavy at just over two tonnes, most cranes (Hiab type) are unable to load them because of the reach required. A five tonne crane can only load five tonnes on the shortest extension of the boom.

A truck with a sufficient size crane is probably not going to be too keen on travelling over rough ground.

If DJ is watching this, he may be able to throw more light on this aspect.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Just a further comment on loading shipping containers, my limited knowledge tells me that although they are not really heavy at just over two tonnes, most cranes (Hiab type) are unable to load them because of the reach required. A five tonne crane can only load five tonnes on the shortest extension of the boom.

A truck with a sufficient size crane is probably not going to be too keen on travelling over rough ground.

If DJ is watching this, he may be able to throw more light on this aspect.

Regards
Paul

Rough ground doesn't worry me, just need to slow down to suit the ground, I've had to go off the beaten track to recover logs.

Yes you're correct, at full extension (6.2m) mine will lift 1.3t, 4.5t at 1.2m. I'll take a pic of the lifting chart on my crane tomorrow.

I'll be able to give you a more direct answer sometime in the next week or so, as one of my neighbours are selling and they said I can have their one for nix, so I'll need to move it and yes it'll be empty.

I thought of a shipping container when my first gear was stolen...

was going to be $3,000 for a lockable, vermin proof, weather proof container bought and delivered to site. It would fit a workbench in back, with room to take air compressor, generator, welder etc full time. Mill could fit in for long term safe keeping or the carriage wheeled in for short term. Also Bob could drive in with bucket and forks, all locked up nicely with a 'security device' installed around the padlock to stop bolt cutters being able to access the padlock. Moving fee's for me would have been $500 per lift.

My largest issue was not having a permanent yard to operate from, being on several sites in the course of a month would mean large ongoing expenses. For instance, my mill is on site in a chaps backyard at the moment, while the bobcat was on the site it was vandalised at.

Also with renting at the moment, having a shipping container to carry around to different rentals would not be easy.

I do agree, the idea of a container seemed very good, also the advertising part of it was also considered, but as was said, then they just vandalise it - one begins to think what is that point......

We use a container cut in half. The roof cut edge on each half has a piece of 50 x 50 angle welded to each. When the container goes together, these two angles butt like back to back Ls and a piece of inverted U shaped flashing slips over to form a seal. The sides have a bolton cover plate nutted on the inside. To take to site, one half goes on the truck the other on the trailer, bobcat or tractor drives in the open end. Easy lift for a hiab or fork tynes on the tractor.

Hi there.

Sorry to see what the buggers did to your bobcat. I use isolators on most of my gear, mainly for electrical safety when we are not around, but also to stop kids joyrididng as well. If you are chasing some cheap/free oil for flushing the chain case, try your nearest Caterpillar/Hitachi dealer or earthmoving contractor. Hydraulic oils usually get changed out every 1000hrs, and if you can get it before it ends up mixed with sump oil, it will be relatively clean. Flush the chain case a few times with it, then use it as bar oil on the slabber. They may even give it to you for nothing, as they usually have to pay to get rid of it. But get it as clean as you can, and maybe filter it. Someone out there with a better-than-bush-mechanic knowledge may give you some other insight to this idea, but I think it should be ok.

And always look to turn a negative into a positive, as you had the perfect reason to go and buy a 20t excavator to recover your bobcat. At the end of each day, park the bobcat under the boom of the excavator to avoid theft. Then use the 20 tonner to load your new site office shipping container onto your new float, that can double as a log truck, which can be towed by your new 500hp road-train rated Kenworth, which......ah damn...this is how I get into trouble all the time!

Good luck with it all.

Cheers

James

Well the drama is still unfolding. Had to remove my traction lock today as it is getting stuck locked on, only got my first round of parts from Clark Equipment yesterday, so have'nt been able to flush out chaincase yet what stupid bloody system doesn't use a regular bolt as a drain plug? could've flushed the damn thing 20x over already if it was just a friggin bolt, but no it's some special rubber busing with a plug - only from bobcat and they had bloody show holidays where I get my bits from (admittedly at the right price) but now I've realised the new keystart needs a wiring harness to go with it - that was order today, along with a host of 'service items' oil filters, fuel filter external and in tank, air filter, also got told of small filter unit inside hydraulic drive motors to check and clean out to prevent drive motor failure from pressure build up.

I've got bob running and working for me for the time being loaded a bunch of 2.4m ironbarks, sliced 'em up then loaded 5m blackbutt and tallows ready for tomorrow

Al

Good to see that while these problems have slowed you up they have not stopped you. Good to see . Stick with it.

Regards
Paul