Things are really getting exciting now!
With the hoist mounted on the truck, we were able to measure out and order all the piping and hoses to connect the hoist to the truck’s hydraulics. We decided to use steel pipe above the bed. This has some advantages for flow and durability, but is a bit harder to work with and measure out as you can’t really bend it around.
Here you can see the pipes running from under the bed and into the hoist. The smaller, 1″ pipe is the high pressure side, which explains those beefy fittings. The larger 1-1/4″ pipe is the return and is not under high pressure, but still needs to carry a pretty large volume of fluid which is why it’s bigger than the pressure line. We were pretty surprised just how massive those high pressure fittings are.
Once under the protection of the bed, we switch to hydraulic hose to allow some more flexibility and ease of connections. Here are the hoses coming through the side of the bed rail and connecting to the quick connects from the hydraulic pump.
With those connected, we now have a complete hydraulic system. So we filled it up with fluid, a lot of fluid, and flipped the PTO on. After a bit of air purging we held our breath and tried to run the lift…. and ….
It all worked! So happy and satisfied to see it raise the boom under it’s own power for the first time. Charlie was even there to see it raise. At this point it’s fully functional and could go to work, but we have some more tasks ahead.
Next steps include getting the optional wire reel working and re-attached and extending the boom completely and cleaning up and painting the hidden portion. We will also be doing some bits of cleanup like installing grommets and building a work platform. We will also need to figure out what we need to do for stabilizers. So plenty more to go!
Thanks for tuning in thus far and will see you in the next chapter!