What's new
What's new

How to get a large roll around toolbox in/out of enclosed trailer?

dsergison

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2003
Location
East Peoria, IL, USA
My robotics team inherited a nice roll around tool box, twice as nice and big as our previous boxes, but I don't know how to load and unload the box for competitions. Our trailer deck is about 18" high. Ramps seem pretty difficult and dangerous due to unpredictable road crown, curbs, and pushing casters up ramps sucks.

Are there any clever mechanisms for this task sort of like a lower height ambulance gurney?
 
Bigger wheels...HF sells foam filled "never flat" wheelbarrow wheels.

But if you are all about "Everyone participating", give each member a small
toolbox, they can carry themselves.

Each toolbox is numbered, the contents nicely labelled.
Event time, bring them all together on one table.
 
likely you need to find a flat area to load and unload...you need to know ramps are strong enough for the weight..good to put jack stands under the trailer at front and back so no tipping can happen,, good to chock wheels so trailer can not move forward or back, also leave it attached to tow vehicle....good to mount a winch (perhaps a boat winch) rated for the amount of weight so load can be controlled taking box off trailer and to pull it back up. may need to add track to ramp so the box goes up straight and can not fall off..need to stand clear and let the devices control the load and nobody gets hurt..
 
My robotics team inherited a nice roll around tool box, twice as nice and big as our previous boxes, but I don't know how to load and unload the box for competitions. Our trailer deck is about 18" high. Ramps seem pretty difficult and dangerous due to unpredictable road crown, curbs, and pushing casters up ramps sucks.

Are there any clever mechanisms for this task sort of like a lower height ambulance gurney?


Maybe pick up a cheap motorcycle lift if you have the space.
 
Yall are a robotics team right? How bout yall motorize it with some sort of track system or something from a motorized pallet jack?
 
With a bunch of kids around, you'll need to avoid all sorts of perils that present themselves. Best bet: sell it, and use the cash to buy multiple smaller rolling tool cases, like the Dewalt modular ones, or something like that. Something that two guys can get in and out of trailer without machines. Plus, you can sort things so you can bring only what you'll need for a given event, rather than three of everything you own. Plus, a usual part of those competitions is teams helping teams, which includes scouting for the odd/rare tool you need but don't have.

One could place four flip-down crank-em-up trailer tongue jacks near the corners, that would serve to both lift and roll the box. You'll have to suss out how to handle the transition between trailer-borne, airborne, landed, and normal wheeled travel... That's left as an exercise for the reader.

Whatever you do, make sure the drawers will lock closed so you don't get a rude surprise when hit by a sudden gust of gravity.

But you'll have to remember that kids squish easy, and parents discover they know lots of lawyers when their kid gets squished.

Chip
 
We have a similar problem of getting the floor section perhaps 150 pounds up on the deer blind tower of 7 feet when out in the bush with not having a tractor..thinking about a pallet with a wheel set and a boat winch to travel up the stair case...but the hand rail is in the way.
 
It's desirable to work out of the same lockable roll around boxes all season for familiarity and ease. We have the one new 56" big box and a pair of smaller 26" boxes. The smaller boxes are themselves a big pain to load due to being more tipsy and having small casters and crappier construction. I wish to leave them and take only the new 56" box.

I would carry what we need in the one box and leave all spare tool in the small boxes.

I think the winch and good ramps idea is good. A good winch point at the very bottom of the box will added. the trailer has pocket floor tiedowns and e-track. An electric winch like one of those warn drill winches will make this a one man (mentor) job.
 
The Nascar pit boxes have running gear that looks like a Go Kart with kingpin and spindle steering and a tongue on the front and a fixed rear axle, some even have brakes and a motorcycle style brake handle on the handle on the tongue. Those are much easier to manhandle or winch up and down ramps, and the brakes make uneven terrain manageable. A robotics team should be able to fabricate all that.
 
I might consider a rolling pedestal, 18" inches tall, with a wider track than the box, with 6-8 inch casters. Create a 2x4 rim to capture the casters of the toolbox when it's rolled onto the pedestal.
Perhaps a drawer for extension cords, built into pedestal.

Does it need to roll thru a 36x80 door?

Pedestal and box stays mated until time to pack up and leave.
 
How about an eyebolt in each corner of the toolbox and a small swing out jib crane mounted in the rear corner of the trailer. Pick it up, swing it out, set it down. Reverse to load. Good luck!
 
My robotics team inherited a nice roll around tool box, twice as nice and big as our previous boxes, but I don't know how to load and unload the box for competitions. Our trailer deck is about 18" high. Ramps seem pretty difficult and dangerous due to unpredictable road crown, curbs, and pushing casters up ramps sucks.

Are there any clever mechanisms for this task sort of like a lower height ambulance gurney?
Mountain out of a molehill ? Running midgets, we welded up a simple frame with some biggish (6" or so ?) pneumatic tires, two fixed and two swivel like a shopping cart, then put the biggest bottom box Snap-On makes on it, with a big top box, a small set of torches, and a tank for air. Pits at dirt tracks (and some paved tracks) are not smooth flat and level. When you pit inside, you have to roll off all your stuff and take the tow rig outside the track. Sometimes over grass, always ruts holes and booby-traps.

Two guys could easily handle the Rolling Cart of Doom (our nickname.) Never had even the slightest problem. One guy, in a pinch.
 
The ramps need to angle up to 18' in the length of the ramps resulting to x degrees angle.The trailer if it could be slanted down at the rear would lessen the angle. Design a tilt trailer device to angle the trailer so it might average the angle to it lowest incline including the ramp. Yes you still need a device to pull/push it up the hill.
Or
Tie the out end of the ramp together with a secure welded brace... Provide a method to lock the box to the ramp. With a lever (crow bar), lever the ramp up perhaps 2” at a time and setting 2x4 wood shims under the out end until the ramp is horizontal and parallel to trailer bed, then roll the box onto the trailer // reverse for removal.
Or
Make a fixture to attach to the box bottom that would include a tong arm handle at one side and a platform on the other side to hold a power or hand winch...install a place for an eye bolt on the trailer.. add wheel guide channels on the ramp..Winch it up and down with a pulley at the trailer end eye-bolt and the cable going back to the tong arm handle. Yes the fixture could be bolted to the box bottom.. or made to be held with straps around the box. Angle iron might be best material as it could be better attach to the box edge. Using straps verticaly and around the box would also keep drawers closed.
12 lb. Capacity Hand Winch
 
My robotics team inherited a nice roll around tool box, twice as nice and big as our previous boxes, but I don't know how to load and unload the box for competitions. Our trailer deck is about 18" high. Ramps seem pretty difficult and dangerous due to unpredictable road crown, curbs, and pushing casters up ramps sucks.

Are there any clever mechanisms for this task sort of like a lower height ambulance gurney?

Not all that different, yes. The concept is that one does NOT tilt, nor go up and down ramps, but loads and unloads level.

That can be done with rails that go in the vehicle, knocked-down.

On-site, pull them out, latch together, let down outrigger jack posts to compensate for terrain & match the vehicle. Really help if the vehicle has arse-end left & right outriggers itself. Roll load out level onto the "structure". Then aside the vehicle.

Crank load to a lower altitude. Or not.

Reverse to load and go.

Four-poster should do yah, and you'll probably have to calculate it and DIY fab it to insure you are not limited to one specific haul vehicle.

Commercial rigs made for various "service" trucks are a tad pricey, and generally leave one end anchored inside the truck - whole deal working like a large "drawer". They start simple...

http://www.800toolbox.com/roller_coaster/roller_coaster

...and get a great deal more complex for specialized tasking. Most render the truck immobile for the task duration.

JMNSHO, but with a "team" involved, a rig one can detach from, drive away to go for parts or chow or run someone to the Hospital seems more useful.

The parts aren't hard to find. I-channel and trailer jacks - manual or powered - some bolting and/or welding, basically.

If the box itself is stout enough? Gurney-style legs on outriggers, could be directly attached to a permanent reinforced frame.

I wouldn't. Easy to make a separate structure a great deal safer, and the specific box may end up not so "permanent" anyway.
 
Bigger wheels, ramp for each wheel of channel (to guide),
and a JATO bottle...:crazy:

...and arresting gear inside.....:D
 








 
Back
Top