Rock Ranger
My trusty Ford Ranger continues to put up with my abuse so I thought I’d give it (and myself) a break and haul something a little less back breaking.
Normally I’m hauling close to a ton of sandstone. When ya pay $100 for whatever you can get on the truck I have a tendency to go a little overboard.
Regardless of the type of stone the loading process is basically the same. First you’re going to need a long bar to lift the front of the rock high enough to get the first roller under it. With the truck backed up to the intended stone use ramps, rollers, chain and a come-along (hand winch) to slowly get it on the truck. My ramps are nothing more than three 2 x 4s nailed together.
One thing to remember – the rollers act as a steering wheels. Make sure they’re aligned to go in the direction you want. Even the back rollers need to be aligned correctly or the back end of the rock will swing in the direction they’re pointing.
Did I mention slowly? Rounded boulders really don’t like to be off the ground. They have an inherent fear of gravity and a nasty habit of jumping off the ramp. You have to coax them along a little bit at a time. This one had a fairly flat bottom so the loading went smoothly.
Easy as cake. Well, you try to get my wife to bake and you’ll know what I mean.
Go ahead and try this at home. If you don’t have a place for one I’m sure your in-law’s driveway would be a great spot to drop it off.
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August 8th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hee hee hee, I can relate to this. well done getting round boulders like that into tour pickup truck. I like the idea of leaving one in the in laws driveway two
August 8th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I thought you were done hauling rocks ! Nice catch.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Hey, Mr. Rock, roll the stone.
August 9th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Where would we be without winches!? Things don’t have be round around here to take a header off the skids and make a bee-line for the ditch. Almost lost our chipper-shredder that way once…would’ve lost it without the winch!
August 9th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
The rock in the driveway sounds about like the guy that drove the cement truck. He thought maybe his wife was messing around so he drove by his own house one day with the truck. Noting a Cadillac convertible in his driveway he filled it with cement and went on his way.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
This is the way they say the stones for the pyramids were moved. The old ways are still the best.
August 10th, 2010 at 6:20 am
Hello,
Great job. How is the car, not to tired ?
August 10th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
You make it look easy. Fun grabbing up rocks!
August 10th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
I love rocks. Do feel free to drop off several here.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Nice rock(-: You could drop it in my driveway too(-: I love rocks especially interesting ones like that one(-:
August 12th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Ya, that’s the way you do it! And what a price geez! Our cheap rocks are sonoma field stones, boulders big and small, six cents a pound – way more than 100 bucks a load. I love rocks too!
August 13th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Rock ‘n roll, baby! You’ve got the rock moving down to a fine art, Wiseacre.
August 16th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Poor truck. I could see it doing a cartoon routine where it keeps dodging the rock, trying to avoid carrying the boulder. I thought you had given up on rock ranging, but maybe just sandstone patios, which are the real back-breakers. Or maybe not even those; it’s a tough habit to kick. A few months without pain and you think, yeah, I could move that, or, yeah, a patio would look really good here.