(ET) Time to build a crane

[Chris Zach <cz beaker crystel com>]

Over the fall I did a fair bit of logging with the E20 and chainsaw. And 
as I get older I get tired of lifting big logs into the trailer.

It's time for a crane.

Anyone ever thought of one of these as an E20 attachment. My first 
thought is I can build one that hangs off the back of the E20.

Attach a boom (4 feet long say) to the tiller bar as a base pivot point.

Then use the rear powered lift strapped in such a way that it goes in 
the stab slots, and connects the lift strap to the middle of the boom 
(straight out and parallel to the ground).

Use a front lift mechanism attached to the boom itself to wind and 
unwind a cable that goes up the boom, over a pulley, and to a hook.

That way I can raise and lower the boom with the rear lift motor, and 
raise/lower the hook with a normal lift mechanism. Forces would be 
against the tiller bar (very heavy) and the lift mechanism/stab slots 
(which already can easily lift the tiller.

Thoughts? I'm building a few models with my FischerTechnics, and will 
use that to see what some of the forces would be like. Goal is to lift a 
100-200 pound log into a waiting trailer pulled by my E15 so it doesn't 
have to swivel much or survive a heavy load dangling as I drive.

Hm....

C