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Can it be towed?

8K views 90 replies 34 participants last post by  Holleran 
#1 ·
At my school we have this big rock that has been there since the built the school. Every once in a awhile a few people spray paint it and what not, but now that I am a senior me and a few friends wanted to do something different. We want to move this rock :D

Here is a pic of it



The only thing is, I dont know how deep in the ground it is, nor how heavy it is. If my truck cant pull it out by itself, 2 of my friends each have a F-150 and another one has a Ram 2500 8.0L. All we want to do is pull it late at night where all the students park, so in the morning when everyone comes to school they will be like "What in the hell?!"

If you need any more pictures of how big it is I can get some more
 
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#2 ·
How do you plan on pulling it? Drag it I assume? Your going to tear the hell out of the landscaping #1, #2 I dont think your truck and the dodge could drag it. I would guess it weighs in at about 14k and with the friction of draging it, your talking about 25k or better of force. Then your going to have to put it back...
 
#3 ·
It will also be hard to get a grip on it. A strap would probably hold but as soon as the rock drags on it it will be destroyed and probably break. If you can get it with a chain you might have a chance but if it comes loose it could get nasty.

With a little added weight in the back of both trucks and using 4x4LO you might have a chance
 
#4 ·
You would have better luck with a 4 wheel drve farm tractor. Trucks not gonna move it. Too much dead weight
 
#9 ·
:popcorn:
 
#10 ·
your killing me here! I wasnt planing on moving it back. We were going to pull it right in the middle of the parking lot where everyone parks and just leave it there

as for straps we have a ton of them and a ton of chains that are pretty big, I dont know what they are rated for, but we use them to secure down a 14,000 LB mini ex
 
#15 ·
If you plan on moving it and leaving it, then I hope you like jail or at least a stiff fine... The school will pay someone to move it back or remove it altogether...
 
#12 ·
Doesn't look terribly big, hard to get a reference from just that paint can in front of it. Maybe about the size of a camry (obviously much more weight though.)

Obviously depends on how deep it is in the ground but I would think something along the lines of this would move it rather easily.

 
#14 ·
we moved a rock at our school my senior year but we used a 4020 JD with fork lift forks on the back of it to pick it up.... and it had some trouble doing it.
 
#18 ·
This is what I am thinking, I'll buy 3 4x4's and some 2x4's run the 3 4x4 straight and space them apart evenly then use the 2x4's to keep them space apart. If it works we will try and pull the rock so it sits on the 4x4's and then I will make some sort of tow rig with the 4x4's so a truck can hook up to each 4x4 with a strap or something then we should be able to pull it a little easier

Heres a crude drawing of it



Now you are probaly saying how am I going to "roll" the rock onto it?

Well you cant see it in that picture but the right side of the rock comes up off the ground about 6-8 inches. So if I hook up to that side then hopefully it turns or flips on the wood I should be ok.

I will probaly end up changing this, its just a very rough draft
 
#19 ·
Good luck! My guess is that rock weighs at least 8 tons. 4x4s and 2x4s aren't gonna do the trick. That D4H in the picture above won't touch it. A 963C (weighs 44,000 lbs) would need a very good operator to move that around.

Basically somebody is likely to get hurt if you try tugging on that thing with your trucks. The biggest challenge would be getting hooked down low on it so it's not lifting the rear of the truck up. I would be willing to bet alot of money that you won't move it any further than to roll it on it's downhill side.
 
#23 ·
ifn ya'll wanted to do it right...ya gotta drill some holes in the rock and put some hooks in it...like they do for retaining a cliff next to a road with chain link...that way you have a solid tow point. then hitch on to it with a few trucks and pull away. I think ya'll would be able to do it with 4 or so trucks on it. just becareful if it starts to roll you can kiss all ya'lls trucks goodby!!! LOL
 
#24 ·
We have something along those lines planned out
it wont roll down the hill because there is no "real" hill there just a small slope that sits about 20 ft away

This is what we planned so far, I have a "base" to pull the rock on. Its in my head right now, I just have to design it, but it will work.

As for trucks, we are going to use my F-superduty (basically a F-450) dually, my F-250 and my friend Ram 2500 8.0L. I have thought this over a lot talked to a couple friends that know alot about towing. They said it should work, but will take some time

now we just have to set a date and get the supplies, It will be going down in about a month or 2
 
#26 ·
All I can say is use a strong strap. It will got towards the rock or towards the back of the truck if it breaks. With a chain it can go anywhere & has been known to kill or seriously injure many more.
 
#27 ·
Thats what I am worried about, I have seen chains break before and has gotten very close to being very nasty

I have a whole bunch of big towing straps at home that should work
 
#28 ·
i bet that rock wieghs more than 14k we moved a boulder a little bigger than that and we had to use 2 rubber tire loaders one on each side picked it up and set it on a flatbed. I dont see those trucks being able to pull it. if you do that schools going to know who did it. just look at the parking lot for a few big trucks with bent or missing hitches
 
#29 ·
all the trucks we are going to use are not daily drivers for any of us

but I'm not picking it up I'm draging it on a huge skid that I have at home, My grand father works at a huge scrap yard and is head of maintance and got this huge skid that they used to hold some grating for the mill, This skid itself weighs over 200 pounds
 
#33 ·
I want a video to!

You should take another picture with a truck or something bigger than a paint can for size referance
 
#34 ·
heres the only picture I can find at the moment, Its off one of my friends Facebook's



It looks huge in that picture but its not that big. Monday I will try to get a ton of pics of it if I have time. (We only got our ass's handed to us in our first football game so there will be a ton of running :( )
 
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