Pallet management for sideliners

[DonShackelford]

I'm a small growing sideliner buying some hives on pallets this spring. This has me thinking maybe this is the time to start using pallets. I'm not ready to invest in a forklift, but need a way to lift pallets on & off. One at a time would work.

I've been looking at pickup truck lifts like the Maxxtow hitch crane and was wondering if anyone had experience with using a device like this to load and unload a pallet of hives from their truck or trailer.

http://www.amazon.com/Maxxtow-Towing.../dp/B008CE0WCW

[Rader Sidetrack]

I don't have any experience with this device.

I see that the rated capacity with the arm fully extended is 500 lbs. My guess is that you will need to have the arm fully extended in order to have the pallet clear the vertical riser. So by the time you subtract the weight of the pallet, and whatever mechanism you use to attach/hook the pallet, your allowable weight for hives is looking kinda slim. Of course, that depends on how many you have on the pallet.