My solution for handling big trusses

holdover · Jun 30, 2011

I built a 40 X 60 garage will very little help. here is what I came up with to handle the trusses, half of which were scissor. They were 40' with a 18" overhang each side. Everyone was lifted with just me and the tractor. The brackets are bolted to both the bottom and the top of the bucket with brackets. Made a difficult job easy, without renting a boom truck

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i229/holdover/barnsept08011.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i229/holdover/barnsept08008.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i229/holdover/barnsept08007.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i229/holdover/barnsept08001.jpg

mrobins297aaa · Jun 30, 2011

great idea

mmhouse · Jun 30, 2011

Love it!

A_Pmech · Jun 30, 2011

Slick idea!

70redbee · Jun 30, 2011

Great idea! But in the 3rd pic I see two people...you cheated. Only kidding great job.

holdover · Jun 30, 2011

70redbee, yes there are two other people, my 83 yr old father in law and my 30 yr old very agile son, who is also a contractor.. The post said the tractor and me lifted all the trusses and placed them. A bit about the tractor, it belongs to my son, he had just bought it and the New Holland dealer delivered it to my house, I immediately built the brackets and started lifting trusses, son didn't get to take it home for a few weeks! Build was done in 2008. We have used the brackets to do a few other garages and barns, they really work slick.

iajonesy · Jun 30, 2011

That might be a million $$$$$ idea you have there.

Mike

NASTYZEN · Jun 30, 2011

That's cool. I did the same thing,but with an electric fork lift.

east_tn_emc · Jun 30, 2011

Mother Necessity
With her good intentions,
Where would this country be
Without her inventions?

slickgt1 · Jun 30, 2011

Nice. That is what I like to see.

Charles (in GA) · Jun 30, 2011

Yes but that requires ingenuity and forethought, something which most people now days do not have.

Charles

jamesemery728 · Jun 30, 2011

I don't know if you are north of the Mason Dixon line or not but whatever I would have to call this good ol Yankee Ingenuity. Looks like an excellent idea.

MScott · Jun 30, 2011

What is the length of the uprights and what size of material did you use? Also, could you show a close-up of the top (where it supports the trusses.)

KEH · Jun 30, 2011

Impressive!

KEH

rburke65 · Jun 30, 2011

Nice job! What is the lift height on the front loader and the height of the walls of the garage/ Thanks. And yes, more pictures of the bucket mount and truss mount!

rburke65 · Jun 30, 2011

Any one else on here with ideas like this, or do we just bite the bullet and rent a lift for a few hours and be done with it. I have seen a similar set up before but there has to be other free thinkers out there..!

6768rogues · Jun 30, 2011

Looks like a cool idea. However, trusses are supposed to be lifted by a panel point (where the joining plates are attached) not by the midpoint of any chord or web. That tidbit of information is buried in the engineering specs and building codes and is one of the things that a code inspector is supposed to check when he inspects a job during construction. Hey, it worked and if you did not loosen any joints in the process, more power to you.

holdover · Jun 30, 2011

The up rights are 4" X 2" heavy duty channel iron 12' long and there is 5'4" between them joined with a piece of 4" channel. They could have been longer but they weren't needed. The wall to the plate is 10' 4.5". The bucket will lift about 9'. I'll get a photo of the end that picks up the truss. As to the attachment to the bucket is made by a piece of 4" channel welded to the bottom and bolted and another 4" welded to the point at the top of the bucket at the rolled flange. Over the years I have placed many a truss with a crane and I am fully aware on where they are to be lifted from, on the first few trusses I placed HD C clamps over the gang nail plates, both at the peak and on either side of the lift points, there was no sign of stress at these areas, so I stopped using the c clamps, BUT if there is any doubt as to the structural soundness using multiple clamps as a precaution would be a good idea also the lift could be modified to accomodate the engineered lift point if one chose to do it.

Kevin54 · Jul 1, 2011

Fixed it for ya. I hate having to open up single pics!!! :rocker:

Great idea though. :thumbup:

How about a closeup shot as to how you mount it to the bucket. I imagine there are more people that will end up using that idea.

justanengineer · Jul 1, 2011

Neat idea. My family always just used two people with two ladders, one at either end. Wrestling trusses by hand isnt that bad if youre careful. The hardest one is always the first.

holdover · Jul 1, 2011

justanengineer, in the past on jobs where the truss was 25-30' wide we often did it by hand, except when it was multiple story, then we used a boom truck or crane. On my garage there was going to be scissor trusses, which to me are a pain because of the lack of the bottom cord flush with the top of the wall. These scissors were monsters, 5/12 pitch outside 3/12 inside and with a lot of 2 X 6 lumber in them, I knew that I had to come up with something or swallow the cost of a boom truck, and being a personal project I didn't want to do that. To those that want to see them attached to the bucket, just imagine them standing up in the bucket with a base plate that is bolted through the bucket with grade 8 1/2"bolts, and where they meet the top of the bucket a 4" piece of channel welded to the upright and also bolted flush to the top lip of the bucket (which by the way is about 1/4 steel) I'll take a pic of the bracket, but the tractor is at my son's home.. The way the top piece was designed was to elevate the peak of the truss, I used a piece of 6 X 6 about 12" long then drive in slowly with the bucket rotated so the uprights were parallel to the ground and "capture" the truss and then slowly rotate the bucket till the truss was lifted. With a light hand there was no banging or stress placed on the truss, much like using a boom truck, except for the attachment point. I marked the sill plate in advance and also snapped a chalk line on the floor, and put a mark in the center of the back wall to assist in centering the truss while driving the tractor into the garage. It was a piece of cake actually getting them up. Once the truss was up and supported all I had to do was slowly lower the bucket to disengage the attachment.

bwatteful · Jul 1, 2011

When I used to frame houses with myself and 2 other guys, this was the only way we did it.

We were building spec homes for a large plumbing company out here in San Diego, 6-7,000 square feet, 3 stories plus basement on some of them

FarmWrench · Jan 1, 2012

I am looking to re-truss a block potato storage built in '58 and now surrounded with other construction. 50x80 (with 75# snowload) and a 15' wall hight has me thinking of building a mast on a steel pallet. (Google sent me back here to see how others have done it) Set the trusses up on supports and then get undre them with forklift with vertical boom. A spanner with a socket on top would sit on a ball on top of the post allowing rotation. 52' truss inside 50' outside to outside 12inch block walls means stacking and moving them around once. At my disposal 1. Toyota 7 series electric 4000# forklift with rotator and side shift 131inch lift capacity 2. Yale Propane 4000# set up about the same just a little less lift 12X"?. 3. JD 60 hp 7000# tractor with not enough tire or loader (I don't like haveing more than 1200# at max hight. Some steel scafolding and a lot of pallet boxes that make great platforms and fall protection. OH and a budy dropped of a "they were going to throw this out at work" NEW unused three stage hydraulic cylinder (DBL acting TO) about five feet tall all closed up unknown how long it is extended (from a car hauler). (didn't think of it till this post)

I need a safe way to take down the rotted off old trusses so It will be worth building something to do it from inside as it will take a HUGE crane to reach the last truss from a safe parking spot.

Flathead Johnny · Jan 1, 2012

great idea

jomobco · Jan 1, 2012

Ditto. Love to see the bucket hook-up. Great idea!

socapots · Jan 1, 2012

thats a pretty damn good idea...
just another reason i need a tractor with a bucket. lol.
i still dont think the wife will go for it. haha

trbomax · Jan 2, 2012

rburke65 said:
Any one else on here with ideas like this, or do we just bite the bullet and rent a lift for a few hours and be done with it. I have seen a similar set up before but there has to be other free thinkers out there..!

My solution was a boom attached to the palet forks with a spreader on the end of it. The trusses were connected to the spreader with the J hooks on my recovery gear.Pics are not that good,we were more interested in getting the job done than takeing pics!

edit) I needed 23' of lift for this one.

StarWolve · Jan 2, 2012

holdover - what is the pitch on those trusses? I'm looking to put up a 40x60' soon, but I live in Northern NY so we usually need a 6-12 pitch or steeper.

holdover · Jan 2, 2012

Starvolve, The pitch is 5/12 outside, 3/12 inside, your truss company would have no problem making them 6/12 outside. With the 3/12 inside and 10' 4.5" wall there is 15' + clrnc at the peak inside. The door is 9' high so there is no problem using my bendpac HD 14 which is located in the center, with PUs and Vans

jlckmj · Jan 2, 2012

I also made a truss boom, I'm too cheap to hire a crane or to buy a boom pole ready made so I loosely copied one from some advertisements I have seen. It worked slick, even though I was at the maximum height, I should have made it about 3 foot longer.
Jim

K2Orion · Jan 2, 2012

A guy I work with set the trusses on his house, alone. He's a little strange, so I can believe he couldn't get anybody to help him.
He owns an old CAT 955 Hi-lift and wedged/chained a tree into the bucket sticking out like a boom. He'd pick the trusses, hang them where they needed to go, scurry up the ladder, then as the hydraulics bled off push them in place.
At least thats the story he tells.

jimzz2006 · Mar 10, 2013

I wonder if I can rig this up on my little gehl 2600 skidsteer or if it would be better to borrow my brothers ford 3510????

cyamaha2007 · Mar 10, 2013

One thing to think about is lifting vehicles stability. I made a boom for my 3130. The truss got caught in the wind and it really made the tractor tippy. After that i used guide ropes. Just something to remember.

NUTTSGT · Mar 11, 2013

Good idea man. I had to look at the pictures twice to see that header was out of the doorway. I was wondering how you were lifting them up over it or if one end of the bldg was open.

I like the idea. :beer:

bobadame · Mar 11, 2013

NASTYZEN said:
That's cool. I did the same thing,but with an electric fork lift.

Me too.

NUTTSGT · Mar 11, 2013

Damn, I've been had again, this thread is 2 years old.

holdover · Mar 11, 2013

the thread is 2 yrs old, but guys are building all the time and that is how it came back up, and it saves the price of a boom truck if you are dealing with large trusses. I always put trusses up by hand to about a 30' span, but the sissor trusses were real heavy with all the 2 X 6 in them, plus I am getting too old to muscle them and help wasn't available. AND my son had just bought a new tractor that was begging to be used!

JC23 · Mar 11, 2013

Slicker than owl ****!

Bill T · Mar 11, 2013

I'm glad no one took any pictures while I was building my first shop. I was in a bind and had no help. The trusses were 24' with a 4/12 pitch.The stud walls were ten feet high. I installed the trusses by myself using a standard engine hoist. I used a long piece of tube steel for an extension in the motor hoist and used a couple of old motors for counter weights on the hoist. It worked,but was not very safe.

NUTTSGT · Mar 11, 2013

holdover said:
the thread is 2 yrs old, but guys are building all the time and that is how it came back up, and it saves the price of a boom truck if you are dealing with large trusses.

Oh, I understand that and still think it's a killer idea, I usually check out the date of thread before I post in it though. :beer:

My solution for handling big trusses

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Banned

Well-known member

MEMBER EMERITUS

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Super Moderator