Ceiling mounted loopey thing

[ryanjg11]

We purchased a house and in the garage, this heavy-duty bracket was mounted to the ceiling joist. Any idea what it's used for?

We happen to have a very steep (but short) driveway and I'd like to move some heavy woodworking machines into the garage. I'm wondering if I could use this mount and perhaps attach some kind of pulley or winch system to pull up this heavy gear (on furniture dolleys or something similar) up the driveway and into the garage. Thoughts?

 

[xela456]

punching bag

 

[dave*99]

If I were using a winch to pull something up the driveway I would want to run the cable low on the ground. Using a high pull point like the ceiling can tip the load over.

 

[Dustball]

What's behind the drywall?

 

[sublimate]

*** swing

 

[ryanjg11]

*** swing

If only you knew the previous owners...

 

[G_P]

I would not trust that to haul or hoist equipment. Its likely allthread rod with a nut on each end holding it up, and it will bend and break under a heavy load. Even if you had strong enough hardware, without knowing exactly what its mounted to its not worth the risk of injury/death and damaged equipment.

 

[CNGsaves]

*** swing

If only you knew the previous owners...

Were there lots of Whipped Cream aerosol cans still in the frig ???? . .

 

[RayBob58]

Thoughts?

My only thought would be, if you use that to pull heavy machinery uphill, don't stand on the downhill side.

 

[wssix99]

Disco Ball.

It's most likely the P.O. was hanging something on there that the shouldn't have...

 

[bad_idea]

Probably a punching bag. I would feel comfortable picking 200 lbs straight up with that, no more. No side loading. Would be great for lifting things out of the truck if properly positioned. Hoist item up, pull truck out, lower item.

For dragging equipment into the garage, NO! Mount a pull point into the garage floor. It has been discussed countless times on the forum, do a quick search. With your winch point low, the items won't want to tip as bad. Also works great for dragging dead cars into the garage. I personally welded a receiver tube (Harbor Frieght $12) to 12" square of 1/4" plate. Bolted that to the floor with (4) 1/2" anchors. It is located under my rolling tool chest, so not a trip hazard. Mounted a small winch to a 2" piece of square tube. Slide the winch in when needed, store in cabinet when not needed.

 

[matt_i]

Side pull, not a good idea. Straight up, minimal load.

What I don't like about the structure is that the U-bracket is too wide. It should be tightly hugging the beam with the drywall notched out, so that the threaded rods are in a shear and not in bending as they would seem to be from visual analysis.

It is remotely possible that what I think is a tube-spacer is actually drilled all the way thru the beam. That would improve it slightly as now a length of tube is bending instead of a small diameter rod, but I'd still take it apart and put in a solid bolt that has the same diameter and fix the above excess side-clearance issue.

And even after that I would not use it for a side pull. Get extra friends and use moving dollies or refrigerator dollies. If you have to winch, park a pickup truck in the shop and use its receiver hitch as a pull point, and make sure you are pulling the "cart" directly and not up high, as a small pebble that stops a caster can mess up your day. Also to be noted is that if you pull out of level, as you get closer and closer to the pull point, the cable or chain vector has some UP component and it can tip the cart if not careful. This is why I say get an army of friends and appropriate foodstuffs. Break out the beer at the very end of the job

 

[APEowner]

I also would not use that or really any rafter mounted bracket for a side pull. Rafters in general have very little strength in that direction. That, combined with the fact that you have no idea what that bracket is really attached to makes a side pull a really bad idea.

 

[930dreamer]

Hanging a game carcass?

 

[deserthawk]

Time out mount for the naughty kid

 

[uncletater]

*** swing

Dirty minds think alike.

 

[larry_g]

If nothing else learn that the proper name for that is an eyebolt.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#eyebolts/=11alizk

As you can see some of them are rated for lifting and other are not. Matt i has given you good information and you can assume that the threaded rod/ spacer setup is your weak link.

lg
no neat sig line