Chain hoist from rafters?

[gtrotter]

Quick question for the experienced:
I need to put an LS1/4L60E combo into the back of my truck. My cherry picker comes just short of putting it in the bed. I bought a 2 ton chain style hoist. I was wanting to attatch that to a truck offroad rock slider at multiple points to distribute the load across several beams. The rock slider would span maybe 3 joists that are 24" on center. The engine combo weighs roughly 650 lbs, plus the slider and hoist(60 lbs). Garage is a fairly new cinderblock garage.

Is this safe to do IF I run the hoist as close as possible to the edge of the garage? I will be doing this one time, and one time only. Should I run support beams up to the affected joists?

 

[Falcon67]

What I did in my old shop with a chain fall was to run a couple of 8' 4x4s across the joists (24" OC). Between the 4x4s I used a piece of 2" steel pipe to hold the chain fall. I pulled a lot of engines/trans combos with that, plus hoisted an 850lb mill up on a stand.

 

[SGKent]

we used to put a pair of 4x4's vertically from floor with a 4x4 mounted between them. We would rope the top 4x4 to a truss and L bracket bolt the vertical 4x4's onto the floor. I have pulled 6 cyl jeep engines using 2 x 8 joists with a 2x8 laying across several. It creaked and groaned but worked fine. Another way is grab 3 buddies and a 4x4 wider than the truck. Lift it in with your buddies. We have done that to engines at the race track before when we lacked a cherry picker.

 

[olds70supreme]

Would it be possible to crib a platform out of 4x4 lumber and 2x? material? Put the cherry picker on the cribbing empty, than jack the engine/trans compo up, than back your pickup right under.

 

[gtrotter]

Well I also thought about taking the tires/wheels off to gain a little. They are 33" tires, so I guess that would be possible. I am only about 3 inches off with the cherry picker.

 

[paullie]

let the air out of your tires??????

 

[bobemmerich]

let the air out of your tires??????

this^^^^^

 

[Eagle Point]

Take the wheels off and lower it down on jack stands if there is enough room to let it sit where it is?

 

[gtrotter]

this^^^^^

I would, BUT they are load range E mud tires on a lightweight toyota pickup. I would have to go to zero PSI and I'm not sure even that would work.

 

[kblazer87]

let the air out of your tires??????

This would be the first thing I would try.

 

[Falcon67]

let the air out of your tires??????

LOL. Moving my mill, oops - low doorway, now what - letting the air out might be a good idea.

 

[Cryptic1911]

just put the engine hoist up on some blocks to raise the height. problem solved!

 

[ultimase]

Either let the air out of the tires, take the tires off, or compress the suspension in the back, ie get a bunch of guys to get into the bed and compress the springs.

 

[toolmiser]

I've got an I beam supported by a post on one end, and supported by the trusses. To make the load more like the trusses were designed for, I glued and nailed 2x 6"s from the beam to the top of the truss. I ran a 6 x 6 on top of the bottom cord and bolted the beam to that. Not saying it is proper, but I think it helps.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I was going to suggest letting air out of tires but that has been covered. Always work smarter not harder.

 

[sberry]

I bet it could be done with the picker. It might take some re-rigging.

 

[Steevo]

just put the engine hoist up on some blocks to raise the height. problem solved!

That was where I was headed with this. 4x4 under the legs front and back.

 

[GarageEnvy]

As a child I worked on old boats with my father. We removed engines with a chain hoist from the joists. The biggest engine was a fully marinized (cast iron exhaust) Olds 455. I suspect the weight was in the 1200 pound range (just a guess). There was a 2x12 on edge placed between the joists about 8' off the wall. Looking back on it now we both maintain it was the dumbest thing we've ever done in the garage. It's probably nothing short of a miracle that we didn't A) Drop a big block through the floor of a boat B) Kill ourselves C) Bring the garage down on top of us. Thirty years later the same chain hoist is still there on the same 2x12 but loads are kept under 300 +/- pounds.

Have I done it? Yes and it worked.
Would I recommend doing it. Definitely not!

 

[sberry]

Might be able to just block front legs. Biggest concern is tip over when booming down.

 

[crewone]

Before we put the beam in we used 4in channel across 4 rafters. pulled alot of engine trany combos with it also full size truck beds,and a truck cab once.
Rafters are 2x6 on 2foot centers also Chains still hanging there in the pic. and the chain blocks are in the other pics

 

[wssix99]

Putting a point load on roof rafters/trusses is not a good idea. Particularly on newer engineered wood beams and trusses. This can work, but a licensed engineer should really do the calculations to confirm.

The ideas about lowering the car or raising the cherry picker are the best way to go because it puts the load on the floor, which can handle it.

 

[318fekim]

I have to agree wi wssix99 on this. The rafters aren't designed for this kind of load, they are there to support the roof. The trouble you run into with wood is by looking at it, you are unable to determine its strength. With steel, all beams have a load rating that can be calculated. If you PM me a span and beam size I can look it up for you. If this is a one time deal I reccomend lowering the bed height some how.
mike

 

[DIYKiah]

I have always heard that you have to be careful attaching stuff to joists and trusses because in some cases it can void your warranty... This is just something I have heard in the past and may not be true but it certainly does make sense!

 

[Zeke]

Use an extension on the picker.

 

[MoonRise]

As mentioned, you -can- do it. Maybe.

Is it a good idea to do it? Nope. Not without someone competent doing some engineering calculations.

In general, roof trusses are made and designed to pretty much hold up the roof. And that is it. They may or may not have been designed to hold up a little bit of a ceiling load, spread pretty evenly and uniformly over all or most of the bottom of the trusses.

But a 'point' load, or an 'intense' load even shared over a few adjacent trusses via a piece of 2x or a jerry-rigged piece of metal somehow attached to the bottom of a few roof trusses? Nope.

Be safe. Unless you KNOW what you are doing, anything else can be downright stupid or dangerous. As in "Here, hold my beer and watch this ... " type of stupid.

Let some air out of the tires and maybe combine that with cribbing up the cherry-picker. Use some stout ramps, put engine on a skid and winch (pulley, come-along, etc) the engine-on-a-skid into the truck bed. Etc, etc.

 

[Kevin54]

I pulled a few 440 engines out using fullsize oak 2x6's straddled across (3) 2x4 trusses with no problem. I just shoved the 2x's close together, tossed a tow chain around them, then hung the chain hoist off of that.

 

[Twiggss]

take the 33's off, surely you can live an afternoon without the bro tires.

 

[JamieK]

Like others have said, crib up the hoist. Roll the hoist to the middle of the garage, crib it up with some 4 x 4s, pick up the engine as high as it will go, and back the truck under. Much easier than pulling tires off or even hanging the chain hoist.

 

[Kev442]

I have done it every way described here, and the easiest and safest way to do it is to take the rear tires off and lower the back end down using a jack under the differential pumpkin. Lower the truck onto some wood blocks for stability, load the engine, raise the truck and put the rear tires back on. This assumes you own a quality jack.

 

[Ascinder]

The quickest, simplest, cheapest and safest way has already been said. Just raise the cherry picker up with a couple 4x4s or stacked 2x4s. He only has to go up 3". This with the combination of letting out only a little air will still let him back the truck up to the picker.

 

[gtrotter]

I totally forgot about this thread. Anyways, to all concerned I managed to get the engine/trans in the truck. I hoisted it up as high as possible with the cherry picker. I then lifted one end up with the overhead hoist to just clear the bed. "Pushed" the pallet forward, repositioned the overhead hoist further back on the pallet and pushed it the rest of the way into the truck.

To the guy that said I had "bro" tires. This is a work truck, not some flat bill, dude, bro truck.

 

[BD1]

Your answer maybe in the truck photo. Got a good size limb on the trees ? I rigged farm equipment off of trees. You might be able to do it on the main truck . Hang fall above a main branch and let fall hang on trunk too. Will have to hold engine away with some muscle on a rope. Raise up ,back truck close and let down. Worked for me.