Electric Hoist Malfunction - What Would Happen?

[ddurrett896]

What I was saying is this: Let's say your celling height is 8 feet. You take a 7' 10.5" long 2x4. You take another 2x4 about 2' long and attach that horizontally to the top of the longer 2x4. Now you have a T with a total height of 8'.

Bring the stairs up. Slide the T under the unhinged (next to the wall) side of the stairs. The T is now supporting that end of the stairs.

To bring the stairs down, slide the T out from under the stairs' end, and lean the T against the wall. You should be able to lower the unhinged side.

I like it. Only other thing I though of was adding a fall arrested, similar to what guys working overhead use.

 

[rlitman]

But a garage door isn't going to come slamming down like that would. Also I cant see where the hoist is actually attached.

A garage door without a spring will. It would also if the spring happens to break while it's moving.
In this case, the cable seems to come in on the right (far) side around the 5th step.

A second cable on the opposite side with a counterbalance that reduces the bulk of the lifting load would help, though even with only 5lbs of down-force remaining, the falling staircase could still bonk you dangerously. A better solution would be a governor that catches the stairs when in freefall like a seatbelt.

 

[walta]

Walta: Was there is any oil in the gear box? I'm curious to know if the gear box contains oil and whether orientation of the hoist matters, as I've got another application I'd like to use this hoist, however it'd best fit inverted.

My gear box had a few dabs of grease. It sounded better after cleaning and repacking but not great I bought a used spair it sounds much better.
The one in the photo seems happy on its side hoisting the chain across my driveway must have a few thousand cycles on it by now.

 

[driftpin]

I have a couple of the 2,000 lbs rating HFT hoists. I've had one apart. #38 has a cork face, and #39 has a smooth surface. The inner gears system isn't identical. The numbers above do not relate to the 2,000 lbs. hoist.

The grease vault had thick grease on the side of the large gear of my 2,000 lbs rated hoist, but not much on the teeth of either that or the gear with which it meshed. I slathered grease on every tooth of the large gear, and the sound under load was better.

 

[cajuncycle]

Here is a photo of my setup. HF hoist, and I've been using this setup for over 6 years now. Rarely a day goes by that I don't raise or lower the stairs. Never had a failure. I don't allow anyone near it when it's going up or down, I still don't fully trust the hoist!