Light overhead lifting options

[Mastiff37]

My current garage has some fairly stout storage rafters which I have used to remove truck beds with chain hoists, see blow. A truck bed is something like 400 pounds, so ~100 pounds per hoist here. My new shop is a 32x60 pole building with trusses every 12 feet. The new trusses are not appropriate for even light lifting IMO and too far apart anyway. What options can you guys think of to make my big shop capable of doing this job? I could buy a gantry crane or two (one would require balancing somehow) but they aren't cheap and take a lot of space when not in use.

And please let's not have this devolve into a discussion of how unsafe this is.

 

[whateg01]

The obvious answer is...

Do you need to be able to cover the while shop? Or will the lifting be done in one place all the time? Do you need to be able to move the lifted thing after it's in the air? That's not something you were able to do before, but it's nice to be able to do it.

 

[cvairwerks]

A rolling floor based gantry is the cheapest method. Next would be a long armed jib crane and most expensive would be putting in a bridge crane.

 

[mike93lx]

I think I'd do a rolling gantry until it proved to be insufficient in either capacity or convenience

 

[Mastiff37]

The obvious answer is...

Do you need to be able to cover the while shop? Or will the lifting be done in one place all the time? Do you need to be able to move the lifted thing after it's in the air? That's not something you were able to do before, but it's nice to be able to do it.

No, I'd be happy to have a dedicated spot with the stout overhead lift points. And moving would be nice, but not required. I could see wanting to pull an engine and move it away with something less annoying than an engine hoist...

 

[Mastiff37]

I think I'd do a rolling gantry until it proved to be insufficient in either capacity or convenience

It looks like about $1000 for one and it would take two for this job. Then the big thing is all the space they take up when not in use.

But yeah, it might turn out to be the best solution.

 

[carlaisle]

A pair of gantry cranes will be the easiest. With a pair, you can span them with one or more separate beams and then you have a mobile bridge crane. If you disassemble when they're not in use they don't take up much space. If you have access to appropriate scrap material and confidence in your powers of fabrication they're pretty simple. The more complicated option would be to go to an engineer and have a solution engineered to support overhead lifting at the points you specify. By the time you pay for the engineer, the materials, and the installation you'll be money ahead on the pair of cranes.

 

[mike93lx]

It looks like about $1000 for one and it would take two for this job. Then the big thing is all the space they take up when not in use.

But yeah, it might turn out to be the best solution.

Between balancing and spreader bars, I'd expect one could do it fine

 

[Mastiff37]

Between balancing and spreader bars, I'd expect one could do it fine

Yeah, I was reading reviews of the harbor freight one and it sounds like people lift bodies with just one all the time. Two hoists on the crane with load balancers could probably provide a lot of control.

 

[CraigStu]

I am w/ mike93lx. You could make up a chain set so you can use a single hoist. Get two 2-3" rings, 4 lengths of chain, and 5 shackles. Shackle ends of 2 chains to each ring and shackle the rings together to the hoist. The other ends of the 4 chains attach to the bed. At just 400# the bed isn't going to get into an uncontrolled swing situation.

 

[racecougar]

If we're just talking about truck beds here, an engine hoist (cherry picker) works great. Demonstration here:

 

[danfromsyr]

I'd think 2 pipe frame 'swing sets' would be able to handle truck beds.
and can be dissassembled and left outside in a bundle..

 

[ipgenie]

I've got a harbor freight gantry. It works great for truck beds. My neighbor has borrowed it to lift a few Ford cabs. Pretty handy.

 

[nadogail]

The first shop I worked in had several pipes resting on the ceiling joists, one was over each place a lift might be needed; chain was looped over each of the pipes and chain hoists were hung from the chains.

The Align Boring Machine, the Crankshaft Grinder and the tank for soaking engine blocks all had dedicated chain hoists.

 

[Cheesy1]

The first shop I worked in had several pipes resting on the ceiling joists, one was over each place a lift might be needed; chain was looped over each of the pipes and chain hoists were hung from the chains.

The Align Boring Machine, the Crankshaft Grinder and the tank for soaking engine blocks all had dedicated chain hoists.

How dad supported a tractor when splitting in half. Pipe ran through the joists and then chain off the pipe as needed.