Mounting Harbor Freight Hoist

[joeswamp]

Just bought one of those Harbor Freight electric hoists and the thing seems to work just fine, but I was a little surprised by how it mounts. It comes with these square brackets that seem intended to clamp it to a square tube.

So I measure the ID of the bracket, figuring I'll just go over to the steel supplier and buy a foot or so of the proper size, and the bracket measures 1-13/16". Oh great, it's metric. But then I convert the measurement to metric and it's like 46mm, another odd size.

I guess I can get some 1-1/2" tube and hang it loosely, but the whole situation seems a little weird to me. Am I missing something or is there something strange going on here?

 

[rlitman]

They made a kit for that, which worked with Sch40 galvanized pipe.
In mine, I just removed the brackets and made something to suit my purposes.

 

[Dustball]

Why not 1-3/4" tube?

 

[KenB]

I used a jib from Cabelas (#228387) that seems to be made for it and is still working great: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26267&highlight=simple+hoist


Ken

 

[joeswamp]

Why not 1-3/4" tube?

OK, that's the part I was missing. My local supplier only stocks sizes in half inch increments and so I thought that was all that's available. Looking online though reveals that 1-3/4" is a stock size.

Was kind of a dumb question, so thanks for setting me straight!