overhead beam mounting?

[jeffg]

Hello everyone.

I am going to be moving into my first house very soon and I am happy to say that I found a house with a 3 car garage and a little bit of extra work space.

I typically do a lot of work in my garage and I would like to make things easier if I can.

The one area I am really interested in is lifting heavy things. Be it an engine, a crate, building materials, whatever, I always end up with a trailer full of something I just plain cant pick up.

I have seen several posts on this board where people have overhead beams with trolleys mounted. Can I add this my existing structure? What kind of mounting would I use?

The garage has wooden 2x4 trusses perpendicular to the intended beam mounting. My first thought was to use bent steel brackets to go over the truss and bolt on each side to the beam. I could do this every 16", but in the end I dont want to end up pulling the roof down with the weight of the beam and whatever I lift. I figured I could double up the truss beams if needed.

Would it be better to try and engineer some sort of self supporting frame and bolt it to the concrete rather than to hang it from the ceiling? Obviously I would like to hang it if possible to save the floor space when not in use.

How is everyone else mounting their beams?

 

[PAToyota]

A lot depends on how much you plan to lift. Trusses are designed to carry specific loads and while they can be designed to carry a point load like you are proposing, typically they are not designed for such things. You could possibly get away with lifting a couple hundred pounds this way.

Supporting off the floor is a much better way of handling things for heavier loads. In my case, I overdesigned the beams supporting the second floor and am working on putting together a 2-ton bridge crane system using them. The beams are supported by columns that go the whole way down to the foundation of the building.

 

[CraigFL]

I boxed in my support trusses and bolted bars to the webs that hang down into the garage. I run a high strength 7/8" bolt thru the web of the beam and bars at each end. This allows me to pick 500# with my trolley mounted hoist.

 

[nova65ss]

My neighbor built his garage with the beam as part of the center support, he planned better than me I saved money and used LVL's

Is it possible to make your own "jacks" to attach to each wall and set a beam on top of those just as if it were the wall jacks? Am I making any sense? How wide is this garage?

 

[jeffg]

The garage is a standard 3 car wide garage. I would like to keep from mounting a pole in the middle of the garage if possible, but if thats what it takes I will do it.

I am hoping to mount the beam down the length of the single bay. This means I could put a set of "legs" next to the wall and bolt those down, but the other end would be out in the middle of the garage and I would like to avoid that if possible.

I have attached an image of what I am working with. The red line is the beam I want to mount. The blue lines are the roof trusses and the green lines are a possible "mounting frame" I could potentially build.

The beam is about 15' long and the garage bay is about 10' wide. (drawing obviously not to scale )

 

[PAToyota]

Depending upon the height of your garage ceiling, you probably only need four posts - in which case you could keep the one out of the middle of your garage as you show.

I'm using W14x26 beams and spanning 24' between 4" dia. columns. And that is including the weight of the second floor wood shop. So depending on the beam you use you can easily span 15' with support just at the ends.

 

[jeffg]

what kind of material should I used for the cross beams in the mounting frame? The same i-beam welded in a giant I shape? How about the vertical posts?

 

[PAToyota]

Typically you'd use tube - circular or square - for the posts. Square is a bit stronger, but also more pricey. I'd run W-sections for the cross beams and main beams - what they call "wide flange" beams. The size would depend on span and load.

 

[BoostAddiction]

Hello everyone.

I am going to be moving into my first house very soon and I am happy to say that I found a house with a 3 car garage and a little bit of extra work space.

I typically do a lot of work in my garage and I would like to make things easier if I can.

The one area I am really interested in is lifting heavy things. Be it an engine, a crate, building materials, whatever, I always end up with a trailer full of something I just plain cant pick up.

I have seen several posts on this board where people have overhead beams with trolleys mounted. Can I add this my existing structure? What kind of mounting would I use?

The garage has wooden 2x4 trusses perpendicular to the intended beam mounting. My first thought was to use bent steel brackets to go over the truss and bolt on each side to the beam. I could do this every 16", but in the end I dont want to end up pulling the roof down with the weight of the beam and whatever I lift. I figured I could double up the truss beams if needed.

Would it be better to try and engineer some sort of self supporting frame and bolt it to the concrete rather than to hang it from the ceiling? Obviously I would like to hang it if possible to save the floor space when not in use.

How is everyone else mounting their beams?

You might consider that you can meet your stated objective more cheaply than by adding a conventional carriage hoist.

In my garage, I found that my two-post Rotary lift has been invaluable not just for the obvious things like lifting cars, but also for lifting heavy things I couldn't otherwise manage, even with a few hefty buds.

For example, I lifted my sheet metal shear/brake/roll off the pickup I used to bring it home. There was no way I could have lifted it myself, but just loving the two lift arms in and running a chain between them made short shrift of the job. The whole thing probably weighed around 400-500 pounds but of course the lift hardly knew it was there. The same scheme could be used to lift and engine or engine trans out of a car that is positioned in the lift bay.

Note that most of the hoists you are considering are 2-3 ton rated, but even the smallest automotive lift can easily lift 7000 lbs.

Unless you need to both lift and move stuff around the garage, you might consider that a regular car lift can easily meet your lifting needs.

-Will

 

[jeffg]

I agree a lift would be great, but having a lift that I couldnt put the car on and work under would make me more aggrivated than not having a lift. The ceiling in my garage is not high enough to get a car in the air. The ceilings are only 9'

I was looking through the gallery section and I saw something that might be just the ticket for what I need. Basically it looked like a carriage hoist, but the beam was mounted a pivot on the wall. I assume he just swung the beam out when needed. The far end of the beam had a down post with wheels on the end. It looked pretty trick and would be out of the way when not in use. How stable would the beam be with something heavy on it though.

J

 

[JOHNMAN]

I was looking through the gallery section and I saw something that might be just the ticket for what I need. Basically it looked like a carriage hoist, but the beam was mounted a pivot on the wall. I assume he just swung the beam out when needed. The far end of the beam had a down post with wheels on the end. It looked pretty trick and would be out of the way when not in use. How stable would the beam be with something heavy on it though.

What you are describing is a jib crane. They are plenty stout if designed correctly. Most have a stabilizer rod reaching from the beam back upward to the mast.

The wall or column that the jib is mounted to must be substantial. Most floor mounted jib cranes require a large concrete pad to be poured (on the order of 4'x4'x3'thick with jhook anchors embedded into the pour) Do a google search on Jib Crane installation instructions. Download some PDF instructions and read them.

I'm not entirely sure that the jib crane would be the best solution.

I like your original idea of columns, headers and a runway beam for your trolley. I design things like that every day at work....

 

[PAToyota]

Here is what I'm putting together. The six columns and the three beams are in place supporting the second floor - the beams are about 24' each. I'm going to hang the yellow beam off of them using three trolleys and then the trolley on that beam will run a 2-ton roller chain hoist.

Thanks to OldCarGuy for setting the old mental wheels spinning!

 

[jeffg]

I think the origional idea was what I really want, I just dont know the materials that well. Can you help me spec out what materials I would need to use? If not, I can probably hunt up a ME with some spare time somewhere to help be figure out what beam to order.

Would I beam be acceptable for the columns?

 

[OldCarGuy]

Below is the thread where I installed a 4,000 pound capacity bridge crane in my garage. It has a span of 27' and 45’ of runway. I totally supported the runway beams from the floor using six 4” H beams. Though I would imagine round pipe would work. Best to check with a structual engineer.

Below is the thread where I installed a 4,000 pound capacity bridge crane in my garage. It has a span of 27” and 45’ of runway. I totally supported the runway beams from the floor using six 4” H beams. Though I would imagine round pipe would work.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2122&page=6


Commercial bridge crane
http://www.lkgoodwin.com/more_info/...es/series_300_manual_medium_duty_cranes.shtml

Beam capacity chart.
http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2831

 

[PAToyota]

To help out, I cross referenced the shopfloortalk beam sizes with actual designations:

4"H x 2.66"W = S4x7.7
5"H x 3" W = S5x10
6"H x 3.33"W = S6x12.5
8"H x 4"W = S8x18.4
10"H x 4.66"W= S10x25.4
10"H x 5"W = S10x35

Going to a steel shop, they will go by the beam designations. Typically, wide flange (W-sections) are used more often than the older S-shapes due to ease of manufacturing.

 

[Fultrtl]

Why not buy a folding 2 or 4 ton engine hoist to do what you want. Do what you need to do ,fold it up for storage and be done.
Wayne

 

[PAToyota]

All depends on what you need to use it for. Personally, I would not get the lift height or mobility with an engine hoist over the bridge crane system.

 

[jeffg]

I have a 2 ton engine lift, and most of the time I have to extend the boom so far that either I dont have the capacity to lift what I need, or the weight is so heavy that it tries to flip the engine lift over. I usually have to con the wife into standing on the back of the engine lift. She hates that.

Most of what I am doing is unloading engines, transmissions, subframes, etc off of trailers. Usually after they have met with a large rock or a tree, or who knows what.

A typicaly transmission crate weights in at about 480lbs. Engines are much lighter. Front cuts can be up to 1400 lbs. A 2000 lbs capacity overhead crane would make short work of this type of thing.

J