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Rolling hoist inside workshop

ckucia

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
370
Location
West Virginia
About to start building a small workshop. Plans are 16x24 inside with a slightly larger covered area outside.

I do a fair amount of auto/tractor work - pulling engines, splitting tractors. Generally use a cherry picker, but was thinking a hoist might come in handy.

Found several pics on google of wooden rolling hoists guys have built to pull engines, flip boat hulls, etc.

Was thinking something like that might be useful inside and outside, but inside's what I'd like to talk about.

Wondering if I could build a rolling wooden hoist that would span the whole 16' inside and would roll along the side walls of the workshop. I'm building on piers with beams running the 24' length. If I overhang the walls off the beam, I could run the hoist right on top of the beam, transferring any weight through the beam to the piers.

Could frame up a wall inside the hoist supports so I could still hang shelving and parts on the inner wall without interfering with the hoist rolling.

Curious how I'd figure out what sort of beam I'd need. I can get 2x12s 16' long easily from the box stores. Would three of them sandwiched together give me enough capacity to hook an engine and, say move it across the room? Are there online calculators that would work to figure that out?

This is sort of what I had in mind - just taller and wider.

Imgp5370-gantry2.jpg
 
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MEAKN

Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Messages
10
Location
SoCal
For pulling engines, splitting tractors, etc., I wouldn't trust a wood beam, 16' span gentry crane with the weight. It may not be wide enough, but H.F. sells one made out of steel & height adjustable, w/ trolley for something like $600. I would think even a steel I-beam with that span would have trouble supporting that much weight without being something huge.
 

homebuilt burner

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 8, 2014
Messages
1,763
Location
central Wisconsin
I am also building this summer 14x26 and I intend to build a pair of rails into the ceiling, tied to the roof trusses. If you set the rails 2 or 3 feet away from the wall it reduces the span of the I-beam of course the trusses will have to be upsized to handle the extra weight. I have the same idea not huge but large enough to pull and engine if I strip it down some.
 
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Cyberbear

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 23, 2013
Messages
1,524
Location
California
I, too, believe using steel members are safer for over head lifting than wooden structural members. Steel has more known load bearing capabilities than wood, where each piece is different from its others. A rolling portable gantry crane in a shorter span will cost much less than attempting a single long span across the entire garage. I have a steel rolling gantry with a 10' span that takes care of all my needs, and is easy to push out of the way when not needed.
 

ChevyEFI

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Messages
8,697
Location
Phoenix, AZ
There's an Ohio member who has a nice gantry crane set up in one of his shops.

Now to see if I can find that thread.
 

sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
A lot of ways to do it.
 

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