School me on come-a-longs/ cable hoists

[72Anthony]

I inherited an abandoned steel garage door header when I purchased my lot. I cut it in three pieces and dragged it to a corner of the property with my truck. I'd like to use a come along to get the pieces neatly arranged in the far corner.

I've looked on the Northern Tool website and Graingers catalog. It seems like a dual capacity unit rated for pulling and lifting would be convenient since I don't have any type of chain hoist.


I've never owned a come-a-long before so some I have a few questions:
What is a dual drive and what are the advantages?

Capacity? The largerst piece of steel maybe weighs 400-500 Lbs. I have a 4x4 Ford Ranger. I don't do any type off roading, but I may just keep this thing in the truck in case I ever got stuck (I have tow straps and chain).

I'd like to keep it under $100, so I don't want a bargin model that is going to fall apart after 3 uses, but it's not something I'm going to be using every day.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[Danglerb]

I bought a "thing" at HF on sale for about $14 rated I think a 2 tons, its a POS, but worked fine for me so far. Seems ideal for a few smaller jobs. Use it before the warranty expires, and stay away from the direction anything might fly if it breaks.

 

[mech-tech]

The dual drive probably has to do with being able to tighten and loosen one click at a time, which they all do that. You can buy one at lowes or tractor supply all day every day. Typically they are rated at double line, meaning the end hook has a pulley attached and you run the cable through the pulley and anchor it back the the come-a-long, so that way you are woking at half effort for a given weight, meaning you can pull 2,000 pounds with the effort of pulling 1,000 pounds, but at half the speed. Not to get into the details of crane rigging, but every piece of lift equipment is rated at a "safe working load limit". This limit is not to be exceeded for safe operation, so as long as the come-a-long is rated over your intended use, you are safe to make the lift/pull. Chain falls are higher capacity and easier to use due to the lower gear ratio, but are a pain to use sideways due to the chain piling up and are more built for out of the weather/mud kinda work.

 

[sberry]

The 15$ versions work, every once in a while a failed part and they are easily overloaded. For about 30$ you can get the 4000# model, throw the pulley away and its a pretty good unit. It will likely pull a stuck ranger from a ditch.

 

[vpd66]

I've had the same experience with come-a-longs. Had cheap ones that have failed. I now have a Maasdam pow'r-pull 2 ton come-a-long and it works great. I got mine at a local Fleet Farm for around $45.00. Its 4000lb rated and I've used it for pulling trees over and I pulled a few stumps with it. Overall I'm very happy with it.

 

[jakemac]

Keep in mind that most Come-a-longs are usually rated for lateral (pulling) loads (chain, cable, and related hardware as well). A vertical (hanging) load puts different stresses on all the pieces. For most things this isn't a problem, but it's always better to get an overrated tool because you may not know what you might need to use it for later.