Small Gantry Crane

[jamesemery728]

Most of the gantry style cranes that I have seen are monstrosities. Has anyone every built/bought a more manageable size that can be kept in a normal size 2 car garage or easily taken apart to store. I have an engine hoist but sometimes when you are trying to lift something the legs are in the way. The older I get, the heavier things are getting. Anyone ever built a small, convenient to use, type of gantry crane. Pictures would be great.

 

[Danglerb]

I knew a couple guys into circle track, engine in/out all the time, so they put a I beam across the garage with a chain lift on a gantry.

Gotta wonder what a small gantry would do that a big cherry picker wouldn't.

OTOH whats a gantry crane other than a BIG saw horse with a pulley? I would build it with a 2x6 on the bottom to locate the legs (actually sq frame, front to back, side to side), and another half way up to keep them from bowing, maybe a 4x6 across the top or just an I beam if I was "real" brave. Nah, better to mount the beam permanently in the garage.

 

[W-Cummins]

Whats small to you? I built a 3 ton model that fits under a 9' door, and extends to over 14' tall William...

 

[35mastr]

 

[tpolley]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=41188

horrible freight has one that adjust from 8ft to 12 feet.

 

[NAYLOR]

You could build a small A-frame pretty inexpensively. You wouldn't have the side to side like a gantry style, but then again, you get what you pay for.

 

[jamesemery728]

Small to me would be something in between the HF version of a gantry and a cherry picker type engine hoist that could be moved around, stored, setup and taken apart easily by one person. Maybe I am looking for the impossible dream. Anyone have any pictures of something they have made? Not looking to lift anything extremely heavy, but for instance, the other day I had to put a cast iron coal stove in the back of a pickup truck, another time I had to lift my QT-5 compressor up to install a new tank drain. Just seems like there has to be a better alternative than the cherry picker.

 

[tpolley]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=37555

i have one of these with the harbor freight 2,000lb winch. exelent for loading heavy **** into the back of your truck. i recently switched to a flatbed and haven't put the crain on the new bed. only drawback is your truck has to be there to use it. if you're lifting an air compressor in a small garage it may not work well. i've seen people mount them to trailers, too. i'm toying with the idea of mounting it to my small atv trailer. i may need to design some custom out riggers so the trailer doesn't tip.

sounds like you may have to build something.

edit:
for the truck crane, they also make (or you could build yourself) a receiver hitch adapter so you can slide the crane into any receiver hitch. i've also seen where people have offset the crane on the receiver hitch with a little leg that touches the ground for support. i can try and find more info on that if you're interested. i've also thought about replacing the hydraulic jack with some sort of self contained 12 electric/hydraulic ram but i can't find one that doesn't cost 1,000 or more. plus if i did that i'd have to make some way for it to turn 360 degrees via a motor. maybe a starter motor and a big flywheel? but that would just be ridiculous.