After I pulled a ligament in my back, I needed a way to load stuff in/around my garage. I had already slapped a small crane on the truck and that will work well, but I felt one that was readily accessible would be used more.

I have a engine crane but it takes up a lot of space even when folded up. So after some thought I came up this..

I measured the Harbor Freight Crane as a starting point for how to make the pivot. I've have the HF cranes in the past and they hold up well and are easy to work etc.. So I knew the tube design would workl. I ordered the tube and welded it to the upper part of my engine crane.. The best part is the crane can still be bolted to the base and still be used in its originally way.... The tube dimension ODs match the HF crane but I just a little thicker wall than they did on the lower stub. I used 3" x .188 and 3.5"x .188

Oh and some back ground, that is my 'universal' mounting plate. It uses a 4" squalre 1/2" hole spacing and I have several attachments that bolt on.. Bender stand, tire changer, etc..

Thats the 4L80e I foolishly tried to load myself... Not exactly sure what the tranny weighs but I hung on the boom as well and it held it all great.. So rough guess i figure if i 1/2 the rated capacity it gives me 500# at the longest reach with is all I really need to easily/quickly cover the small in between stuff that I tend to over do it with.

Good idea, and saving your back is an even better idea!!


Is it just metal on metal in the pivot, or did you put any bearing material in there? I need to rig up something similar for the back of my hauling truck, but I would hate to have to pivot heavy stuff metal to metal and have it bind up or be a pain.

You considered HF's air/hydro ram?? Seem it would at least make lifting the boom from the stored position allot nicer.

Thanks, yes its metal on metal and some grease.. Not sure I want it to spin so freely it takes off on me.. It required only minimal effort to swing the tranny around on the test lifts, so im very pleased.. Only regret is not doing this sooner. Maybe someday ill upgrade the ram.. The way the boom pivot is the first 2" of ram travel bring the boom up a lot so its not really as bad as it seems..

I put this on my car trailer for the same reason, just wanted it a little more portable.


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/packrat169/72%204x4%20hiboy%20project/TrailerHoist.jpg

So far the heaviest I've lifted with it was a F-600 rear axle (with dual tires)
and a complete 361 FT engine with NP435 tranny attatched. Didn't like the 361 at ALL, but it loaded it.

Very Nice Guy's.

Similar to a couple others, but a little shorter... Moves axles around and has been extremely handy... cost=$0.. scrap metal laying around...

LOL, mine is a folding engine crane with the legs removed and two differentials chained to it as counterweights. It gets a lot of use lifting winches and bumpers for fitting to trucks.

After the third or fourth time mounting either a bumper or a winch, the usefulness of such a tool becomes obvious!

Mines a 52 hp Kubota loader, sometimes I wish for a small one in the shop.

noice
I may have to do that for my grandfather:beer: