The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest chain hoist capacity

Hello. I'm fortunate that the guy I bought my house from 15 years ago had built a beautiful, large metal building (and sided it with dry-stacked stone), which I call my "barn". It has I-beam construction.

I've decided to purchase a manual chain hoist (Harbor Freight, approx $60), and a push trolley to mount on an I-beam (also about $60 from HF).

My truck is a '51 1/2-ton pickup. Do you think a 1/2-ton capacity hoist will be sufficient, or should I get a 1-ton? At most, I will be lifting one end or the other of my pickup, probably also part of the engine to replace the motor mounts. I doubt I will ever lift the engine out, though it's possible. I just don't ever intend to get that deep into the disassembly of my truck, but you never know. My first use of the hoist will be to aid in putting new bushings in the leaf springs.

What do you think? 1/2-ton or 1-ton hoist? [Edit: I'm looking at a 1-ton hoist, not a 1/2-ton hoist. If a 1-ton hoist is adequate for 99% of how I might be using it with my pickup, then I'm good].

Thanks!

1/2 ton hoist for an engine (even with manual transmission attached) - OK (but, barely)

Lifting the pickup at one end - be careful
Lift and use floor jacks

Thanks, Tim. I do have floor jacks.

And upon checking Harbor Freight again, I see that the models I was looking at, both hoist and trolley, are rated for 1 ton, and each is under $60. So I asked the wrong question. I should've asked, is a 1-ton hoist sufficient? And I'll infer from your reply that it is.

DJ,

I'd use it - just be careful (no-one underneath without jack stands).

You will be much happier with a cherry picker for about same price. Folds up. Go anywhere. Way More versatile. Way More maneuverable. Get 20% off online coupon.
11/3 thru 11/5. After coupon: $136.

Bartamos, great point, but for one thing. My wife would be very averse to me acquiring anything else that takes up floor space in the barn. But if it's hanging from a 16' ceiling, there's a good chance she'll never see it.

The folded foot print is about 2' X 2'. But as you say a trolley is 0. But low tech.

Is your building engineered to handle the load?

Most metal buildings are built to the bare minimum, so adding 1-ton to the existing beams could cause a failure.

Mike B

General commentary. Not aimed at anyone's personal preference. Don't think DJ will be lifting 2000 LBS but To Mike's great point, the beam strength must be calculated regarding beam size (web and flange dimensions and thicknesses), type of steel and unsupported length (span). The weight of the beam is added to the expected load. Then a 2 1/2 X safety factor. Then the strength of fasteners depending on how it's slung. Then the strength of the uprights and how they are attached to floor. Or if it sits on block, is the block grouted? re-barred? There are light weight/light load beams used for tin roof structures and major bridge I-beams, and everything in-between. Is the trolley designed for the beam?


The wife over rides any other issue. I would use the picker.
DJ, just check a few things and enjoy your chain lift. They have been used for a couple hundred years. I have a friend who uses one on his home garage rafters.

If you make sure the load can be handled by the structure all will be fine. You will be surprised at what extra things the hoist can be used for. Unloading heavy items from the truck bed. Raising your riding mower up to get the blades off to sharpen them. The list goes on and on.

I went from a cherry picker to an overhead hoist on a Ibeam slide rail. Much better for me. Those darn cherry pickers get heavy to assemble and disassemble then are always a pita to store. My chain hoist is always there plus you can do this, try that with a cherry picker.

I must be a barn yard mechanic. I use a chain fall in my workshop, but at times I work on tractors/trucks that are too big to bring into the shop. In those circumstances I use the loader on my tractor. I haven't used a cherry picker since 1967 when I took out the 235 stovebolt and installed a 327 V8 into my 1960 Chevy.

Rick

I here ya. Thing is too, if you have a single work area and a 4 post lift like I have, a cherry picker will not work because you have to be able to slide it's legs under the vehicle. To do that, I would have to raise the lift a foot then that puts the fenders up another foot and you would have to extend the boom arm to max height to pull the engine out. With that said who would want an inline 6 hanging up that high, it would be a tipping hazard. Naw, you can have those cherry pickers.

Some thing I've been playing with for 30 plus years. As everyone has mentioned, especially Bartamos, get your basic capacities set up. After that, know what you are going to lift, and what rigging you'll need to do it. I once had an employee get ready to lift an 8000 lb load. He had used chains to rig it. I told him to stop using the chains and go get some rated slings. He came back at me with the answer that chains are rated. I agreed with him and asked them what the rating was. He didn't know. So i told him to get some rigging that had known ratings, like a sling with a rating tag that he could verify. Like my 20,000 lb web slings. Point being, know what you're going to lift then find yourself the proper machine to do it. A 1 ton hoist = 2000 lb rated lift. That means the weakest part of that machine, weather it is a link of chain, the bolt that holds the hook on, or whatever, is good for a safe work load (SWL) rating of 2000 pounds. Whatever rigging you use, chain, sling or rope, can be good for the same, less or more. If it is good for less, then you just derated your set up to the weakest piece. Let's say you chose a rigging chain rated at 1500 pounds. Now your whole set up is only good for 1500 pounds even though the hoist says 2000 pounds.

I6 engines are somewhere around 650 pounds, small block Chevy's around 575, BB's around 685. Well within a 1/2 ton or 1 ton hoist. The whole truck, as it left the factory, was close to 3100 pounds. The front end heavier than the rear. Lifting the front with the hoist might make the building squeak a little, the back, not so much.

A good general rule, never get under a load unless it is supported. Jack stands, cribbing, etc.

And never use rigging that has been shock loaded. Say you used a rope to yank your truck out of the mud. Would really want to get under a load that was suspended by that rope when you don't know what kind of internal shock damage you did to that rope?

Then we can get in to fun stuff. Like a Bowline knot in a rope now de-rates that rope to 65% of its SWL.

Good info Mark for sure. I am retired Fire Department and all our rated webbing, ropes, hardware etc was designed to yield by a safety factor of 4. So a 4K web would be designed to take a shock load of 16K before it would yield. Any equipment we had -that had any shock load was thrown away. I cant say anything about other rigging that you can get outside the FD such as Sears of Harbor Freight but it could be rated the same way.
People should keep an eye on their lifting appurtenances and keep them inspected and cleaned and not laying outside in the sun or weather.
You are 100% right on the use of cribbing and jackstands. In my 32 year career, I pulled three people out from under vehicles that died from a bottle jack tipping over or a vehicle that rolled forward or backward. We tend to get complacent in our own garages thinking they are safe havens and they are only as safe as we keep them and how well we practice safety.
Steve

Regarding the question of whether my barn structure can support a 1-ton load, because it's a metal building.....I'm no engineer, and I may be drawing false conclusions, but I would be shocked if this structure was deemed inadequate.

Below is a picture of my barn. It's where Ol' Red (the truck) lives. He's in there now, wondering why I don't have the game on. But I'm not there.

The barn has 10" or 12" I-beams every 10 feet or so along the side walls. It has 4 I-beams spanning the 40' width of the structure (2 at each end and 2 evenly spaced in between). It has a 16' ceiling, and an attic. The middle 2/3 of the attic, from front to back, is framed out for a one-bedroom apartment (by the previous owner of the house). The roof has wood sheathing and composite shingles. My point being, this structure is already supporting all of that. (Interestingly, the previous owner of my home & barn was an engineer who liked to convert buses into travel coaches, like Willie Nelson might ride in (heavy on the ash trays). This was going to be his hobby in retirement, but he got transferred!).

I plan to mount a trolley on one of the horizontal I-beams that spans the structure. Bartamos does make a great point about the span (unsupported length) of this I-beam. There is a 4" steel post (it's really a thin-walled pipe, not a solid post), about 10 feet in, so that would make about a 30' span. The trolley will be near the post, rather than in the middle of the 30' span.

My other piece of evidence is a video I saw on YouTube. A guy went into the attic of his garage, laid a 14' 2x4 on edge, and screwed it to a joist or similar piece. He then punched a hole in the ceiling drywall and hung a hoist from it (not sure if it was 1/2 ton or 1 ton). So I'm thinking, if this arrangement works, then surely my arrangement will work. Hopefully I don't find out otherwise. I appreciate all your cautions.

Trade barns with you. Beautiful.

Rick

Nicer than my house. Love the trees.

A piece of 8" I beam supported at both ends by some 3" diameter pipe will carry any load that hoist is able to lift, while putting zero load on the structure of the building. If the beam stretches the width of the shop, the trolley will allow a pretty good bit of travel. I've got a system like that planned for my next shop upgrade, using a hoist my father had in his shop in the early 1950's.
Jerry