Harbor Freight shop crane to list Clausing 9530 mill?

That crane is actually $169.95 at our local harbor freight. The boom goes 105" high.

i

Pep Boys seems to have the same hoist on sale every weekend for $120 or so. I don't think that I'd necessarily trust the boom ratings, though.

I would not trust them either, but the crane is rated for 2 tons and I will be lifting 0.5 ton.

i

Its rated for 2 tons with the boom retracted. When you extend the boom all the way for added reach the rating goes down to 500 #. They dont tell u that in the ad.

Tony

That's upsetting, but I am glad that you said that. Do you have any cites? I want to be very sure. This guy used this hoist to lift a Clausing 8540:

i

I believe I bought that one. It was the one w/ the farthest/highest reach, non-foldable. For loading/unloading my pickup. I also bought a 2-year warrantee on the ram, for $35. Irks me to do this, but china, donchaknow... The ram itself is 8-ton, so they say. A lot of rams are 5 ton, which

*nec'ly* limits the reach.

Even tho it's non-foldable, I believe it un-bolts into "flatter" sections than the foldables, which I store pretty readily under my fadal. I don't really have the room to have it standing around, even folded. But, occasionally I wish I had the foldable, just to spare myself the assembly/disassembly, even tho it's quick.

It's not great, but it's OK. I believe it's bigger than Pep Boys, positive it's bigger than the Sam's Club one (which seems much better built, is cheaper, got a load leveler, nicer colors, but seems smaller). May want to just look at the one at sams club. Non-swiveling front wheels, tho--see below.

But it would be *very good idea* to use it for your first job or two w/ someone who *knows what they are doing*!!!! I had the benefit of this, and STILL nearly dropped the goddamm lathe I was moving on the return trip by myself! Goodeffinggawd... still gives me the willies thinking about it. wow..... It is *very* easy for these things to become unbalanced! Altho it's nice/tempting to keep the "leg footprint" as small as poss, esp. in tight spaces, you must *constantly* check the "tip-ability" of the unit w/ the load you're carrying. Ask me....

Also, altho you could use these things by yourself, it's good to have a second person around, for a second set of eyes, if nothing else. Also won't hurt to ask a mach'y dealer how *they* would move a certain type of machine. Very easy to bust things up, w/o even dropping them. And each machine has it's own vississytudes, so don't get too confident w/ the success of one machine, when moving on to the next. Be even *more* careful w/ the second!

What you might appreciate about this particular unit is that the front wheels swivel, which on most of the other units I've seen they do not. May be no big deal, as they're proly easy enough to replace, but the swivel action of the front wheels can be pretty important in a move. Not great wheels, btw, but serviceable. You'll find yourself doing a lot of kicking/shoving/cursing.

Altho my nissan pickup proly has the shittiest v6 engine god ever put in a vehicle (let's hope it's at least reliable!), the combo of said pickup and hoist has saved me a fortune in rigging, and gives you permanent versatility/mobility in setting up shop. It's a great idea/strategy, as long as you are *very very* careful.

Thanks PV. So, educate me, what is the true capacity of this crane with the boom fuly extended. Is it good enough to lift a 1000 lbs mill.

i

Shortest boom position=max capacity. This link has some numbers for a similar crane

Wayne

Well, I'm not an official "cite", but I can verify that a hoist rated at

2,000 pounds is only going to lift that much with the boom fully retracted. This will, of course, limit the height of the boom so keep that in mind.

The picture of the guy lifting the horizontal mill on the web site above shows the boom fully or almost fully (typically the 1,500 lb position) retracted.

Peter

I called Harbor Freight. For the non-foldable crane ($149), the lifting height (distance from hook to ground) is 117 inches. With the boom fully extended , the ecapacity is 0.5 ton, or 1,100 lbs.

That's good enough for me.

i

Easy, no problem. You'll be able to see the flex in the smaller part of the boom.

*Balancing* becomes much trickier w/ the boom stuck way out. Watch the legs!! Also, watch the markings on the legs, which indicate their maximum extension, which is surprisingly narrow in the back. Try to do as much as you can w/ the boom in.

Also wouldn't hurt to get a decent swivel hook/shackle for these things. Or, some heavy chain w/ the "replaceable" screw-type links, both at HD or any good hardware store, to make grabbing/rigging/strapping easier. Also note that you will occasionally need to "balance" a load, which needs much

*less* heavy chain/rope/straps.

Oh, bleeve me, ahm no 'spert, I've done just a cupla moves, but boyoboy, what moves they were!! Goodgawd... Wish I knew more more!

Yep, dat's d' one! Their numbers are even almost correct! Little short of of 117", more like 108-110.I think. Mebbe they measured while the crane was tipping!! :)

Yep, I will try to keep it as retracted as possible.

I have plenty of chain and shackles. Also lifting straps etc.

Thank you!

i

A-ha, that's very good (that he is doing it with the boom retracted).

Anyway. I talked to the seller this morning and we are shooting for tomorrow. Today, I will buy and assemble the crane, and tomorrow, I will rent a trailer and get the goods.

If he has not sold the 48" lathe for $1000, I may pick that one up also.

i

I wouldn't trust the hook HF includes with their cranes with more than

700 lbs or so. The chain is a little better but small for 2 tons. I replaced the chain and hook on mine with schedule 100 rated stuff from mcmaster.com. At some point it would also be nice to put decent casters on the legs, the OEM casters are pretty nasty.

1500 lbs is pretty easy with the HF shop cranes, just do it with the boom in the 2 ton position if possible, 1.5 ton otherwise.

Gregm

The Rockwell lathe is a keeper.

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Thanks. I have some clevis shackles and chains and such. Anyway, looks like my future mill weighs about 700 lbs (according to what I could find in google), which is not that terribly much. I am going to buy an assemble the crane tonight.

i

Is $1000 a fair price for it? I have no place for it, if I buy it, I will resell it. I want to keep the little lathe, I think that I will get it into my basement eventually.

It has a huge chuck... and a nice colet system.

i

Did your straps come with instructions? Particularly how to derate them when used on an angle? For example you warp them around something and put both ends on a hook. If the strap is at a 45 degree angle it can only carry 1/2 the rated load. cs