Oops. Times 2

The "precise" details weren't important to me. The gist of the comparisons being made was the point😉️

My Dad use to talk about HF stuff as "That's only a dollar a pound to buy..." He was enamored with their big 5.5 inch? swivel vise. He'd order one for ~$30 with free shipping just to see if it was real or not. I still have two of them. One that's used A LOT. Sold one to a neighbor that was still boxed up as delivered. I think he gave some away too...

I'm old enough now to see my own similar hoarding quirks but for different items😆️

The "precise" details weren't important to me. The gist of the comparisons being made was the point😉️

My Dad use to talk about HF stuff as "That's only a dollar a pound to buy..." He was enamored with their big 5.5 inch? swivel vise. He'd order one for ~$30 with free shipping just to see if it was real or not. I still have two of them. One that's used A LOT. Sold one to a neighbor that was still boxed up as delivered. I think he gave some away too...

I'm old enough now to see my own similar hoarding quirks but for different items😆️

I have a Harbor Freight swivel vise. I use it about 50/50/50/5 with the

Seriously its a great universal vise for most casual handyman types, but the center rotation took a while to get used to. You would think the bottom jaws would be more use with its pipe jaws, but I haven't used them in years. Good thing too. One of those internal jaws fell out, and I have no idea where it is. I'll have to make one before I can use it.

I would say for machine shop secondary work I like the fixed Columbia best, but not by as much as you might think. I think for most people who just want to have a vise in case they might need one, the larger Harbor Freight swivel vise is a lifetime vise.

This one, although from the picture it looks like the pipe jaws are cast in now instead of a separate part.

Same here. Looks more like the Doyle...

If you look at the very last picture for the Doyle after clicking the

The other one is mounted on a custom 2 inch tube that fits a Reese style hitch. Tube sticks out maybe 2 ft and then up 2 ft. Besides using it on a vehicle I figured mounting a 2 inch hitch adapter to something stout would work with it too.

The other one is mounted on a custom 2 inch tube that fits a Reese style hitch. Tube sticks out maybe 2 ft and then up 2 ft. Besides using it on a vehicle I figured mounting a 2 inch hitch adapter to something stout would work with it too. Leon Fisk

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I should have done that. Mounting the vise close to the bumper put the rear of the truck at risk of scratches and grinding sparks.

For you truck vise guys...

1. Harbor freight makes a receiver / draw bar vise already. As do more expensive brands like Wilton.

1. Harbor fright and others make a simple flat plate bolt on receiver draw tube. They are cheap, and work great on the bottom of an old school heavy step bumper even if you can't or don't want to mount a proper frame mounted receiver, and they also work great under work benches and welding tables for those who don't want a permanently in the way vise on their work surfaces.

Cheap:

For a welding table if you happen to have a piece of draw tube laying around you can just weld it to the bottom or legs of your welding table (if you have a real welding table).

It occurs to me that using a draw tube mount at a 45 at the corner of the of the rear of the vehicle might be ideal for working clearance.

This is something I will consider as one of my plans (of which I have many crazier ones) is to turn an old utility body into a service trailer. The idea being when a friend (fortunately I only have a few I would do this for) calls and needs help with a project I can hook it up, and go. I have duplicates of most tools (maybe all) or triplicates or quadruplicates I would use in the field I can just keep the trailer loaded and locked up. Only a few things I might take out when not is use, like one of my OA torch rigs.*

• I now have enough bottles, hoses, and regulators to setup three OA rigs. I keep two setup now. One in the front of the shop, and one in the rear. I really don't want a rig to sit out in the sun when not is use. That's why I probably wouldn't leave one permanently on the trailer.

No I am not planning to get into the handyman business and I definitely don't plan to get back into contracting. It will just save time when I do decide to help somebody out, and it will save some space in the shop or my storage containers.

When I was still working in 2-way radio service I had access to a heated shop you could drive several vehicles into. Their work bench was a joke and it had a small, maybe 3 inch vise that had been beat to hell. Bent sliding handle, chewed up jaws and almost a full turn on the handle to move the jaws. I'd put this vise in the back of my truck and bring it along when I thought it might be handy for working after hours on my stuff. Had a cap on my truck so it wasn't obvious in the bed and out of the weather. It worked nice for those occasions🙂️ Leon Fisk

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Between high tech jobs I took summer repair work with a friend who was running the food booths at a Renaissance Faire. One of his radios failed and I fixed it at a crude wooden table while wearing a wizard costume. That's REALLY wizardry.

I spotted that when it first came out (Hitch Vise). It has the problem that Jim mentioned, it's too close to the truck. Kinda low too which for emergency usage wouldn't bother much but it doesn't swivel either. Makes sense the way it was designed but would be a lot more useful if it could be swiveled...

I can't remember for sure but I think mine sticks our far enough to clear the tailgate when open. I don't have my truck anymore to check. Having it stick out farther than the tail gate when open and be at a similar height would be the most useful I think. Could use the tailgate as an impromptu workbench.

Those Reese style bumper hitch add-ons is exactly what I figured could be used to hold the vise setup in other places. Sure wouldn't need an expensive, heavy duty one for this usage...

I had a Reese hitch on the front of my truck too. Heavy duty enough to be used for pulling it or others out. Often used the front hitch for the vise.

Had a few customers call me a magician but your's is pretty special👍️😆️

I also bought a Vevor 3/4 ton chain hoist since that discussion. Per your "pointing it out", it has a good weight for what it can do. I have others I can grab if more oomph is needed. Amazon had a hard to believe price. Just looked it over, haven't tried using it for anything yet. Nice to have available though when the time comes. Thanks👍️

Price dropped another -$6 since my order to $38.99. Crazy...

How big is a Chinese ton? I'd proof test it somehow.

Joe

I also bought a Vevor 3/4 ton chain hoist since that discussion. Per your "pointing it out", it has a good weight for what it can do. I have others I can grab if more oomph is needed. Amazon had a hard to believe price. Just looked it over, haven't tried using it for anything yet. Nice to have available though when the time comes. Thanks👍️

Price dropped another -$6 since my order to $38.99. Crazy...

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That's the first size I grab to pull a small tree or such. I build shed frames with snow load and hoisting in mind, but away from structures the hoist needs something to hang from. If you have flat ground a tripod with the usual commercial designs of folding leg head made from strip or plate steel should be enough. I have to be able to move the legs around freely to dodge rocks and adjust to slopes and came up with a flexible, trickier design I can't analyze for strength for its 3D compound angles and self-adjustment to leg angles under load, so I proof test on immovable stumps.

A tripod head with rigid leg sockets could add a bending load to the legs that decreases their capacity. I try to keep the loading centered in the tube with pinned joints at the top and balls at the bottom. Both sides of the pin (bolt) are loaded but I can't prove they are equally.

A piece of of 3/8" chain hung from a wire rope clamp U bolt with a shackle to hook into drops the hoist body and lever below leg interference.

Don't loop the lift chain as a sling, the hook can do damage. For the load sling chain a grab hook on one end and a slip hook on the other is useful. I like the pin on the hook removable by hand so the chain can be slipped under a root I want to pull without digging up the rock under it. The slip hook lets multiple turns of the chain pull up tight around the load, like a sapling you want to pull upward, the grab hook with some slack avoids an excessive tension factor that can overload the chain. Slings suffer abuse and do break.

How big is a Chinese ton? I'd proof test it somehow.

Joe

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This is my 'somehow'.

Yeah, that's a reasonable way, though I'd test to twice the claimed capacity of the chain hoist (limited by the scale), and four times is the formal standard for hoists.

Joe

Yeah, that's a reasonable way, though I'd test to twice the claimed capacity of the chain hoist (limited by the scale), and four times is the formal standard for hoists.

Joe

----------------------------------------- I believe they are designed so the handle force becomes very high, like

Four times the rating is the design breaking strength for chain except Grade

That sounds likely.

Yep.

My recollection is that all hoisting equipment has the same safety ratio, because the weakest link is by definition what fails.

Joe

All good advise, Thanks again👍️

My recollection is that all hoisting equipment has the same safety ratio, because the weakest link is by definition what fails.

Joe

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I believe that for American-made equipment like CM, for imports and shop-made I have to see it first. When I find that mass-produced items don't meet spec they usually are quite close. There's an unofficial test protocol called "Test Until Pass" for when the failure is within the randomness of the results. Failures outside it are sold as a lower grade, or were when I was in the custom test equipment business.

I've seen that as well, but for hoisting equipment there are very specific legally enforceable requirements on safety margins. But good luck enforcing that against a Chinese manufacturer.

This is for chain.

.

I'm sure that there are rules for manual hoists, but have not the energy to find them.

Joe