Truck mounted crane or lift?

[Jason White]

I've been looking at some options for lifting heavy machines into the back of my pickup truck (cabinet saw, jointer, etc.). Some bolt to the bed, while others attach to a hitch receiver.

Here are a couple I've found, but they look very expensive...

http://www.spitzlift.com/cranes/receiver-hitch-cranes.html

http://www.viperlift.com/

Anybody have one of these or something else that they like?

Jason

[Aaron Berk]

Those both look pretty nice.
I don't like the bolt on type, and never saw a receiver mount that looked sturdy.

Those 2 you posted are new to me, but I'd go with the viper as it lists a 1k lb load limit.

I always max things out, and I'm sure the 700lb limit on the Spitz could lift 1k.
But I'd be worried about lifting some 1200lb machinery, so I'd go with the Viper if funds allow.

[ray hampton]

I did not see the price of either crane but Harbor Freight sell a 1/2 ton truck crane for 159.99

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Jason
Are you going into business moving equipment or is this a one time project? If one time or just a couple tool moves. I think a ramp and a good hand truck would be more cost effect. I loaded my Min-Max 16, and two different Uni-Saws into my pickup with a hand truck and ramp. If your pickup bed is not too high HF sale a great 1 ton hydraulic lift table, which many member here use. Tom Here's a lift on Craigslist in your area $300 http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/for/2868907174.html

[Larry Edgerton]

You are looking at this all wrong!

When I needed to move a few tools, I bought a 45hp New Holland with quick change bucket and forks, snowblower and a back blade. Now this could be your golden opportunity! Be the first on your block! You live in an appartment you say, well don't let that stop you, the neighbors won't mind.....

Every problem is an opportunity.......

Honey, if you want a garden, well I'm going to have to buy that backhoe........

Larry

[Ted Baca]

Jason, you don't mention your budget or frequency of use for this lifting and moving of equipment. But I have been in fleet and commercial truck sales for about 30yrs now and have seen and installed about anything that can be mounted on a truck. First off it is just an occasional use look at ramps and a good appliance dolly. If you are looking at a frequent personal use but a good quality crane. Cheap cranes from discount houses will only disappoint and eventually cause personal injury or damaged equipment. A Class 3 or 4 receiver is designed to offer it's strength in pulling and toungue weight ranging from 500-1000 pounds. But this is a direct vertical load and not a lateral side deflected load or twisting action that would occur with the sample you present, should the jack leg slip for fold. This action can ruin a good hitch. If a crane is the method of choice then look at these:
http://www.westernmule.com/
http://stoaway.net/aboutus.html

These are built and designed to deliver the weight lifting capacity one would need for heavy equipment. If you will be doing this on a regular basis whether commercially or personally then the best solution is a liftgate. A good 1000# capacity liftgate installed on a PU will cost you in the neighborhood of 2200-2400 depending on where you have it done. Tommygate is the best of the brands that specialize in truck bed mounted liftgates. If you can swing the extra 2-300 buy a G-2 Series as these are a dual cylinder and add 300#'s to the lift capacity. The advantage to a dual cylinder is that the load doesn't have to be centered as much as a single cylinder. But if this is just an occasional moving venture, then a good strong aluminum ramp is a great solution. No mounting and removing when you sell the truck, these can be bought for about 500.00 for a 30"wide x 8'.

[Peter Quinn]

My Dad had a wood splitting business for years before retiring. He had to move a lot of heavy things. Larry is spot on, a 45 HP tractor with forks and bucket will do the trick. We lifted all kinds of stuff his John Deere. Had a big trailer to pull it around with, had a big truck to pull the trailer. Plus a big garage to park it all in. I think we made about $,029 per cord after expenses, but it was worth it, till fuel prices went up anyway. But he also had a bed mounted crane to lift heavy pieces when the tractor was tied up doing other things or at another site. That thing always scared me.

He also had a low height trailer with a tilting bed that made it real easy to get heavy stuff up on the bed. Empty you could pull a pin, the bed would tilt to the ground. You could then run a come along from the front end of the trailer bed to the thing you were trying to move, after putting said thing on wheels of some kind (dollies, gas pipe, schedule 40, etc) Once the thing hit the fulcrum the bed tilted back to horizontal, voila, heavy thing ready to move. So maybe a low height trailer with tilting bed, and possibly a crane too would help? Course then you need a place to park the trailer.

The problem with a pickup is the bed is to darn high. Do they make a knock down gantry that you could set up, lift the object, then back up under it and lower your stuff onto the bed? That might be the safest most compact solution though it would take a bit of set up at each end. Something like these?

http://www.nationwideindustrialsupply.com/departments/hoists-equipment/aluminum-gantry-cranes/

or these http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200349918_200349918?cm_mmc=Google-pla-_-Material Handling-_-Hoists%2C Lifts %2B Cranes-_-103182&ci_sku=103182&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw={keyword}

[Ray Newman]

"Let your fingers do the walking" in the Yellow Pages under tool rentals, rentals, etc. How 'bout renting a pick up or a moving truck with a lift gate or ramp?

[fred klotz]

I have the HF 1/2 ton which I bought on sale for $90. Structurally, it is capable of the 1000 lb rating. However, I added a snatch block to the winch for a bit of an easier lift with the manual winch. I used this for lifting motors when salvaging scrap from my old burn out homestead. I kept the boom at it's two shortest extensions, which meant I had to take the tailgate off to load stuff. the weak point isn't the crane itself, but the mounting. HF includes a couple pieces of angle iron to reinforce under the truck bed sheet metal. I didn't think it was enough, so I spread the load underneath with additional steel. Even with that, there was a lot of flex where it was mounted to the truck bed (in the truck bed), and I wouldn't trust it to lift a valuable piece of equipment over about 400 pounds. Proper mounting, IMO, would require lifting the bed of the truck enough to install some substantial steel across the frame rails.

[Stephen Cherry]

Here's my setup-- a couple of 4x4's on the bumper, a pallet, machine strapped to the pallet (preferably lag bolted), and a cheap comealong. I've moved some pretty heavy machines by myself with this setup.

Also, with any machine moving- don't skimp on the straps. While moving, you want the machine strapped both high, and low. Jointers need to be bolted down.




226087

[Bruce Wrenn]

My choice would be a "motor hoist" instead of a truck mounted crane. Most rental places have them. Some include trailer wheels, so you can tow them behind truck.

[Ryan Mooney]

You are looking at this all wrong!

When I needed to move a few tools, I bought a 45hp New Holland with quick change bucket and forks, snowblower and a back blade. Now this could be your golden opportunity! Be the first on your block! You live in an appartment you say, well don't let that stop you, the neighbors won't mind.....

Every problem is an opportunity.......

Honey, if you want a garden, well I'm going to have to buy that backhoe........

Larry

ROFL LMAO!! You sir have the right of it and that's some funny stuff right there (just gotta make sure loml doesn't see this or the gig will be up for sure).

For the OP, make sure that whatever you do has enough height to be useful for your purposes. I have a 2 ton shop crane (nominal lift height of 90"). I've used it to move all sorts of stuff (very worth while for the price) the most adventurous of which was a bandsaw out of a trailer.. I ended up doing some "innovative" things to make that work essentially dropping the trailer out from under the BS.. Worked ok, but another 12" would have made a world of difference.

Also check how much weight they can pivot vs lift... Sometimes the rated pivot strength is lower than the lift strength.

[Jim Laumann]

226277

400# +/- hanging from that chain...

Jim

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Spitz lift. The crane has a leg that goes through the reciever and rests on the ground. The weight of the load is not on the reciever. The Viper looks like the load is on the hitch.

Just my $0.02.

[David Hostetler]

I would say use solid ramps and a come along. And don't skimp on cargo straps. Home Depot carries a pack of 4 12 footers for $12.99. I have 2 of these packs in my truck at all times....

[Jim Andrew]

I vote for a skid steer. When I got my new jointer, drove it into the shop hanging on chains from the forks. And the skid steer has lots of other uses.