Harbor Freight's Telescoping...
Harbor Freight's Telescoping Gantry Crane is a great problem solver for both the home and professional shop alike. In the shop environment it saves time and money by allowing one person to accomplish chores that would normally require pulling a co-worker off of their own task to help out.
Working out in the garage is always therapeutic. Well, that is until you find yourself with a three-person job and you are the only one who answers your questions. One such occasion is anytime you have to lift something heavy, awkward, or just plain more than you can handle. The classic case is taking a hot rod body on and off during the build process. But there is an answer.
Let me show you two ways to properly overcome the disadvantage of your buddies not showing up! The first, and most substantial, is the Harbor Freight Telescoping Gantry Crane; the second, is making your own body lift using the ever-present engine hoist with some home-fabricated components.
Telescoping Gantry Crane
One problem with any device that you need to slide under your street rod will always be clearance. Primarily, the fact that it's hard to use under lowered vehicles due to the castered legs, which require a good 7 inches of clearance between the ground and the framerails. The best bet is to find a telescoping gantry crane, which I'd spied on a recent visit to one of my all-time favorite haunts-Harbor Freight Tools.
I laid out the crane components...
I laid out the crane components in the driveway while we double-checked that all the required components were there and everything was ready for assembly.
The reasons I opted to go for the gantry crane shown here are many, but the fact that it offers a much more stable lifting platform than the modified cherry picker was foremost in mind when I chose it. Another plus is the fact that the unit is telescopic-in other words the I-beam height is adjustable from 8 feet 3 inches to 12 feet 8 inches with seven increments between its minimum and maximum height. This adjustable capability ensures that the crane can be utilized in varying situations-from pulling an engine to removing and re-installing truck cabs and beds. Plus, it's a life saver when it comes to single-handedly loading or unloading heavy objects into or out of my pickup bed.
The fact that the gantry crane allows me to accomplish things on my own and without outside help makes it well worth the price (MSRP is $649), and when used with an optional push trolley the crane is one of the best investments a lone hobbyist or fabricator can make. So take a look at the Harbor Freight Telescoping Gantry Crane (PN 41188-7VGA) I recently brought home and see how easy it goes together.
Pops and I started out by...
Pops and I started out by laying out the two vertical post assemblies and attaching the upper I-beam using the supplied nuts, bolts, and washers.
As my roving eye cruised over my garage I spied my engine hoist right off the bat, but I quickly realized that the boom length and the support leg length were much too short to be of much help. Fortunately that's when my attention turned to my scrap metal pile. There, leaning against a wall was a couple of 8-foot lengths of square tubing of differing size.
After a couple of crude sketches on a handy piece of cardboard I figured out that if I were lucky I just might be able to cut and weld my way out of this predicament-and after a few hours of trial and error I found out I had. The following series of images shows how I figured my way around a particular problem-and though it may not be the best way, my thrashing did end up doing what I needed it to do, and may actually continue to serve me well in the future.
Here are two ways to solve a problem. It should be obvious the advantages of each. Just keep in mind that your safety is of major concern and you'll do just fine.
With the I-beam in place,...
With the I-beam in place, the next step was assembling the bottom horizontal bases by attaching two swivel casters to each (one standard and one with an integral brake). If you look close, you'll see the short bit of tubing welded to the side of each base. These go to the outside if each beam and serve to hold the lower part of each cable guide.
Before attaching the bases...
Before attaching the bases to the beams it's a good idea to grease the caster bearings. It's easiest to do at this point and keeps you from forgetting to do it later on in your rush to use the crane as soon as it's up and ready.
Assembly is definitely a two-man...
Assembly is definitely a two-man operation. Me and Pop grabbed a couple of sawhorses and used 'em to lift the bottoms of the post assemblies off the ground so we could attach the base assemblies.
As you manhandle the base...
As you manhandle the base assemblies into place, make sure the cable guide tubes slide into the short pieces of tube welded to the outside of the bases and then insert the bolts, nuts, and washers.
Pop attached the support tubes-two...
Pop attached the support tubes-two on each side. These supports run from tabs on the bases and beams and provide needed support.
The hardest part of the assembly...
The hardest part of the assembly was tilting the crane up and onto its bases. This is one phase that'll take a few extra hands in most cases. Pop and I used the cherry picker I'd outfitted with the extension to tilt the unit up. This image shows the crane in its lowest positioning (8 feet 3-1/2 inches).