Home made engine crane - will this work?

[Endacy]

I want an engine crane however don't want to spend any money on one!! I've looked on ebay but £100 seems to be the going rate for a used one. I thought I could build one using steel I already have and a chain hoist I also already have. I have sketched my idea out.

The upright and arm I thought could be made using 100x50x4mm box section which I have two 1700mm lengths of.

The base parts would all be steel channel and the legs would be removable. The two 5" channel pieces will be in a u-shape and the 4" channel fits inside and will have pins through it. The 'jib' would have a couple of positions using a support arm and some notches on the upright, I thought this would attach 1/4 to 1/3 of the way along the 'jib'.

The upright will have two small braces to the end of the 5" channel sockets, will 30cm from the base in each direction be enough? I also need to know if the box section at these lengths will be alright to take about 500kg load on the end? I can appreciate there are some unknowns there but am I way off with sizes? I have some other material if needs be but this seems simple and lightest.

 

[fingers99]

Dunno!

The cheapest (I'd recon) home built one I ever used was a tripod made out of scaffold tube with a sort of bracket Arc welded together of tubes and plate, such that the scaffold tubes could be removed for mobility. With a hook for a chain hoist. Worked very well.

 

[Finalreminder]

Here you go matey
Hope it helps some
http://locost7.info/mirror/tools.php

 

[classic2cv]

if you click on the and look in through the list you'll see some plans from practical classics magazine for an engine crane

I built my own engine crane over ten years ago from the same plans

i used a 2 ton hydraulic bottle jack for lifting and it comes apart for storage in about 10 minutes

The jib has 4 reach positions and it has lifted all kinds of engines from cars and even lifting car bodies

with the arm is at it’s longest extension it will lift 250kg and on the shortest 400kg

it uses a 2 ton bottle jack but I’m going to replace it a with a new hydraulic ram soon

I never got around to painting it as it never went outside until now

(must get it painted)


I’d never be without one now and it will even go into the back a 2cv so it’s very portable



the scan looks a little fuzzy don't worry i still have the original magazine and do a copy for you if need be

 

[buffspark]

made mine out of 2x2" box section casters from machine mart` got the ram of ebay`for about 30 quid` almost the same as the classic car mag one

 

[Bobtail4x4]

I built an engine crane using the practical classics model, but as I only had 40x80 box I used two verticals and two peices as the boom with a third in the middle, didnt make it slide, I only had to buy a 12 tonne jack (£15 from the sh shop) everything else i had.

its lifted everything up to a huge diesel engine and Landrover gearbox.

 

[Finalreminder]

I've got tons of 4x4 box section here. I could probably make a crane to life an entire vehicle up lol!

 

[Endacy]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, I have solved my problem! I decided my plan would have worked fine and been very strong using that material however I bought a small simple crane locally.

It cost £35 and was just about a mile away from me. It is a simple design that collapses albeit a little awkwardly. I have now modified it to make is dismantle into three pieces. The top arm and screw comes off because I ground off the welded pivot pin and made a removable ones from a bolt and r-clip. The holes through the upright were worn oval so I welded in two plates inside the box section and welded them along the top and around the holes. The upright attaches to the base with two pins, one I ground the weld off and made removable and the other I just replaced with a new bolt. The winding handle was siezed in but that's sorted and it's removeable now.

When you remove the pin through the upright where the bottom of the threaded bit attaches the whole thing folds up, the upright can lock in the folded position and the top arm is removed. Simple!

I also made the load leveller in the pics from scratch, i'll put that in the home made tools section. The crane doesn't have a hook, just a pin through the end, I am going to add a swivel hook, the gear in the picture was just chucked on to test my leveller.

 

[classic2cv]

Wow

I remmber those cranes way back in the 80s

They have a handle that turns a a long threaded rod at the back that pulls the arm up

nice and simple with not a lot to go wrong

A Bargain purchase

 

[nitronorm]

good to hear you've got big ideas for that box section Eggman good to know its not going to waste

 

[bucko]

i would make an A fame with a gurder and put it on wheels to make it a crude gantry crane to put that pully block to good youse, looks a beast and so dose that landy lol
good buy

we used the rafters in the garage to lift the buggy engine in place would recoment it for enything bigger than a 600cc as you could see the wood bending a bit
good times

 

[Cal]

From a slightly different perspective

I had to remove an engine and had a trolley jack, a rope, some 2" box, some 2" angle and some 0.25" plate

I lined up the trolley jack perpendicular to the front of the car, laid a piece of box front across the engine and another piece as an upright between the pad of the jack and the first piece of box.
I tacked the 90 degree section together then added a pad at the bottom with a hole in it. I then took the rotating cup off the jack and bolted the tab to the cup.
I then took the 2" angle and cut two 3' lengths and cut it to make a 45 degree bend then another, so I had two opposite Z legs.
Then I took the front wheels off the trolley jack, bolted the legs in their place and the wheels on the legs.
I then made sure it fitted ubder the car.
I then finish welded it*.

With a rope around the engine it worked. Not the most stable thing in the world but it worked.

I don't know how to post drawings on a computer and don't own a normal camera so no pics.
* my welds are no works of art but they didn't break yet

 

[bucko]

why is it allways more intresting to read when some one dose something in a way that maybe they shouldnt off like that wouldnt of bin nower near ais intresding if you discribed doing it with an engine crane lol

 

[adrianm1]

plans please

if you still have plans could you please send me a copy

 

[Dr pepper]

I had a problem with my engine lift a while back, the hydraulics screwed up, and I found a link to the same lift as above, there was an article in a car mag about it.
I didnt build the lift, I just added the car jack that they used to my commercially produced lift after I'd removed the original long jack.
It worked, but a 6 ton jack struggled with a land rover disco engine, you'd need a 10 ton really, and if you do it put reinforcing plates under the mounts for the jack at both ends of it, both on the vertical and the lifting boom, and weld them on, I bolted mine on in case I went back to the old system and the bolts nearly failed.
Incidently since then I found a bloke on ebay who sells long jacks, just like a bottle jack only the lift is 1 meter, get one of these if you can.
Heres a picture of my bodge:

Just my tupence.

 

[Endacy]

Have you got a link to the ebay 'long jack' - I have seen them on their before but can't find any at the moment. Although my engine hoist was sorted I am looking to build a trailer crane, and one of these jacks could help considerably.

 

[Dr pepper]

Nope sorry I cant find it there anymore either, and I didnt keep the original message I had, llobox.
I seem to recall they were about 45 quid or so.

 

[Omniata]

Here you go:

6 Tonne

4 Tonne

They're both about £75 or there abouts but extend to ~400mm

 

[Dr pepper]

Dont think thats what we meant, this is the kind of thing, only I cant find the guy in the uk who sells 'em, you could email these people and see if they have a uk distributor.
Beware of the ratings, you need a higher rated jack than what you are lifting, you need to multiply the rating by the lever ratio, ie if the hook on the lift moves twice the distance of the jack, and the crane is a 0.5 ton then you need 0.5 x 2 = 1 ton jack.

http://www.nextag.com/hydraulic-engine-hoist/search-html

 

[mi3gto]

Folks just reading the thread. I am thinking of using a old pallet truck as the base for a engine lift. I have 400 x 75 box section among other sizes and have a long extension 10ton ram. I am thinking that the pallet truck base will save a bit of work and as it was rated for 2 ton should make a handy lift. I mainly want it for lifting outboard engines on to the boat so hight might be a consideration over weight. Even if I have to make outriggers to provide stability at full extension? What you think?