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Busstom
Samba Member
Joined: November 23, 2014
Posts: 3848
Location: San Jose, CA
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 Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:21 am Post subject: Re: Old Guy(s) "Body" Lift Question |
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HEY! Here's page 2! 
| Semper Gumby wrote: |
| Busstom wrote: |
Get the gantry crane, you won't regret it. That crane you pictured will do the task many times over, handily.
I just pulled my fully-dressed 1965 body off its pan last week with a Titan Attachments half-ton crane and it was a breeze. |
After weighing the differences between HF and Titan - went with the Titan as it is a 1/3 of the weight and I doubt I'll need more than .5 T lift capacity. |
I think that was a good call, I didn't want to suggest that, but that was my thought. If you got the same one I got, it doesn't have the cable-crank system for telescoping the uprights, it has u-shaped levers on each side, and you lever it up in alternating fashion, side to side, about 4 inches at a time with each crank of the handle (once you get going, you can do two cranks per side, because the first crank of the lower side will level that side out, and the next one will go one step higher, rinse and repeat). I felt like the cable-crank system had too many failure points and was too complex for the task, I've had bad luck with Harbor Freight cable-related items in the past, can't beat simplicity in this case.
And as you can see from the myriad responses, there are a thousand ways to skin this cat. You gotta appreciate guys looking out for your wallet, but, like you, I'm in my late 50's with a trashed lower-back, my buddies have better things to do with their time than come and risk damaging their own bodies, and I simply have no interest in any of the other methods. I did a body-off on my first Bug in 1983, and we were young, dumb, and full of ***. Screw that sh*t now. I work in aerospace, we build $300 million dollar satellites. And how do we lift them? Absolutely, completely, vertical, 0.0005" at a time. Thus, I can't get it out of my blood, I dig bad-ass trick tools suited for the job, and there's nothing like a parallel, coplanar separation and remate of the body onto the pan...I could just see my buddies when I'm telling then "No, hold on, okay back up, okay, come down, NO, back up, hold it, I gotta align this, okay, down, NO! 
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My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom) 😏 |
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Semper Gumby
Samba Member
Joined: November 30, 2022
Posts: 99
Location: Southwest Florida
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| Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:48 am Post subject: Re: Old Guy(s) "Body" Lift Question |
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| Busstom wrote: |
| [...]You gotta appreciate guys looking out for your wallet, but, like you, I'm in my late 50's with a trashed lower-back, my buddies have better things to do with their time, and I simply have no interest in any of the other methods. |
Yes, I'm a faithful follower of the "improve, adapt, and overcome" approach to life AND I'm floored by all the help found here as the level of sage discussion it's not resident in my social circle today.
Wife says I'm a living Progressive "Becoming your parents" commercial when it comes to my garage project being discussed at social events. Nobody cares ... but she feels for me.
I might weld Amazon's Alexa on to the gantry so I have someone to talk to when lifting the body -
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"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooten |
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Semper Gumby
Samba Member
Joined: November 30, 2022
Posts: 99
Location: Southwest Florida
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| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2023 10:11 am Post subject: Re: Old Guy(s) "Body" Lift Question |
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Titan 1-ton gantry crane arrived
_________________
"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooten |
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Busstom
Samba Member
Joined: November 23, 2014
Posts: 3848
Location: San Jose, CA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2023 1:01 am Post subject: Re: Old Guy(s) "Body" Lift Question |
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Hey Semper, have you planned a way to build up that gantry? They have you building it on the ground, with the uprights lying down, then they expect you to right the whole assembly to stand on its own four casters. But I found that impossible for one guy to do, and even with my girlfriend, ummm, no.
I fabbed up some parts and with assistance from my cherry picker hoist, I do it alone. If you haven't come up with a plan yet, I recommend you:
1. Lay down one of the A-frame uprights (after assembling them).
2. Install one of the telescoping posts into the upright.
3. Measure the distance from bottom of caster wheel (i.e. the ground) to the top of the I-beam mounting plane - - this is the LOWEST height of the BOTTOM edge of your I-beam.
Then, find the center of your I-beam (CG), and hoist/suspend it from the ceiling to be at this height determined in step 3 above. KEEP ALL PETS AND PEOPLE OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THIS DROP HAZARD AT ALL TIMES!
Then, with the wife in a GOOD mood, get her by your side, stand up one of the uprights, position it right under one end of the I-beam - aligned for installation, then have her hold it there (it will be quite easy) while you grab the hardware and wrenches, and get up on a ladder and assemble one side (don't torque yet). Repeat for the other side (remember, NOBODY OR LIVING THINGS UNDER THE BEAM) and then once you're happy with squareness, tighten everything up.
If you have a trolley, either figure out a way to install it afterwards without disassembling the beam, or install the trolley, heavily tape or otherwise lock it down on center (to maintain CG), then begin the process I outlined above. I hope this helps. If you have another plan, more power to ya! I may detail this process with pics in my thread, but damn it's a lot of work to catalog pics and post those updates 
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My name's Steve and it's pronounced "Bust 'em" (cuz people think I'm Tom) 😏 |
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Semper Gumby
Samba Member
Joined: November 30, 2022
Posts: 99
Location: Southwest Florida
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2023 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Old Guy(s) "Body" Lift Question |
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| Busstom wrote: |
| Hey Semper, have you planned a way to build up that gantry? They have you building it on the ground, with the uprights lying down, then they expect you to right the whole assembly to stand on its own four casters. |
First, you need a top notch supervisor who knows how to support you:
SAIA freight guys delivered the box in perfect shape:
Took me under two (2) hours to construct it (I tossed the instructions as they sucked). Grabbed the first guy I saw walking his dog, and we got it up right. I know my wife is stronger but it would have cost me a dinner  - the guy took an IPA and we talked about all the shit in my garage
Titan sent me the wrong fasteners for the upright levers - not a big deal so I need to grab them later this week.
I made the mistake buying just one (1) Titan's trolley as I needed a pair to hold the Harbour Freight 1.5 T electric hoist. I will fashion a 2x3 angle to hold the hoist - which I anticipate will be a b*tch to mount on the I-beam rail. Otherwise, I had a few new old guys drop by to look at the crane and ask about using it.
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"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooten |
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