I've had one of the inexpensive electric hoists for some time now and it has been great. It removed the crossflow and gearbox and I used it to lift the bike engine in and out while I made the engine mounts. All that time it was mounted statically from the roof joists using a monster sized wrecking bar as a support. This worked fine, but being static it wasn't as usefull as it could have been.
So as I now want to haul my engine back out, drop it at the side of the car and clean the engine bay, I decided it was time to enable some movement of the hoist.

Basically, I have bolted 40mmx40mm x 3mm equal angle to the side of each joist with bevel cuts at the ends to allow them to sit right on top of the wall heads. This was done on two adjacent joists with the angles facing each other.
I then made up a trolley which the hoist bolts to and this has 5 roller bearing each side mounted on M10 bolts. The trolley was made such that even if all ten bolts were to fail simultaneously, the layout of the steel would prevent complete failure.

Steel cost £12
Hoist cost £40 a couple of years back.
Bearings cost £4 for all ten.
Bolts cost About £1.50 but I had to buy a tenner's worth from Screwfix.

That's a good value addition to the shed of Zil for under £60 all in.

Anyway, as the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pics.

Hope this is of help to some of you and remember, you are responsible for your own safety. Make your own decisions and accept responsibility for your own safety and well being.

Cheers

JF



Steel on joist



trolley mounted to hoist



Hoist on position RHS



Hoist in position LHS

Holy crikes tight *rs is spending money.......are you ill?????????

I know, I'll have to go and see the doctor.

Thing is thought, it means that I'll be able to stand a chance of getting somewhere now.

Working on your own can be a bit challenging, so you have to be crafty sometimes, don't you think ?

blooming heck, that is some hoist, didn't realise you could fit an engine powered hoist in that space - hope you vent the exhaust gas properly

quote:

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Originally posted by MikeR
blooming heck, that is some hoist, didn't realise you could fit an engine powered hoist in that space - hope you vent the exhaust gas properly

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nice one

I did the same thing in the new shop I'm building. The track it rolls on is 16 feet long, so I can lift an engine at the front of the shop, give it a gentle push, and roll it back to the work bench. And vice-versa. A very precise & controllable way of removing/replacing a motor by yourself. The track/trolley bits cost more than the hoist itself, though!

Looking good john

Im not offended that I didnt get a mention in the credits after all the angle holding i did when cutting the bits for this marvelous contraption.

Hope those joists are well nailed in and SWL is painted onto the angle


All the best

Andy

That second one was 1mil short......

SWL is about half a bag of cement.