Reddit mentions: The best winches, hoists & pulleys

Even without a bumper-mount winch, it's not a bad idea to have one of these and a quality strap. Those may not be as "classy" nor as long-spooling as a bumper mounted winch but our dads and grandfathers did an awful lot of work with them, they do still serve a purpose and better to have one than to have nothing.

If you don't have any other kind of winch, it's not a bad idea to know how to make a flip-flop winch out of some branches - may never save your bacon but knowledge is something you can carry around for free without taking up any space or weight.

Any rope or strap you intend to use should not have any knots in it, knots reduce the strength drastically. Keep them clean and put them away with care. Ropes and straps must be considered consumable goods, they do not last forever and when they reach the end of their safe working life must be retired or permanently repurposed to a lighter duty task.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm on day 9 of 12 hour days getting our show up and running so I haven't had a chance to check back in. If anyone is in NYC pm me for info and discount codes.

Yes, Winch! haha Hopefully my rigging is better than my spelling.

We are using one similar to this:
http://www.amazon.com/Sportsman-EHOISTUL-lbs-Electric-Hoist/dp/B0001YIUZC/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1456512753&sr=1-1

A shop winch, nothing serious. hard-wired power.

OP delivers!

We had originally considered purchasing a vehicle lift, but they were much more expensive, required a lot of headroom (the garage ceiling is only about 8'4" high), and would have required us to change the garage door tracks and opener to let it clear. This was a much simpler (and cooler) solution.

Many parts were purchase from Amazon, so I provided links so you can take a look.

Parts:

• Winch
  
  
• Pulley
  
  
• Carabiners
  
  
• Snatch blocks
  
  
• Rope hoist
  
  
• Hydraulic Vehicle Moving Dollies
  
  
• 3/16 (840LB capacity) steel cable
  
  
• Cable clamps
  
  
• Cable 'eyes' (keeps the cable in a nice curve when going around the carabiners)
  
  
• Lag bolts
  
  ==================
  Details:
  
  I had access to the studs and rafters as we removed the drywall to remodel the garage, so I was able to use 2x4s and 2x12s to strengthen the areas where the eye hooks were secured.
  
  I built these pivoting support blocks to keep the axle from taking any of the load. I put carpet on the blocks to keep them from scraping the new garage floor.
  
  I use these dollies to position the trailer to be hooked up to the pivot blocks.
  
  I use the rope hoist to make the raising and lowering of the trailer a one person operation. You need to pull the trailer away from the wall to get it to start lowering and also need to steady it on its way up so it doesn't fall into position too quickly.
  

winch is a cool idea..not sure if the stop and start will be instantaneous or will it just pull into the ceiling too tight...that is my only concern.....

I've found

https://www.amazon.com/Overhead-Electric-Hoist-Garage-remote/dp/B00WBVUC3G

Which should work well.

Was hoping to play around a bit with a RasberryPI and make it work by voice and iPad/Web so that is what I was looking at motors.

I bought something along the lines of this hoist. Works great. Two cables make it easy to adjust and keep level going up and down.

I wouldn't call that "safely". At least, not with any come-along that I've ever seen. Have your hand slip on the main handle while the safety latch is disengaged and you're going to have a very bad day.

Agree with /u/bobeboph, a chain hoist with a level handle is the way to go here. Something like this

I bought this one when it was 90 bucks. The price has been increasing since. It's awesome though. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001YIUZC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My quick calc, excluding the arch part on top, has this gate at about 200 lbs. I’m not sure how to calculate the moment of the concrete filled tubes, but it’s almost certain to deflect far enough that the gate will drag on the ground on the hinge opposite end. As stated elsewhere in the comments, the posts are not deep enough, and too small to carry this load. If you’re set on the design and not replacing the posts, I’d add a wheeled support to the end of the gate similar to this: gate wheel

If you have (or can jury-rig) a hoist point in your roasting room, I've had good luck briefly lifting heavy machines with a 6-way block.

After the 6:1 advantage, that's still 275 lbs, but all you need is a fraction of an inch so your helper can slide the pallet out.

Here's one that's good for 200#

Consider using the space at roof level. I lift my RTT to the garage ceiling using a Harken Hoist.

Have had mine for a couple of years now with a load of use. Still good as new excepting the bug spatter across the front.

Woodblock and a mallet? Pull it off the bike, secure it to something relatively immobile, and use a come along?

A come along with one end secured to the end post or a truck hitch should do the trick.

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-5541-2-Ton-Power-Puller/dp/B000NPZ48A/

You need something like this, heat, an impact and a BFH.

Apply heat to hub, tighten puller, hammer end of puller with BFH. Repeat as necessary.

Sorry meant something more like this one.

https://www.amazon.ca/Maasdam-Capacity-Puller-50-Feet-Diameter/dp/B000PWJT7S?th=1&psc=1&source=googleshopping&locale=en-CA&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_4tixp3defp_e

I put together a very similar setup when I had a '85 4Runner with removable hard top. My system used nylon rope with the 4 corners going around pulleys attached to the rafters with eye hooks. Then all 4 ropes tied into 1 which went around another pulley at the wall, then down to a 5 to 1 pulley hoist so I could raise it all the way to the roof and park under it. Once it was up at the roof I had some heavy duty rope looped around the rafters that I looped under the ends of the 2x4's holding the hard top, as a backup in case any part of the system failed.

I also helped my friend setup a similar system to remove his '67 Bronco hardtop, which was much heavier so we used a crank winch instead of the pulley hoist.

They do make synthetic rope which has a few strands of conductive material through them. They are a lower cost alternative to aluminum wire for things like electric fences. So these may be for lightning protection.

https://www.amazon.com/Zareba-PR656W6-Z-200-Meter-6-Conductor-Electric-Fence/dp/B0079GHG2S

I used to store my truck camper shell in my garage in a similar fashion:


https://www.amazon.com/Harken-Utility-Dinghy-Hoisters-Hoister/dp/B000K16FIK/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=camper+shell+hoist&qid=1557409307&s=gateway&sr=8-2

​

Holds up to 200 lbs and it's simple/easy to raise/lower.

Rent or own? Makes a difference about how you mount it:

https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Pulley-Block-Tackle-Hoist/dp/B001Z0WELC

I used this pulley kit

http://www.amazon.com/Delta-El-Greco-Ceiling-Hoist/dp/B000MJ11TI

Yea, it’s a monorail crane that would have a trolley
on it with a load rated loop and you could attach a chain fall come along
to that to lift and move whatever you needed.

Block and tackle sets. https://www.amazon.com/Super-Handy-Heavy-Duty-Capacity-Rope-Hoist/dp/B001BXJVNC/

Couple of those, extra rope, and some straps to wrap around the boulder. A single person could do it.

Edit: Heck, there's probably battery powered portable winches to make it even easier.

What you really need to invest in is a bock and tackle rig that will give you a 4:1 or 6:1 purchase.

http://www.amazon.com/Rope-Pulley-Block-Tackle-Hoist/dp/B001Z0WELC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408409122&sr=8-1&keywords=block+and+tackle

mount a 5/16 loop into a frame or joist inside the garage door of the current and future location and you should be set.

The Other thing to think about is how to disassemble the tools into somewhat manageable pieces. For instance I recently moved a 15 inch planer that I was able to remove 4 bolts to detach the head from the motor thus reducing the weight from about 400 pounds to about 250 and 150 pounds.

TEKTON 5546 4-Ton Power Puller - $39.00 - just attach the tow hook in the tool bag to the front bumper and drag it into the garage.

self storage is always an option. like uhaul or some shit. Or you can hang them from the ceiling out of the way.

just do a completely terrible job and put one of these on and it'll work
https://www.amazon.com/Gate-Wheel-Suspension-Capacity-Pneumatic/dp/B00AKC56IO

I've had to do this to pull a rocker at home. Don't use a chinese puller, they will hurt you, good one is only $35.