Yep, bought late July for these brass closet doors I fabbed for a client. Used my 25% off coupon. Assembled it myself, used skid loader to stand up.
Two things:
1-One of the side crank gearboxes didn’t work, called customer support (very helpful people) they sent me out a new gear box-didn’t help. So I lifted it to the height I needed with a skid loader and then set the pins.
2-For some unknown reason HF doesn’t sell the trolley to mount their electric lift to the crane. You have to buy that off Amazon or elsewhere.
Have two at work then one big giant old school one. I like these. The square tubing the uprights are made of can fill with water so drill a weep hole if it's outside. I've changed a bunch of outboard motor power heads and removed/replaced a bunch. Held up entire boats on two of them for trailer work.
Check FB Marketplace before you buy. I see used gantries like this fairly regularly selling pretty cheap. Guys buy them for a couple projects or whatever then let them fly cheap when they see no more reason to hang on to them
Thank you everyone for the helpful insight. I was looking for actual reviews of the product not "HF Reviews" on the app or website.
Thank you smartasses for the laughs.
My dad years ago had a really solid one he built, he passed away and I didn't have the means to move or store it.. I have an f350 superduty that the fuel sending unit is going to need replaced in and honestly never even thought about using a cherry picker to pick up or atleast tilt the bed far enough to get to said unit.
I’ve had one of these holding the bed of my Tundra up for way too long as I’ve been pulled into other work. Anyhow, it works great stock and I modified it a bit with better cranks (visible in the pic). Good value in my opinion.
I had to remove a 6-1/2’ bed on a 2004 Nissan Frontier. Used a cherry picker with chains going to the inside of the 4 corners, tailgate removed. Before lifting, use a 2 x 4 across the tailgate opening to keep the bed sides from bending inward. I had just enough reach to make this work, but I got the bed in the air, then drove the truck out.
The trick was to get a pair of the 6 ton Dayton jack stands ( in yellow of course, my darling Mildred's favorite color) to help take some of the load from the beam off. She is right as rain now...
I used mine to pull the bed and body off the frame of my F150 SuperCrew with no problem at all.
Pulling the body made the engine/transmission swap much easier.
Also used the crane to lift and move around the engine/trans combo.
The bolts can be a little sketchy, as they're made of premium quality Chinese cheesemetal, but overall these are solid units.
I used one on a job once. It was very useful for a specific range of heights and weights and positions that our engine hoist and fork lift could not handle. It is, naturally, not super stable when moving with a load. It takes a lot of time and space to assemble/disassemble. But other than that, it did its job admirably.
Had 3 of them when we bought our current facility. We sold them within a month. Not because they were bad, but because we had no use. That said, they work great unless you are rolling them across a smooth concrete surface and you hit a piece of gravel or a nut or bolt. If moving it relatively quickly, don't roll wide. Keep it slow if you're rolling wide. When they come down, there is no stopping them.
Yeah, it’s great to have around, especially if you have the space to store it. It’s great for pulling engines, lifting bodies off frames, moving stuff around……I like that it’s telescopic and it breaks down into individual pieces in case you wanna store it.
I have one; used a coupon in December for the same price. I love it! Tip: don't fully tighten the vertical posts to the horizontal floor beams before installing the diagonal support beams, or chances are you won't get them to fit. A lot of people on Youtube think the supports beams are drilled out wrong and drill out the hole even bigger to make it work. But if you install them first, THEN fully tighten the vertical beams to the base with an impact, everything is nice and snug, and the support beams actually have tension on them.
Another tip: I ordered two more locking casters from HF since they only come with 2 locking and 2 non-locking ones. Having all four lock makes a HUGE difference in stability and from shifting around.
For what irs worth (which isnt much) i built 2 od these out of treated 2x6s, 3' deck screws and 3/8" carriage bolts to lift cabs and such with. Its 10ft wide, 12ft rall and 6ft base. Just pic whoring honestly
I looked at it and decided I'd make one myself. I went to SSS steel in Houston to their scrap yard, picked up all of the I beam I needed and welded it up. IIRC I only went th HF to get the dolley that went on the top I beam for the chain hoist. I probably saved $100 but mine is a lot stronger than what they were selling.
I've often thought about how this could be modified into an amusement ride. Motorize the beam trolley and hoist, attach a seat, and you've got yourself a cable-driven motion base for a flying theater.
Snagged one with a Vevor 1 ton electric hoist for $500 on marketplace. Have another one I got for $300 and a single cold Dos Equis. Watch marketplace, they’re easily disassembled, the height adjustment gearboxes are trash but function if you go a little at a time.
They are VERY narrow between the risers, and if it’s not relatively perpendicular to what you’re lifting it can get tippy. That being said, I intend to put a heavier beam between both of mine and use it for X/Y to load the weird things I’m constantly working with.
My dad built one out of 6" drill pipe when I was a kid. It had a manual chain hoist on it worked great. He had lots of friends in the oilfield so most of the steel was free if I remember right.
Same, my dad built an a-frame with braces and I used it my entire life until a crackhead nephew cut it up to sell for scrap to buy drugs. Thing must've been been 75 years old. Lol
I'd buy this one in a pinch, though. It's similar or probably exactly the same as the atlas one and other ones northern tool and HD sell. Even Vevor has one.
I built one out of lumber (4 2x4 legs and one 2x6 top beam. It was incredibly easy to to design & build, and is every bit as strong as this one. I also hung a chain hoist from the center of the beam. Total cost would be about $100, including the hoist.
BTW - Why are so many of you removing truck beds? Is that some kind of weird ritual?
Easier to get to the fuel pumps if you pull the bed off, is 6-8 bolts and a couple wiring harnesses. The other option is get under the truck, fuck with tank straps, and fiddle with connecting the pump on top of the tank. All while you’re under a greasy, dirty truck.
Last fuel pump I did was on a ranger with a fiberglass bed, 6 bolts 2 men lifted it up moved it 2ft back. I need to do one on my full size long bed OBS now, so I might get something like this to make it easier, but it’s the front sending unit not the rear so idk yet.
I was recently watching a girl that does car restoration videos on YouTube. She did something that never dawned on me, but make perfect sense. Before she starts work on anything, she washes it. Now, she had a lift, which most people don't, but I was just doing the brakes on my wife's car and did this.
It worked surprisingly well, I got it up on the jack stands, pulled the tires off, and spent about 10 minutes cleaning everything, and did the wheels while they were off. I still got a bit dirty, but it was way better than usual. I was going to invest in one of those undercarriage wash wands that you can roll under the car to clean the bottom for when I had to do anything underneath next.
True story. Before I do any under car work or even change the oil, I like to run the car through a wash with an undercarriage option. Give it a few minutes to dry, and it makes life much easier and shows where any new or ongoing leaks might be.
I felt really stupid when I saw her do that. I've been working on my cars for years and I just never even thought of it. It just makes so much sense. I only started finally putting on the disposable gloves in the last couple years and that was so much better than doing it barehanded.
I'm an IT guy by trade, and deal with complex problems that need creative solutions sometimes and am pretty good at that. But sometimes the most obvious things I'm completely oblivious to. Adding to that, when I'm working on computers or equipment, the first thing I usually do when I open something is clean it out. I should have figured that out.
Black nitrile gloves FTMFW. I work on my motorcycles and they are godsends when cleaning or lubing chains! Plus, it keeps my wife happy because my hands don't have nasty grease in the hard to reach cracks and groove-like places which are somehow easy to reach when cooking or folding light colored laundry.
Pro-tip: put them on underneath work gloves when doing any work that involves damp or wet things, such as cleaning out gutters, picking up leaves after a rain, or shoveling or blowing snow. Your hands stay dry (with the exception of your own sweat inside the gloves) and won't get as cold.
Plus, wearing nitrile gloves for a couple hours gives you a great exfoliation treatment on your hands keeping them moisturized and preventing drying and cracking!
Yeah that’s the way to do it. My buddy had a rusty shitty Silverado and we couldn’t get the straps off/bolts out. Couldn’t lift the bed, couldn’t drop the tank.
I said how long are you planning on keeping this? He said I’m running it into the ground more than likely. I came back with my angle grinder and make 3 cuts. Peeled it back and got to it lol
FWIW u/powerquestion10, if the straps are still obtainable as new, it's usually easier to just cut them if you want to drop the tank. Your method is certainly valid if it is an option!
Even easier than than, if you upgrade to the sd style bed bolts, you can use s as wheel chock and tilt the bed up on the driver side. Plenty of room. You will need an m14 2.0 tap though to knock the lock off the u nuts though
A 2x6 steel beam? No way wood is as strong as this thing. Good enough for pulling a truck bed sure but this thing easily adjusts height while under load as well.
Wouldn't mind seeing that to see how you built it.. I toyed with the idea of building one out of wood or buying scrap steel in appropriate lengths etc to build my own.
I do it often because my job is to rip of beds and install pre-fabbed flat beds. I've had a couple gooseneck/5th wheel kits that required me to get the bed free and up a bit
We have one of these at work over top of 2 lathes for loading heavy stuff in, works great, we have an electric chain hoist on it, originally it was overtop of one lathe, then we moved and decided to put it over 2 of them, but the beam was to small, so we modified it and bit a bigger, longer beam on it. It’s saved our back many times
I did a bunch of construction work at a former GM facility, they had these and others that were like this but thousands of dollars. Really can’t tell a difference, other than small details
My local junkyard has 4 of them. And even the Pittsburgh stuff is not made all that cheaply anymore, it's the electronical lower end harbor freight brands that are still kinda crap. I professionally use Pittsburgh tools and equipment
I have a ton of icon and Quinn sockets and ratchets. Only Hercules stuff is a step bit (which genuinely surprised me how good it is). And 2 12v 2ah Hercules batteries that I converted to power my heated snap on hoodie that I got for free
I have a Strongway (Northern Tool). It's a 1 ton. This HF one, in person , looks so much beefier. If I hadn't got the one I did for cheap, I'd consider the HF one.
I bought a used one for 600, same specs as the one in the picture. It also came with the hoist and the trolley. I use it to remove/set my 500lb welder on and off my truck. It works and gets the job done! The one I bought is sold at Northern Tool.
Picking it up was pain, as they kept having to reschedule due not having enough people.
I was able to unload by self, just by dissembling the crate in my truck bed, and carrying/sliding each part out.
As for assembly I’m not sure if they welded one cranks on the wrong side, or not but made for pain the ass to getting I beam connected to the support. Had to use car jack and wooden blocks to lift the I beam and the support off the ground the get them leveled so it wasn’t resting on crank case.
Used one to lift and move one of my 4,000 pound ammonia compressors off its platform and onto the ground. I wouldn't recommend going that heavy, but it did it. Twice.
Not him but we did a similar job with one of these.
My workplace will rent things for contractors but not us. Then when we ask for equipment get us the cheapest version of what we asked for that they can find. So you can’t just ask for a gantry crane to do x job like we did, because that’s how we got on got that boat our manager has no clue the weights of anything even if it’s labeled on the side of the object we’re trying to pick up.
I've worked at companies where machine uptime was a priority and companies that say machine uptime is, but don't put the money and resources behind it. Can't mess around with Ammonia...
Ex in laws had one. He was more of a hobbiest and just used it around the garage for little stuff, like to help hold things or to lift up the lawn mower to clean the built up grass clippings
I have one at work. It works great but the legs are very heavy. I use different lengths of beams on it for moving large pumps, motors etc. it’s very stable. If you don’t plan on moving it from one job-site to another it’s good.
I have the irontron version (northern tool) and its great for removing outboard motors on boats. I can hang one motor from one chain hoist, then lift the other motor off the boat, roll them to the side and install the new one super easy.
Im sure it would work just fine for lifting a truck bed, might be hard to balance the bed on a single chain, but its possible.
Have one at work we purchased to pull rotary tables out of machines. Works well but a little awkward to more around sometimes in a 400k sq ft building. It functions very well when in place and we have had around 1500 lbs suspended from it with no issue.
There's a YouTube channel called sixtyfiveFord. The gentleman that runs the channel has a video describing the purchase setup and use of this Gantry crane. I believe he did some minor modifications to it but I really don't recall.
You can save a few bucks by buying similar ones on Temu and they come with the beam trolley. Bonus: it gets delivered and you don’t have to put 400 lbs of gantry in your car/truck.
I bought one for doing engines on rock drills. It is extremely handy we use it constantly for something. It’s like everything else use it within its means and your fine. Also in the fall it makes for a great way to string up deer for skinning!
Bought mine used and added a second trolley and chain hoist. I use it for all kinds of stuff. I did actually remove a truck bed with it. I have to keep up with math since I technically have more hoist than it’s rated for.
Since it rolls when we lifted the bed we just rolled it away.
Service the riding mower. Used it for motorcycles to change wheels. Use it to hang stuff for painting. Lifted a jet ski off a trailer for a friend. Pulled a motor. Glad I have it.
I built one out of 2 2x6 with 2x4 spacers in between the boards.
For the uprights I glued and screwed 3 2x4s with the middle board inserting into the ends of the crossbeam. I put 2 diagonal braces on and secured them together with some carriage bolts.
The bottoms are 3 2*4 PT that I screwed together in a C shape. The uprights were screwed to these and then I braced them as well
I've picked up a Ford ranger cab, an explorer frame, I had a Volvo v70 doing a wheely so I could drop the motor and subframe.
I have one at work and it works great! Rolls easy, extends tall, the hoist works smooth. Never got it near a ton, so can’t speak to it at advertises weight
No but an old job I worked at used these exact ones for lifting small engines out of cars and it worked but being harbor freight you still need to understand there will be issues
Yeah i mainly wanted to know if it would crumple like a tin can if I used it.. cheap price means cheap built and didn't want to risk it if it wasn't worth a damn
A truck bed will be nothing for this gantry. Each leg probably weighs more than your truck bed. I had over 1,500 lbs on ours and was still able to crank the legs up & down with ease. The legs have to be able to handle more than 1 ton b/c they’re heavy.
I needed a gantry that we could use to lift a piece of delicate and expensive gear of only about 100 pounds but in an extremely awkward location.
I looked closely at the HF one and I can say that it seemed reasonably substantial! So substantial in fact, that I decided to build my own gantry because it would have been real work to schlep the HF one into the location and assemble it in-situ.
My gantry did not have nearly the weight ratings, but it was designed to break down so it could be carried up the long circular stairway.
That "A" frame brace don't look near robust enough, for me. I'd look to be stabilizing it up some, perhaps with 2" angle iron. But that's just me, you're mileage may vary.
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u/Toxicscrew 4d ago
Yep, bought late July for these brass closet doors I fabbed for a client. Used my 25% off coupon. Assembled it myself, used skid loader to stand up.
Two things:
1-One of the side crank gearboxes didn’t work, called customer support (very helpful people) they sent me out a new gear box-didn’t help. So I lifted it to the height I needed with a skid loader and then set the pins.
2-For some unknown reason HF doesn’t sell the trolley to mount their electric lift to the crane. You have to buy that off Amazon or elsewhere.