Car Hoist

[swifttiga]

Hi all, Is anyone using one of the modestly priced Northern Tools Gantry Crane to lift their car. If so how well has it worked?
Thinking of using one to stack a car above on racks

[Charles Warner]

Used one years ago. They are massive, heavy, and extremely difficult to situate in a garage. Height will be an issue as most garage light fixtures are too low, and the doors are definitely too low. I had a 10 foot ceiling and had to have the legs cut and re-welded just so it would roll around the shop. Took three people to assemble it. A standard garage ceiling height makes it almost a non-starter. Even if you do get one in your shop and it is high enough to raise a car to the upper rack, having it in the way is a real pain. You also have to consider the hoist. A one ton winch will not work for most formula cars. I use a 3 ton hoist now with a custom built rolling gantry and it barely lifts my atlantic car. I would go with a 5 ton just for the safety and convenience.

IOW, do your homework carefully. Measure the height you'll need to lift the cars, and don't forget to add the hoist, thickness of the upper arm, and lifting mechanism to it, as well as any travelling system that allows the hoist to move sideways that you choose. That takes away at least a foot of height, or more.

[RobLav]

My 2 ton engine hoist has worked great for years. Just have to raise the car above the legs before lifting.

[Charles Warner]

My 2 ton engine hoist has worked great for years. Just have to raise the car above the legs before lifting.

that hoist can not be compared to a vertical lifting electric winch. Ratings are different.

[john f]

You also have to consider the hoist. A one ton winch will not work for most formula cars.

How much does your car weigh ???

john f

[Rick Kirchner]

Just copy the Brenner lift design. It's all made out of trailer hitch material. I don't use an electric hoist - I use a lever-type chain lift, a 1.5 ton, that has 3x safety factor.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

I overbuild one similar to the Brenner lift.

Use a winch mounted on the leg with pulleys to the center.

Have ceiling clearance problem otherwise would have used a chain lift.

Used a big engine lift before. Wont go back.

[Charles Warner]

How much does your car weigh ???

john f

You need to understand that most electric winches are rated at rolling load, not dead weight. The Atlantic would be around 1200 pounds.

[john f]

You need to understand that most electric winches are rated at rolling load, not dead weight. The Atlantic would be around 1200 pounds.

Sorry. I'm thinking you're talking about a chain hoist. My bad!

john f

[swifttiga]

I went looking today. the HF unit is large and heavy duty maybe over kill and a few inches too tall. Northern don't stock one in the local store must be ordered. May just bite the bullet and get one but still looking for one that is on the way to the trash

[racpercival]

This works great for me. What this is, is basically two Hydraulic/500 LB Tables that I got from, I think Harbor Freight, and two sawhorses from Menards. I lift the car with a standard formula car jack in front, insert the 1st Hydraulic Table and use its attached foot pump to raise the car a few feet. Then I go to the rear and do the same thing with the standard formula car jack and then slide the 2nd hydraulic table under the rear.

Next step is to use my feet to pump up both Hydraulic Jacks (simultaneously) to the height I want. This part takes about 10 secs. If the car will be there for a long time, I slide the sawhorses under as seen in the photo to save the pressure on the Hydraulic Jacks.

From the picture, you'll see that the Hydraulic Tables are lowered after I placed the pressure on the Saw Horses. All I have to do is to raise the Tables when I'm ready to lower, remove the Saw Horses, and press each Table's release button and it lowers (10secs).

The 2 tables and the Saw Horses are easy to place in a trailer so I can do this at the track also. I do this by myself and it takes me about 5mins total.

BTW, the tables have caster wheels so I easily roll it around my garage!

For a 1200 LB car, you can consider either a slightly higher rated table, or get a third 500 LB table. This is a FC at about 1,000 LBS.

[swifttiga]

Nice setup you have racpercival. That can't work for what I am trying to do, I need to get the car higher to clear the storage racks. Thanks

[JustDave]

Don't know if this will help, but COSTCO sell a 'QickJack BL-7000SLX' that has a 7000lb capacity
Dave Coughlin

[DaveW]

I don't have any extra room in my racecar shop, so...

o I roll the front wheels onto boards to get a little more clearance
o Lift the rear from my quick-jack point with an adapter on my floor jack
o Place car ramps under rear tires, remove jack
o Lift center of car high enough with floor jack and rectangular steel tube to place jackstands with a rectangular steel tube under the front, then remove floor jack
o Slip extension onto the adapter and lift the rear high enough to place jackstands with a rectangular steel tube under the bellhousing

If you don't want to remove the diffuser, rear wing etc., you can leave the floor jack holding the rear up as long as you have a strut in place on the jack so it won't sink down over a long time supporting the car.

This all takes maybe 5 minutes. I did have to make my adapters stable (so the tall version wouldn't tip over) on the floor jack by bolting them to the floor-jack pad.

[Charles Warner]

Can give us an idea of how high you need the car?

[swifttiga]

Can give us an idea of how high you need the car?

Going up 4&1/2 feet on pallet racks. Spoke to a Race Engineer with a Prep shop doing something close to what I have in mind. Too many cars too small space.Just need to lift the car for storage one up one down

[phantomjock]

Pics when you sort out the solution - please.
Cheers - Jim