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Cherry Pickers

I have a "Carolina" brand 4 ton one I may have used 3-4 times since buying it in the mid 1980's..a tool rental place bought a lot of them off one of the "gypsies" tool trucks from NC where they were made,I paid $200 for it still in the box,he had a dozen or more too--I wished shortly afterwards I went for a pair of 8 ton jack stands for another $50,but I get by with what I had found at the flea market..

Another cherry picker was given to me ,my brother in law used to help a realtor clean out homes for sale,and he's get tons of stuff people abandoned--I don't know what brand it is,but its as or more rugged as the Carolina one,and all I had to do was de-rust it and paint it,and add oil to the jack (could use another paint job now)....

I leave it outside to use unloading things off my pickup or move stuff around,and I had a pair of two truck dolly wheels I put in the rear leg square tubing,the dolly pipe stubs fit perfect in them,that makes it much easier to roll on the driveway or lawn ,I have towed it with my garden tractor dozens of times to move things like engines around the yard,out back to the shed..

I would say to get a 4 ton for the reasons already suggested--they not only lift more,you need the extra strength and stability when the boom is extended fully....

I had a 1 ton one I borrowed to pull a 454/TH400 out of a pickup and it was scary,the rear wheels wanted to go up in the air with the boom extended just far enough to get to the chain on the engine..had to stand on it while I pumped the jack up,and when I went to pull the crane away ,it dam near flipped over when the engine suddenly swung around once it cleared the radiator support..

I'm getting to the age I should have a setup like this..
tractor crane.jpg

Even better would be a mini-excavator,but that ain't happening unless I hit the lottery..
 
i'm looking for an engine hoist that is:

1) rolls easily
2) is very high-quality.
3) money generally not an issue.

i'm not dealing with big blocks; iron head small blocks at the most, so i don't need super-high weight capacity.

Any recommendations?

The other thing i was considering was using a gantry crane setup. This would allow greater versatility and they can be made to roll easy.
 
Gantry is NICE. I built mine for $700. Can't buy one like it for less than $2500 from what I found.

But,
It needs real estate... Definitely need a good place for it when not in use.

Anything hanging from your ceiling becomes an issue when moving it at height.

And they need to be taller than you think when pulling say an engine from a lifted truck. By the time you figure the I-beam, whatever your hanging a hoist on, and the hoist it's self, your looking at 18" minimum from it's top point to your highest hook position.

As for cherry picker, it is actually hard to beat the HF 2 ton. I've seen a lot and used a lot, but that one is my favorite so far.:dunno:. Not all their stuff is junk.
 
I have a home made gantry that used to be a swing set on a city playground,made of schedule 40 pipe--I cut it down to 10 feet wide (it was over 30 feet long as a swing set) in order to get it home,that was as wide as I'd need it to be--the height is only about 9 or 10 feet though,and yeah,it would be better if it were higher--but as it is now,it is too tall & wide to fit thru my 10 x 10 foot garage door-:doah: -so it can only be used outside,unless I were able to take it apart and re-assemble it inside..there is no means to lift it in the garage..

It was quite difficult to assemble alone--I spliced the top "beam" which is pipe with a larger pipe that slid over it,while it was on the ground,I pinned it with 3/8" thru bolts...then I had to chain the legs to a tree,and use my truck with a chain to the top pipe to pull it upright,onto the legs..a scary deal I'd rather not attempt again..


I have only used it a few times to pull truck beds off and install others outside...I need to put some better wheels on it,all it has is some crappy lawnmower solid rubber ones and they are junk now..
It'll be tough to move now,have to drag it around with a tractor probably.

I planned to use two pairs of FWD car hubs and car space saver tires on it,but since I hardly use it any more I didn't yet...

I still want to though,I hope to pull the bed off my truck soon so I can fix the spring hanger,weld up some frame defects and make installing a new fuel tank easier..might ditch the stepside ,its pretty rotted,and use a flatbed I have instead..
 
used the cherry picker to move a 350 and load the 8.1 on a trailer. worked great.
Only complaint... front metal tires leaves lines in my concrete. scratches. i live in a nice development.. and wife aint happy. probably gonna try to replace them with rubber wheels from home depot.
 
Get the poly lined steel ones. Real thin hard layer around steel. You won't like rubber ones up there
 
If I had the space I'd probably build an a-frame style one. Can make it lift what you need, use an electric hoist if you want, and they can roll nicely w/ a large footprint.
 
whelp have used it a hand full of times and where you jack it up from is now leaking.. not happy on this. should I replace ram with better quality or see if its under warranty?
 
Air over hydraulic one is awesome and cheap enough. Feels like an upgrade more than a repair that way.
 
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