2000lb ceiling hoist/elevator??

[MossRoad]

When you get the pallet of bales up to the loft area, what happens to them then?

 

[4570Man]

A mast from a forklift would be my first choice. You can get them pretty easy from scrap yards. Are you unloading the pallet by hand once it gets to the top or are you hoping to set it at the top and move it with a pallet jack? How are you getting the pallet to the lift? How high is it going?

 

[flyerdan]

Do you have enough room and access to use a forklift? Chances are that you might be able to pick up one that isn't reliable or OSHA compliant enough for daily commercial ops, but fine for personal use. You could luck out and find one for less than a dedicated elevator would cost, and it could be used for other things as well.

 

[MossRoad]

A mast from a forklift would be my first choice. You can get them pretty easy from scrap yards. Are you unloading the pallet by hand once it gets to the top or are you hoping to set it at the top and move it with a pallet jack? How are you getting the pallet to the lift? How high is it going?

That sounds like a good idea. You just have to figure out how to anchor it. A 2000# lift forklift usually has a weight of 4-5000 pounds. It's not something you can just anchor to a wall or floor. It needs significant counterweight, or rollers on a beam on the opposite wall.

For that matter, I'd bet a used forklift would be almost as cheap as building a dedicated lift from scratch, and be more versatile around the farm.

 

[4570Man]

Do you have enough room and access to use a forklift? Chances are that you might be able to pick up one that isn't reliable or OSHA compliant enough for daily commercial ops, but fine for personal use. You could luck out and find one for less than a dedicated elevator would cost, and it could be used for other things as well.

That would be my first choice but I made my previous comment on building a lift. The biggest problem with forklifts is they don’t go off road very good at best. Forklifts capable of going off road around nearly as compact and more expensive.

 

[MossRoad]

For example, this one lifts 4000# to 160" and is $3500.

There's more examples on that page. No need to reinvent the wheel, and its probably going to be safer, too.

Propane Fork-Lift ForkTruck - Halla HLF25C - LPG 5 lb Capacity, 572 hours | eBay

 

[MossRoad]

That would be my first choice but I made my previous comment on building a lift. The biggest problem with forklifts is they don’t go off road very good at best. Forklifts capable of going off road around nearly as compact and more expensive.

That's true. They do get stuck in slight mud or snow very easily. But even at that price, you could pour a concrete pad and park it there permanently and use it as an elevator.

 

[4570Man]

That's true. They do get stuck in slight mud or snow very easily. But even at that price, you could pour a concrete pad and park it there permanently and use it as an elevator.

I’ve got cheaper forklifts than that. I’ve got 2 that are operational for less than $2000. One of mine has tiny wheels like that one and it won’t go off a concrete or asphalt at all. The other one has bigger wheels but is still a warehouse forklift. It’ll go on gravel and firm dirt. As heavy as that are anything that even resembles mud is out of the question. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tiny wheeled one could be gotten stuck in hot asphalt.

 

[flyerdan]

A pneumatic tired one like mine does pretty good in packed dirt and gravel, even though it it stuck in the lawn in the avatar pic. Hadn't dried out enough when I tried moving a trailer. Chances are that an area can be prepared well enough to use it all year for hay moving. Mine would be a lot more capable with new drivers on it, they're pretty smooth. One of the reasons it was so cheap.