Lifting heavy awkward stuff in tight spaces

[Slowpoke Slim]

Any room for pallet racking along the wall, and maybe place attachments at mid or high level rack heights to free up more floor space?

A few pictures of the area in question, or some "roughly to scale" drawings would help.

 

[Xfaxman]

A Johnson Bar is very handy:

 

[oosik]

See - you need a grapple on your tractor. Neighbor cleaning out an OLD barn. Called me - he had found a "something" on the upper floor. Under a large pile of crap. Wanted me to come over and help him get it down. We got it uncovered - an OLD rotary mower. Pulled it over to the edge - grabbed it with the grapple - easily lowered it and backed out the barn doors. Maybe one of these days he might find the PTO driveshaft...........

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Any room for pallet racking along the wall, and maybe place attachments at mid or high level rack heights to free up more floor space?

A few pictures of the area in question, or some "roughly to scale" drawings would help.

Yeah, I had an entire thread where we bashed out pallet rack options. Right now it's on hold until I get the dolly situation straightened out and some mastery of the tools, right now I'm way too nervous to put anything up on a shelf. If/when I do it, the plan is for two shelving sections spanning 2 parking bays with 10' uprights and 12' beams that will span the parking bays such that the uprights are well clear of stuff that might hit them.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

A Johnson Bar is very handy:

View attachment 652249View attachment 652250

Interesting, never heard of a "Johnson Bar" with larger tires acting as a taller fulcrum it's be a lot easier than a typical jack just for raising stuff and moving it a tiny bit. I'm going to assume that was named after an actual person, and not because someone has a dirty mind. ;-)

 

[Bullwinkle123]

See - you need a grapple on your tractor. Neighbor cleaning out an OLD barn. Called me - he had found a "something" on the upper floor. Under a large pile of crap. Wanted me to come over and help him get it down. We got it uncovered - an OLD rotary mower. Pulled it over to the edge - grabbed it with the grapple - easily lowered it and backed out the barn doors. Maybe one of these days he might find the PTO driveshaft...........

Grapple is on the tractor as we type. There was no way I was buying a tractor without one! So nice to clear out all these downed trees without having to chop them to bits and haul them off in my now-languishing human powered garden cart.

Only problem is maneuverability in my garage. With nothing on the 3PH maybe I have options, though my 3rd bay is full to the brim of metal working stuff which restricts the picture quite a lot.

 

[Rustyiron]

A simple "pallet jack" is incredibly handy especially if you get creative with blocking/dunnage. After watching a buddy use one in his shop (and there wasn't a pallet in sight) I needed one. After a few weeks on c/l I now have a dandy $125 almost new helper in my shop.

 

[Diggin It]

Everybody is talking about stuff with small, hard wheels or rollers, none of which will work on dirt or gravel floors inside or gravel or turf outside. Not every storage area inside or out can be paved, either for practical or economic reasons.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

A simple "pallet jack" is incredibly handy especially if you get creative with blocking/dunnage. After watching a buddy use one in his shop (and there wasn't a pallet in sight) I needed one. After a few weeks on c/l I now have a dandy $125 almost new helper in my shop.

Yeah, I thought about that. Cost aside, they're big enough that it's just more challenge to my limited space, and there's also my previous concern about wrecking blades if I use them under the rotary cutter. (Though one person uses the structure above the cutter with a pallet jack/forks, but that sounds like a mistake for me to attempt.) Unfortunately I can't see it helping lift a bucket or blade on the floor (missing its pallet), where as a boom with chain would let me host those attachments without needing to insert a pallet fork underneath.

I know, need dollies/pallets for everything, but ... one step at a time. The pallets that came with the equipment are breaking pretty quickly just setting stuff down on them.

 

[GeeVee]

I have a 6' rotary cutter in my garage on cheap dollies because I'm still assimilating a new tractor and attachments in my life.

If the cutter breaks the dolly, I need to use something to lift it up onto a new dolly. Because I was unprepared for this and the rotary cutter was a 90 degrees relative to the tractor in the garage (to the side, and rotated) I used a crappy old car jack to raise it so I could put another dolly under it. At which point I realized I basically have no way to lift heavy things like this.

I have a hook on my bucket. I also have pallet forks. _maybe_, with nothing on the 3ph I could rotate the tractor enough in the garage to lift the cutter with some chains via the forks/bucket and running it through the toplink pin on the cutter.

I'd hesitate to lift the cutter with pallet forks, because the might damage the blades while trying to get underneath the front of the cutter and while lifting. And I'm guessing that lonely bucket hook isn't really for lifting, it was welded on as a seeming afterthought, as well.

Or I could buy a 2 ton collapsible crane from HF, but I don't have experience with these and don't now how well they work for things like a giant rotary cutter instead of your basic engine block. It also might not slide under the cutter if the cutter "front" (with 3ph hitches) is too close the tractor or a wall.

Or I could buy a better basic hydraulic floor jack (as for a vehicle), though it was really hard to get the old crappy car jack under the side of the rotary cutter (not much clearance on the forward sides, had to position it way back).

So I like the crane type options best.

Anyway, looking for tips here. Using my back to hoist any part of a 745lb implement is not an option.

I'm also toying with the idea of this thing, which looks like a pretty neat idea for not much money.
Forklift Lifting Hoist Swivel Hook Mobile Crane 4 lb. capacity lift

Of course that all goes back to whether I have enough room to position the tractor in the garage, I'm not sure if I do.

Tips? What do you guys use to move lift heavy stuff when it has fallen off (or broken) your dollies?

Mr. Winkle? I think your tractor has a QA set-up? I can share with you your next tool purchase.... A tree boom is so very handy, and I have found one that is very inexpensive. I too, don't care to lift anything by hand, that I can use power for.... Some chain and hooks you already have and you are saving your back. Slings are nice too, and cheap enough to buy three in different lengths.

I paid $335 with free shipping for this boom. It came in two pieces on a fed ex truck. I Have a ASV RC 30 and had to have a top angle welded on for my little machine to use it. I purchased it to unload 100 palm trees off of semi trailers and then set the trees on 25 acres. This is a must have for Palms, and I used a Taki full size skid steer to actually do that work. (My little ASV doesn't have the pin height to get them off the semi trailer, but can pick them off the ground and move them and put them into holes) Since then I have added the top angle to fit my machine. The Palms were 20'OA and weighed 1200- 1500. I like the two piece design, as I can use the QA base to add other things to it, like a receiver....

6" Tree Boom Attachment

When you view this link, it has pictures of the "tip" and they are different pictures out of all four. Even the "gusset" in the middle, mine has a generous hole in it and I put a big shackle in there for options when I want to move something. DONT let this worry you. You could ask for pics of the one they would send you.

Again, if you have a standard Quick attach, great, this one fits as it should. If you have mini QA, they have one for it too- even cheaper.

I use the Tree boom to lift and play out (pour) 1000 pound bags of gravel, by rigging the handles to both the top and middle eyes, and tipping. -Among other things. Round endless yarn slings are dirt cheap on the net and are as valuable as any chain, clevis hooks, and shackles a man could have. Endless Polyester Round Lifting Sling - 4' (Yellow)