Lifting Mill?

[SpeedsCustom]

Hello everyone!

I may be a new owner of an IH mill in the coming months! It's crazy because I never even bothered to look at the mill, I saw the prices and passed. But, I will be splitting the cost with my older brother so, it's a little easier on my wallet. (We are going to get the Manual and do our own conversion)


I am actually going to pick up the Mill from CT since I'm located in New Jersey.


One thing I do have to be aware about, is that picking it up is not the hard part, it's taking it in the shop!!! I am also going to have to build a bench or something, I need to look into steel and stuff, but don't have an welding equipment. I don't know...



The main point is, would this help get the mill off the truck bed or trailer we will be using. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46766

Seems like 2 tons should get the job done no problem, I wonder if it will be ok out of a truck bed? Hopefully.


Any thought guys




-Jason

[Santa Fe Al]

Hello everyone!

I may be a new owner of an IH mill in the coming months! It's crazy because I never even bothered to look at the mill, I saw the prices and passed. But, I will be splitting the cost with my older brother so, it's a little easier on my wallet. (We are going to get the Manual and do our own conversion)


I am actually going to pick up the Mill from CT since I'm located in New Jersey.


One thing I do have to be aware about, is that picking it up is not the hard part, it's taking it in the shop!!! I am also going to have to build a bench or something, I need to look into steel and stuff, but don't have an welding equipment. I don't know...



The main point is, would this help get the mill off the truck bed or trailer we will be using. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46766

Seems like 2 tons should get the job done no problem, I wonder if it will be ok out of a truck bed? Hopefully.


Any thought guys




-Jason

Hi Jason,

If you do use that engine lifter, be careful about front loading it. During my usage, I learned the hard way that the hoist must be on a flat floor, keep the extended arm as short as possible so that most or all of the motor (mill) is NOT jutting out ahead of the from wheels, keeping the moment of balance in a safe area, and lift the motor off the truck and drive the truck out from under it.

If you need to move it anywhere, lower the motor (Mill) close to the floor, then push it where you want to place it. I hope your mill weighs within the limits of the hoist.

Good luck!

Al

[holbieone]

I have used a 2 1/2 ton to get a full sized Bridgeport mill out of the back of my F350

[SpeedsCustom]

The Mill weighs about 1,000 pounds, close to it. If I use the trailer, I only need to lift the mill about 2 feet from the ground most which should be in any of those cranes specs. I actually plan on backing up the trailer inside the garage and lifting it out.


-Jason

[Jim Stabe]

The legs of the hoist are under the load you are lifting so you need to be able to straddle the machine to pick it up off the floor and the legs need to be able to go under the trailer to set it on the bed. I moved a Rong Fu mill drill from the bed of my pickup into the garage and set it on the stand using one of the HF hoists.

Jim

[Alan Wright]

When I got my IH, I got the stand as well (good decision, and after adding a couple of pieces of plywood makes for plenty of handy storage space). When lifting it with the HF 2-ton crane, I found that I could not get the mill onto the stand (legs collide with stand in any arrangement). So I bought an inexpensive gantry crane and hand winch from Northern Tool, which solved the problem nicely. The gantry will straddle a pickup truck, lifts much higher than the crane, and can also roll around to straddle any other bench or stand you may want to drop the mill onto.

Alan

[DavidD]

I used that crane/hoist to get my ENCO RF45 clone out of the back of my pickup. Some things to be aware of:

Fully extending the arm limits the load to about 1000# lift capacity. I can't check what mine says on it because its buried under a bunch of other stuff. You get the 2000# capacity with the boom fully collapsed.

The wheels of the crane MUST extend beyond the lift point of the boom arm. otherwise it WILL TIP. Been there done that.

The crane may not lift it high enough to either get it off the pickup or on to a high stand. You can let the air out of the rear tires on the truck so you don't have to lift as high. That's what I did (I have a high 3/4 ton Chevy)and then drove out from under the crate with the tires flat.

You may be able to rent either that crane or a small gantry crane from a local rental place for under $50

Be careful of where the center of gravity is on the mill. It will want to rotate 90 degrees and hang horizontal (or even flip all the way over based on where you hook the straps).

Its doable. Just don't get squashed in the process (or hurt the mill),

[SpeedsCustom]

Good information guys. I really hope I can put the mill on the trailer. I don't however have a pickup truck. The Nissan Maxima is what we have 06 Model. I would need to put the mill right over the trailer wheel base or just past the point, otherwise if it's between the trailer wheels and the back of the nissan, the whole car will touch the bottom!

It might be just easier to rent a pickup truck and haul back home. But I'll still need the crane, I can hopefully rent everything for under 100.00


Good information guys.


-Jason

[Alan Wright]

Rather than renting a pickup, go to Budget and rent a small liftgate truck. That will make everything incredibly easy. I moved a whole machine shop this way for about 50 bucks.

[SpeedsCustom]

But I would still need to be able to move it around the shop, that being my garage, the back of a truck would never fit.


-Jason

[Santa Fe Al]

But I would still need to be able to move it around the shop, that being my garage, the back of a truck would never fit.


-Jason

Hi Jason,

If you use a trailer, make sure to load the mill so you get between 200 and 300 lbs tongue weight. This will keep the rear of the car from raising or lowering under normal driving, except for big bumps. A good way to figure out if you have enough tongue weight, is to use both hands and lift at the hitch. If it is doable, but not to easy or hard, you are in the ball park.

As for the hoist, approach the trailer from one side or the other. You can even approach the trailer from the rear with a little offset of the hoist to clear the wheels. Moving the hoist with the mill attached can be done carefully. Soon as you clear the wheel(s), drive the trailer out from under. Then lower the mill close to the ground befor moving very far.

If you can, get someone to help you while unloading. An extra pair of eyes, brain and muscle really helps.

Al

[McAhron]

I spent 50 bucks on a local tow company.I had them bring the big truck so they could use the boom to set it on my stand within the garage.Only took about ten min.