Hoists, G80, Beefing Up, Rabbit Trails. . . .

The 78 step side I bought to upgrade the 03 Ranger sounds pretty badass and moves when told. Subsequently, it doesn't like to pass gas stations.

I love a good hot rod. Just like I love kids. They're both fun to watch and be around, for a while, and it's really nice when they go home with those in charge of them.

Said another way, I like my 6 cylinders. With gears, they get everything done the big boys can  (just like the big trucks do). They just don't do it as quick. My old 69 had no trouble breaking 22, and that was before radials, throttle bodies, understanding about the advantages of cold air intake. . . .

To placate myself, there is a 78 250 inline 6 in the bed of my truck. I already bought an engine stand and a over-engine "creeper" that eat a bit of coveted shop floor, so I didn't want to add a cherry picker to the mix. Instead, I wanted to opt for a hoist.

With that hoist thing comes the, "you can't even store much up there, because the trusses weren't built for it" thing.  Just a glance at the plates joining the 30 2x truss components makes clear that fact.

On the shop side of the garage-shop, I went over the tops of all the butt joining plates with 3-1/2" x 36" 3/4 ply, on both sides.  I swapped the 2x that ran across, say, 12 trusses, to stop lateral movement for two sheets of 1/2" ply and a 1,000,000 (give or take 5) screws. They are better than well joined now, and even share a bit of the load with each other. There is a second 1/2" sheet over the center of those two sheets.

That has worked well for storing holiday stuff, fans, heaters and other light things.

Here, I'm going to be lifting a 600 pound motor.  As such, I'm doing a whole lot more beefing up of joints.  For example, those V like joints get plates too, and their tops get plates.  All of it on both sides of each 2x truss. 

Yesterday, I was eyeballing some plywood I earmarked for a project I abandoned. The 8' x 10" pieces got cut in half and an angle matching the ceiling cut on one end.  This, as luck would have it, allowed me to position all of them closer to the hoist point and beyond the mentioned added plates.

Another straw on this camel was, I laminated, 5 pieces thick, pieces of OSB to make a glue-lam, of sorts, 12' long.  it mounted vertically, and is tied to each truss too.

Oh, and this seemed like a good use for some of that LARGE roll of plumbers tape I scored at a yard sale. I wrapped it, under tension, around the wannabe glue lam and the truss connection points.

In the end, a whole lot of that OSB I rescued a couple years ago got put to good use, and I have some room back in the garage side for those mentioned auto toys.

When all is said and done, just for a bit extra overkill, I'll be using a couple of those 2x's on both sides of the pickup and between the concrete floor and the trusses.


With all this comes some interesting education.  I didn't know squat about hoists, chains. . . .  Just shopping took me down a whole bunch of rabbit trails.

From the get go, I learned chain as thin as 5/16 can be kick butt, if it's the right kind.  I admit, this made me all sorts of skeptical, but research showed it to be true.  However, it was only true if you got the right 5/16" chain. 

I learned there is grade 30, grade 47, grade 70, grade 80 and grade 120 chain. Only the last two are to be used for hoist work. Others, generally, state, in clear terms, NOT TO BE USED FOR HOIST WORK.

You'd think, since the 70 is only 7% less able than the 80 in indicated weight capacity, you could just switch up to 3/8", grade 70 chain to do what the smaller grade 80 does.  That turns out not be true, according to a whole lot of folks more knowledgeable on such things than me. 

That 7% difference comes with changes in the make up of the chain. The 80 is an alloy, unlike the lesser grades that are, often, heavy in carbon, so prone to snapping.  All other things being the same, the 80 and 120 are far better suited to be used to hoist heavy things. Safety being one of the main reasons.

It can get confusing when you're shopping for grade 80 chain for hoist projects. Many list their chain as grade 80, but promote them for tying down that big dirt working rig and such.  You'd think more than do would make clear for those of us ignorant of that world grade 80 is grade 80 and everything else is just how they advertised their wares.

Then we can look to the hooks and links to tie things together. It stands to reason, and is true, you don't want to use a grade 70 hook or link on a grade 80 chain. It isn't going to blow up or anything, but it does make that hook or link the weak point.  

Once all the other is aside, I find myself shopping for links. That gets confusing too. What shows up over and over is, tow chain connection means. You may have to dig a bit to find, for example, Hammerlock Mechanical Connecting Links, for joining chain pieces.


NOW, if only I could lower the floor a bit, in case I ever have to load the long bed joiner, bandsaw, tablesaw. . . .