Need a gantry crane for a one time use.

[Flyinfool]

I need to beg, borrow, or steal a gantry crane for a one time use. Absolutely to time requirement

I need at least 8,000 lb capacity and 10 ft wide.
None of the equipment rental places that I have found locally have heavy enough cranes for rent.
I need to pick up around 6,000 lbs back a trailer under it and set it back down on the trailer. I can rent a flatbed trailer local that has a 12,000 rating.
Load the crane up on the trailer drive 350 miles and reverse the process to unload.
Place the trailer so that the load is right where I want it, lift it up, pull the trailer out from under and set it down.
This is probably the last time I would ever need the crane. The crane does not need wheels. The wheels will just sink in the ground and movent will not happen.

I am currently watching several online shopping sites for a used one that I can buy, use it once and relist it for sale.

Last option is to buy a new one from Northern tools and then hope to get at least half my money back when I sell it.
But this option is around $5000

 

[woodchucker]

You can always hire a truck wrecker/towing company to lift it for you. Probably not too much.

 

[CJ5Dave]

If it’s not in a building hire a guy with a track hoe.

 

[extropic]

Hire local riggers at pick-up and delivery locations?

 

[pontiac428]

I rented a boom type forklift when I bought my Nardini. Had it dropped off, used it for a half hour, and then picked up. It was definitely cheaper than your Northern Tools option and could do 4 tons. I guess the 350 miles would be the hard part, but even doing the same at the other end would be under your worst-case price.

 

[matthewsx]

Sounds like a job for a telehandler.

https://www.unitedrentals.com/marketplace/equipment/forklifts/telehandlers/9000-lb-telehandler-30-45-ft-variable

Consequences of getting something like this wrong are pretty dire IMHO.

John

 

[Larry$]

Hire someone to do the lifting on each end. Safe & likely cheaper.

 

[Nutfarmer]

Forklift rentals are cheaper than dropping a piece of equipment. Hiring a crane at each end is another possibility

 

[Flyinfool]

This is not for machinery. It is for a big landscaping rock. Dropping it will not hurt it. Dropping it on something will destroy that something.
Right now the rock is in the middle of a farmers field. I want it to discourage people from cutting the corner across my yard while driving thru. I live on a corner and people have cut the corner so short that my house has been hit. I have about a 400 lb rock there now and it keeps getting hit, I then have to pick up pieces of plastic that fell off of cars and push the 400 lb rock back where it belongs. I am hoping that a bigger rock will stay put when a car hits it. I can only guess that the rock I am looking at is somewhere around 6-7,000 lbs. At least the 400 has stopped them before the house. I even had one idiot threaten to sue for the damages to his truck when he thought he could straddle the rock and ended up tearing off his bumper and caving in his transmission pan. I would love to hear him explain how it is my fault that he drove thru my yard and got hung up on my landscaping.

I used a similar process to get the 400 lb rock home.
Used my 2 ton engine shop crane to pick it up, backed my truck under it and set it down in the bed of truck. Strapped it down good and drove home the 350 miles. positioned the truck with the rock right over where I wanted it, picked the rock up with the shop crane, moved the truck out of the way and set it down. Simple.

The farm is owned by a relative that is why I go 350 miles to get there and back, All the rocks I want for free and spend a nice weekend visiting up north and playing farmer.

Was looking at another 2 options today.
Buy the rock from a local place that is about 30 miles away for $130 per ton, and have them deliver and place the rock at $200 per hour charged from the time they leave their lot until the time they get back to the lot. Assuming they have a rock I like.

other option, I am in the process of drawing up a gantry crane to build. I am copying the design of a certified crane. It might be a fun project to build. I am not far enough in the design process to make a BOM to determine the cost.

 

[extropic]

How about getting some wedges and feathers. Use a hammer drill (cordless or w/ a generator) for holes as required. Break it into 4 x 1 ton pieces.
Moving becomes a much lesser project. Arrange the pieces into the most formidable barrier. Place a few short (6" above the rocks) T posts amongst the rocks. Attach flimsy signs to the posts. The sign(s) read "Private Property" and " Keep Off". The T posts shall be well supported and cut to length at an acute angle. A couple motion activated game cameras observing the area could prove entertaining and useful.

EDIT: I suspect the signage will be too attractive for the most weak minded passers by to ignore. I don't think a T shaped puncture can be plugged. Too bad.