New Legs for Harbor Freight Shop Crane

[ChandlerJPerry]

This summer I managed to turn the legs of my Harbor Freight hoist into some well banana'd pieces of steel by using it to rip a large stump out of the ground in my yard. I called Harbor Freight, and the legs are not available as a separate part. Seeing that a new 2 ton shop crane from Harbor Freight is $315, I opted to spend $100 on materials and make new legs. Very effective by the way! It beat the hell out of digging it up. It removed five large pyracantha shrubs in total, but the last one did it in. Stump pictured as well.



Anyway, I needed the hoist to get my rotary table up on my mill so I figured it was finally time to make up some new legs. I used 3x3 square tube, 3/16" wall. The original was 2 7/8" x .140" wall (9 gauge maybe?). The extra width did require a little sledgehammer massaging of the hoist frame, as well as grinding on the new legs. The frame also seems to have gotten slightly tweaked from my abuse, so I egged out a couple pin holes to get everything to line up. Painted with some rustoleum silver hammered paint. I should have gone with the grey hammered for a closer match, oh well. Overall the outcome was pretty good!



And, mission success! I got the rotary table up on the mill. Not a bad weekend project overall.

 

[Jake M]

..... using it to rip a large stump out.....

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[RandyWilson]

This is why we can't have nice things.

I picked up and moved my Cincinnati 1B across the shop with one of those hoists without doing this sort of damage.

 

[mmcmdl]

I used to pull stumps out with a 1 ton camper special 454 chevy . I sold that and had a Mitsubishi mini truck and found it was great at pulling it's own rear bumpers off . The stumps were safe for a few years until the Kubota showed up .

 

[ChandlerJPerry]

The way I'm looking at it is that someone has to do the science for all of us! The last stump was where the damage occurred, it was a real monster.



Honestly, for smaller shrubs and bushes I would consider doing it again. It was very effective for the ones leading up to this which was the largest by a wide margin.

 

[ChandlerJPerry]

I picked up and moved my Cincinnati 1B across the shop with one of those hoists without doing this sort of damage.

How did you manage? I used it to move a 1400~ lb knee mill prior to this series of events and found it to be a pretty miserable experience overall.

 

[Nutfarmer]

Why I appreciate my backhoe. Good job on the repair. We all make do with what we have. To this day I hate pyracantha. Had a job as a kid working in a wholesale nursery. Pulling weeds in the pyracanthas always left me with swollen hands from every thorn stick.

 

[ChandlerJPerry]

Why I appreciate my backhoe. Good job on the repair. We all make do with what we have. To this day I hate pyracantha. Had a job as a kid working in a wholesale nursery. Pulling weeds in the pyracanthas always left me with swollen hands from every thorn stick.

This was my first encounter with the stuff and I absolutely loathe it now after this experience. I had similar issues with swelling/skin irritation all over my arms for several days from the process of cutting down the foliage so I could get at the stumps. I ended up paying someone to haul off the foliage because there was so much of it and I didn't want to handle it further.

 

[RandyWilson]

How did you manage? I used it to move a 1400~ lb knee mill prior to this series of events and found it to be a pretty miserable experience overall.

I didn't say it was fun. The hoist got the mill off of the ground. Then it was moved with chainfalls and prybars.