In article , MP Toolman
wrote:

Hi,
First a warning, then a question. I recently got ripped off by an ebay seller
going by the name unclemonkeygocom. I would advise staying away from his
auctions. I bought a Yale KEL Series 1/2 ton electric chain hoist. His
description said it looked complete except for the electrical pendant
control.
The picture hid the fact that the top hanger hook or bracket, all but a foot
or
two of load chain, and the load hook were all missing. His defense is that he
is not familiar with chain hoists. Dah! Even a complete idiot might notice
if
there are no hooks on a chain hoist. He did give me what amounted to a 25%
refund, but that is the best he would do.

Now the question. I can solve the top mounting hook/bracket and I can get by
with a non-swivel clevis type load hook if I have to, but the load chain seems
to be a problem. I was able to download a manual from the web (Yale now
apparently belongs to CM.) The specified load chain is 5/16 diameter and the
pitch on the inside of the link is 0.790 inch. Problem is that all of the
general purpose or transportation grade 5/16 inch chain I have been able to
find has longer links. I do not really know for sure, but since the chain
has
to match up with what is effectively a square wheel, I doubt if the hoist
drive
mechanism is very tolerant of significantly different chain link pitches.
Genuine Yale replacement chain is $15.94 per foot and a generic equivalent
from
a place calling itself Hoist Warehouse is $14.35 per foot (plus shipping in
either case.) At this price even a modest 10 foot lift (12 feet of chain)
will
be more than double my present investment/loss. Anybody know a source for
something close to the specified size chain at a reasonable price? Anyone
have
a dead hoist with serviceable chain? If I decide to cut my losses, does
anybody need any used parts for a Yale KEL series chain hoist?

Thanks for your thoughts,
Mill




I feel your pain.
Last Winter I needed a 1/2 ton 110 volt chain hoist with at least a 12
foot lift and could only find one with a 14 foot chain on it (doubled
to a 7 foot lift).
I suffered massive sticker shock when I found out how much they wanted
for a longer replacement chain.

So I went down to Pacific Industrial Supply in Seattle and looked
through their used hand chain hoists.
I lucked out and found a CM Hand chain hoist with a 32 foot chain that
matched my chain perfectly.
I bought the hand hoist for $80 and swapped the chains between them.

So now I have a 1/2 ton electic hoist with a 15 foot lift
(doubled-chain) and a 1/2 ton hand hoist with a 10 foot single chain
for my driveway lifting frame.

To swap chains you make up a C-link by cutting a link of the chain so
it has a gap on the side of the link big enough to slide the link off
the chain.
A thin abrive cut off wheel works well for this.
Use the C-link to connect the end of the old chain to the end of the
new chain and feed it through the motor.

The trickiest bit for me was getting the limit switches set correctly
on the chain motor.