Pete C. wrote:
Grant Erwin wrote:
Ignoramus26581 wrote:
Reason I'm asking is to try and determine if a Harbor Freight shop
crane (2 ton) has enough height / reach to slide under the end of a
trailer and lift it up off of the trailer.
Absolutely NOT. Not by far. I own both a bridgy and the crane. The
crane is indispensable, but cannot even approach a Bridgy.
I used a generic 2-ton import engine hoist to lift a Bridgeport off of
a flatbed trailer. It worked fine with the legs all the way extended
and every bolt tightened. Just don't try to roll the hoist around with
the mill in the air - the caster pins will just crumple. I made a dolly
with a lot of clearance underneath to roll over the engine hoist legs.
Pick up mill. Move trailer out from underneath it. Roll dolly under mill.
Let down on dolly. Roll mill to where you need it. Reposition engine hoist.
Lift mill slightly. Remove dolly. Set mill down gently between hoist legs
(make sure ahead of time it will fit!). Remove engine hoist & dolly,
skid mill slightly to get it into final position.
Grant
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
I highly recommend using the hoist to remove the head/ram assembly from
the base and moving them separately. This is a simple matter of removing
the four bolts that attach it to the base. When moving a Bridgeport with
something like an engine hoist this makes the process a lot easier and
safer by significantly lowering the CG as well as the total weight
lifted at one time.
It would be easy and safe until the head/ram assembly tips over on you.
The mill's CG is pretty much under the 5/8-11 hole on top of the ram,
but if you lift the ram/head by that lifting hole, there's no guarantee
that it will be balanced at all. So do it dang carefully.
Plus, that leaves you with no good way to lift the mill. The lifting eye
is gone, as are the front/back of the ram. The former is the way to lift
with a single point, the latter are the way to pick up the mill using
a sling to a single hook or using a forklift. With the top off the mill,
all bets are off. Maybe you could bolt some chain to the body, using the
4 holes on top where the ram connected.
Have you ever done this, Pete?
Grant
** Posted from
http://www.teranews.com **