"Carla Fong" wrote in message
...
On 10/5/2011 9:26 PM, Ignoramus28169 wrote:
... Replacing the crappy casters on the Harbor Freight engine hoist with
some better quality ones makes a big improvement. It's still a harbor
Freight unit, but at least you can move and steer it.

Carla

I modified my old Spreuer crane like this to run on dirt:
https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/...51034176921634

The 8" rubber-tired steel wheels on the hook end were surplus so I don't
know their load capacity. They survived hauling an 1100 Lb boulder a few
hundred feet back into the woods. Their axles are on extension straps that
let them swing back under the frame to roll on dirt, or forward beyond the
frame to let the original steel rollers run on pavement, at full capacity.

For an HF type crane I'd replace the casters with fixed axles as I did with
the platform stacker:
https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/...44343827153698

Those were fabricated from stainless pipe, with home-made needle bearings
made from stainless welding rod.
https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/...44353392854802
https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/...44360314674306
The gap clears a rib under the platform.

jsw