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You might be better off making a wooden gantry crane. Some call them
a "lifting horse" like a giant saw horse. There are several ideas on
lifting things in this post at Practical Machinist:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb...5-post1553677/

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The one that Forest Addy describes has 4x4 legs and a 4x8 cross member
around 10' long. Unfortunately no pictures of the ones he made. I
wondered about the bracing from the legs to the cross piece.

I lifted my 13" X 7' bed South Bend lathe from my pole barn's roof truss
lower chord without any problem. A wooden A-frame is definitely on my wish
list unless I find an I-beam first. I thought I might make a wooden I beam
using a 2 X 10 center and 2 X 4's on top and bottom. That's much more wood
than I used to lower my lathe, I think it would handle all except maybe my
largest mill (estimated 4,500 lbs).

The gantry would be great for unloading stuff at home but I'd also like
something portable to be able to go and pick up an item. I've been thinking
about some sort of crane that could be quickly assembled using a receiver
hitch and perhaps some trailer jacks for outriggers. The engine hoist to
portable crane is one possibility but takes up a lot of truck bed space and
needs a smooth surface to roll.

RogerN