"RogerN" wrote in message news:RY-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Hang...em337252 3cbc

For $2 more than the Amazon price I went from a 440 lb. scale to a
660 lb. scale.
RogerN

That's a nice compact one. 660 lbs is enough to lift Sears lawn
tractors. They told me the newer ones run about 500 lbs when I called,
before driving the Ranger to another state to fetch mine.

These have a minimum length of 10" hook to hook, which is helpful when
you don't have much headroom between the hanging point and the top of
the load, like loading a lathe or welder with a truck bed crane:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-qua...ist-67144.html

This is my preference for a pulley to double the range:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/blocks/...pacity-1834185

You can swivel the side plates to insert it in the middle of a winch
cable whose hook won't fit through a fixed-frame pulley. They
disassemble easily to lube with snap ring pliers. The axle friction
could be lower, but if you yank sideways on the lines you can pretty
much equalize their tensions.

Yesterday I experimented with ways to measure the tension in a rope
that's pulling a leaning tree back upright. I attached a scale to the
rope with a prusik loop and pulled until rope section between the
prusik and the anchor went slack. That seems to be good enough to
check the tension. The rope is long enough that the tension doesn't
vary much with distance. I didn't want to suggest it until I had
tried.

jsw