Sounds like a regular old school cherry picker to me. Sure, you can put a
lathe on a truck with it. As long as it's a Sherline :-) My lathe weighs
3500 pounds and many many lathes weigh more than that. You will note that
the only way your hoist can lift 4 tons is with the ram fully retracted. Maybe
you can get up over a big lathe and pick it and get it up to truck bed height.
But I don't think I could. Sure, you could get a stack of 12x12s and pick up
one end, put a 12x12 under it, lift the other, and repeat, hoisting from a
different point each time or some cobble like that. But those kinds of lifts
are dangerous because the lateral forces are so high.

Anyway, on my former cherry picker I actually moved my Bridgeport mill with
it a few times. Later I noticed that my hoist didn't roll quite as smoothly
as it used to. *All* of the casters were bent from the weight. I believe that
even though the steel in these hoists is rated to (barely) lift 2 tons, the
casters aren't. In fact, I think the manual even says not to roll the thing
with a load on it, which is patent rubbish -- after all, that's what you
bought the thing for. On my former hoist I replaced all the axles with ones
made of known good steel and it rolled again and to my knowledge still is.

GWE

PV wrote:

Awl--

I dunno... mebbe mine is just average size...

HF model 07620, 2-ton. non-folding, 8 ton long-ish ram. Central
Pneumatics, which I think IS HF!
$189, + $9 s&h, + optional 2 yr warrantee, $34--I took it: chinese pistons,
donchaknow...
Annoying tho, that my first inquiries/complaints to HF are receiving that
Web Wall of Silence. PITFA. Was starting to actually *like* HF. Ah, same
old effing story...

Non-foldable, but readily dis-assemble-able into three flat parts, which for
me seemed at the time more important--altho I may eventually regret not
having the foldability.
Front legs telescope out substantially, back legs telescope sideways.

The critical dims, imo, are the boom length *as measured from the piston
pivot*, and the max. boom height.
For this unit, max boom length is 62", and max boom ht, measured to the
chain pivot/attachment *bolt* is about 110".

The whole unit weighs about 240#.

Welds: B+;
Wheels: Heavy cast iron on shoulder screw, ball bearing swivel on all 4. 2
wheels noticeably out of round. Woulda preferred hard rubber.

Ram quality: Well, the piston seems smooth!! No leaks, did not seem to
have to add fluid.

Overall quality: B to B-.

HF listed boom length from *boom pivot*, not piston pivot, which is
misleading in terms of real practical reach. Also listed boom ht as 117".
Coulda been worse.

Some units elsewhere are considerably lighter. Hard to really compare, tho,
as the one's in stores are often not on display. The one in Strauss by me
is on a hobbled display, looked real crappy, but I suspect is basically the
same, w/ poss. lower boom height.

Someone mentioned these can't be used for loading lathes on trucks. I think
mine can, as the fellow I'm buying a lathe from loaded/unloaded his lathe in
precisely this way. 110" boom ht should help.
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll