Adding a hoist to my garage ceiling. How much weight can I safely hoist?

[Fred]

I want to put an electric hoist in my garage in order to hoist a fifth
wheel hitch onto the bed of my pickup. How can I determine how much
weight my ceiling beams can handle?

--

[Gordon Shumway]

Math.

[Terry Coombs]

Well that was certainly helpful !

It depends on how your "ceiling beams" are constructed . Is it truss
construction ? Easiest way to tell is look for small galvanised steel plates
at joints . How much does your 5th wheel hitch weigh ? You might be best
served by buying a cherry-picker engine hoist .
--
Snag

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
If this is one time use for that, rent an engine hoist.
My hitch was modular not in one piece when I towed 7000 lbs.
fiver.

[Jerr...@spamblocked.com]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 04:44:01 +0000, Fred
<caedfaa9ed1216d60e...@example.com> wrote:

You dont give enough information to expect a useful answer.
What is the garage ceiling structure made from?
How much weight are you lifting?
What is the width (span) of the ceiling?
and more.....

But I'll say this much. I wouldn't trust any standard garage framing to
even lift a car engine. I knew a mechanic years ago, who put a solid
steel I-beam across his garage ceiling, just for car engine removals and
installs. This steel beam was not only sitting on top of that garage
walls, but he had some 6x6 timbers under the ends of the beam as well,
and the beam was bolted to them and the wall with thick angle iron
brackets. The beam (garage width) was probably 16 or 18 feet.

I recall him telling me about some guy who had an engine fall on him,
and collapsing part of the garage roof too. Why risk it?

A garage roof is just that, A ROOF! It's not made for lifting heavy
stuff.

I still remember when I was a kid, and my dad put some plywood sheets
across the 2x6 joists in his garage. (These 2x6s were spaced 4 feet
apart). He put 3 or 4 bundles of spare shingles up there and some other
stuff. One day one of those 2x6s just split, (by a knot), and the
garage door would not open because the broken joist was hanging too low.
He quickly got a post under the broken joist, then I helped him sister
another 2x6 to the broken one. After the shingles were removed from up
there, the ceiling was jacked up back to being level. Then he added 4
more 2x6s under that plywood loft. The shingles were never put back up
there, they got a "home" on the concrete garage floor, in a corner.

He was lucky the whole thing didn't fall on his car!

[Vic Smith]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:16:33 -0600, Jerr...@spamblocked.com wrote:

>On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 04:44:01 +0000, Fred
><caedfaa9ed1216d60e...@example.com> wrote:
>
>>I want to put an electric hoist in my garage in order to hoist a fifth
>>wheel hitch onto the bed of my pickup. How can I determine how much
>>weight my ceiling beams can handle?
>

>

>I still remember when I was a kid, and my dad put some plywood sheets
>across the 2x6 joists in his garage. (These 2x6s were spaced 4 feet
>apart). He put 3 or 4 bundles of spare shingles up there and some other
>stuff. One day one of those 2x6s just split, (by a knot), and the
>garage door would not open because the broken joist was hanging too low.

I put 1/2" plywood sheets on the 2x6 joists in my garage too. My son
had 4 car rims/tires he put up there until I noticed the sag in a
joist after a about a year, so I made him get rid of them.
Only keep light stuff up there, like Christmas decorations and a
bicycle. And those are kept near the walls.
Don't use the joists for hoisting.

[philo]

yeah

If the hitch is too heavy to lift by hand, then it would be too heavy
for typical garage joists to handle,
maybe something like this would do:


http://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Engine-Cherry-Picker-Hydraulic/dp/B00294B0LS

[Jerr...@spamblocked.com]

If this is just a one time thing to install that hitch, why not just
rent something to lift it, or find several guys to help and treat them
for helping. Or maybe you have soemone nearby with a tractor and
loader....

If you need to do this often, spend the money and install a steel beam
or rig something to lift it from the floor.

[bob_villa]

I think this is something 2 people can lift...so maybe put a 4X4 piece of lumber across 2 trusses? Attach the hoist to the middle of the 4X.

[cl...@snyder.on.ca]

You could always go the route of adding a 2X10 on each side of the
exixting truss on 2 trusses, and then put 2 2X8s between those two
trusses, on top of the 2X10s. Bolt the 2X10s through the existing
truss, and extend them over both walls.. This is assuming a single
width garage (no more than 12 feet) Buttering the existing truss
member with PL would give a bit more strength as well.

I have a "mezzanine" above my garage door - I spiked 2X6 to the studs
of both side walls and the front wall, and then spikes another 2X6
across the ends of the wall mounted 2X6, then put more 2X6s in at 16
inch centers lenthwize, leaving a space in the center. I put 2 4X8
sheets of 1.2" G1S plywood on top, screwed down every 10 inches or
so. On the studs closest to each end of the side stringers I spiked 1
foot long 2X6 vertically with 4 spikes each for extra support. I've
likely got 350 lps on each side, biased towards the wall more than the
center opening asnd over 20 years the center may have sagged 1/4 inch
or so.

[Oren]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 04:44:01 +0000, Fred
<caedfaa9ed1216d60e...@example.com> wrote:

Hire a structural engineer, have him/her visit and give you advice.

If you have some 4"X12" inch steel I-beam; a welder, and experience
you might be able to build a hoist with a trolley so the electric
hoist is not a stationary point.

Can't you just use a hydraulic jack? Using 12V from your battery....

Sample:

<http://www.oocities.org/tcentjack/manual.html>

[Jerr...@spamblocked.com]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:33:49 -0800 (PST), bob_villa
<pheeh...@gmail.com> wrote:

The more I think about this, it's just a rather heavy steel plate with a
hitch ball on the middle. If this is the case, all he really needs is a
friend or two to help lift the thing. Notmally they are bolted in place
on a truck, and stay there permanently. If I'm correct about what this
thing is, I think the OP is making a mountain out of a molehill, when Ll
he neeeds are a few guys to lift it.

[hrho...@sbcglobal.net]

There's a difference between the joists being in compression from the roof and the bottom of the joist being in tension from hanging the hoist.

[micky]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:17:07 -0600, Jerr...@spamblocked.com wrote:

>
>The more I think about this, it's just a rather heavy steel plate with a
>hitch ball on the middle. If this is the case, all he really needs is a
>friend or two to help lift the thing. Notmally they are bolted in place
>on a truck, and stay there permanently. If I'm correct about what this
>thing is, I think the OP is making a mountain out of a molehill, when Ll
>he neeeds are a few guys to lift it.

+1

(Except of course, what good is doing something if it's not an occaion
to buy new tools, etc.) ?

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
OP mentioned fifth wheel hitch. You are talking about goose neck hitch.

[Jerr...@spamblocked.com]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 09:01:38 -0700, Tony Hwang <drag...@shaw.ca> wrote:

>>> I think this is something 2 people can lift...so maybe put a 4X4 piece of
>>> lumber across 2 trusses? Attach the hoist to the middle of the 4X.
>>
>> The more I think about this, it's just a rather heavy steel plate with a
>> hitch ball on the middle. If this is the case, all he really needs is a
>> friend or two to help lift the thing. Notmally they are bolted in place
>> on a truck, and stay there permanently. If I'm correct about what this
>> thing is, I think the OP is making a mountain out of a molehill, when Ll
>> he neeeds are a few guys to lift it.
>>
>Hi,
>OP mentioned fifth wheel hitch. You are talking about goose neck hitch.

I've heard those two terms used interchangably. A lot of farmers call
the hitches they put on their pickup trucks for gooseneck stock trailers
a FIFTH WHEEL HITCH.
And then there are those huge pads that are always covered with grease,
used on Semi Trucks.... Which I've also heard to be "Fifth Wheel"....

I know the difference, but the wording does not seem to be standard....
Which does the OP have???? I dotn know.....
A weblink picture would help.

[bob_villa]

On Friday, January 30, 2015 at 10:02:15 AM UTC-6, Tony Hwang wrote:

> Hi,
> OP mentioned fifth wheel hitch. You are talking about goose neck hitch.

These are listed as a 207lb base...does that sound like a lot?

http://www.turnoverball.com/products/rvhitch/companion-slider-5th-wheel-hitch

[Rebel1]

> If the hitch is too heavy to lift by hand, then it would be too heavy
> for typical garage joists to handle,
> maybe something like this would do:
>
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Engine-Cherry-Picker-Hydraulic/dp/B00294B0LS

The weight of the cherry picker and the load it's holding concentrates
on six rather small, skimpy wheels. There are even circular cutouts in
the wheels between the rim and the inner hub, to skimp on a fraction of
a cent's worth of plastic. (I don't know for a fact if they are really
plastic.) I wonder what that highly concentrated pounds/square inch load
would do to the floor.

[dpb]

On 01/30/2015 10:25 AM, Rebel1 wrote:
...

> The weight of the cherry picker and the load it's holding concentrates

> on six rather small, skimpy wheels. ...
> ... I wonder what that highly concentrated pounds/square inch load

> would do to the floor.

Talking 250-300 lb or so total weight for the hitch I'd venture...more
than a single guy wants to lift but dividing by (roughly) six it's not
much load per wheel, even when dividing out the wheel bearing area
wouldn't be terribly high loading for a concrete slab...

--

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
Exactly. similar I used to have when I had my fiver. Being modular I
could have it slide off the cargo box bed or install it back easily.
I had Ford F250HD towing special with 460 cid engine. This thing never
over heated driving around in the Rockies in dead summer. I am wondering
what kinda hitch OP has needing a hoist.

[micky]

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 11:25:14 -0500, Rebel1 <Reb...@optonline.net> wrote:

>
>> If the hitch is too heavy to lift by hand, then it would be too heavy
>> for typical garage joists to handle,
>> maybe something like this would do:
>>
>>
>> http://www.amazon.com/Foldable-Engine-Cherry-Picker-Hydraulic/dp/B00294B0LS
>
>The weight of the cherry picker and the load it's holding concentrates
>on six rather small, skimpy wheels. There are even circular cutouts in
>the wheels between the rim and the inner hub, to skimp on a fraction of
>a cent's worth of plastic. (I don't know for a fact if they are really
>plastic.)

IIRC, they are made from compacted pigeon guano, mixed with black dye.

I agree that they should make the pigions eat a litte more and then the
wheels could be made stronger.

>I wonder what that highly concentrated pounds/square inch load
>would do to the floor.

JK