Horror Frieght chain hoist miss-labeling...

[A.K. Boomer]

I just bought a HF chain hoist for pulling engines and such --- I tried pricing some brand names and don't have 500 bucks to drop ---- cant believe it that HF has them for 44.00 bucks - so i get it and use it to pull a subie engine today - it works great - had to shorten the pull chain some, I hate to buy their stuff sometimes but gawd - I simply don't have a choice unless I wait years and luck out at a garage sale or something.

anyways this is the unit - its a 1 ton and says right on the front cover

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r249/AK_Boomer/DSC00539.jpg

Then on the back side there's this label that states 1 ton -- then it says not to exceed 4,000 lbs ? I guess their still having trouble with interpreting...

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r249/AK_Boomer/DSC00541.jpg

[philbur]

I think the 1 ton is the safe maximum load you should try to lift, allowing for dynamic loading. The total loading of 4000lbs is to "cover their arse" in case you have an accident trying to raise (accelerate) a 1 ton load to quicky from rest and exceed the dynamic load limit.

Phil

[sidneyt]

So, you shop at a place called Horror Freight and complain because the prices are more in line with your budget and the item you buy is rated to handle more than you thought it should? Sounds like you got rooked.

I shop at a Harbor Freight store nearby. I leave things on the shelf that I think are not worth the price. Other things that I need, I buy.

[Liger Zero]

The Horrible Fright I go to lets me take things apart before I buy them. Nothing wrinkles my sheets more than getting something home and having to re-wire it.

[bpsbtoolman]

I bought a one ton Harbor Freight hoist and used it to hoist a one ton Bridgeport,it lifted but it kind of groaned on lifting. The 2X safety factor is too scary for me and wanted to get a two ton, but 3 ton HF came on sale and I bought it and it works fine. I presume it has a 6 ton limit. My max load is one ton so a safety factor of 6 sounds good. Even at that I never stand under or near enough to get hurt if it falls.
Walt

[Dawai]

While lifting the one ton dump bed off the truck, lifting the century wrecker bed off that other truck, them dropping them both onto the other chassis..

I calculated my risks at %10 failure. Rolled the dice. THE outside Aframe was rated 3 tons while having a 18" Ibeam spanning 24 feet, Now it has a 8" Ibeam spanning 14 feet. THE inside Ibeam is the 18" job welded between two six inch round posts and supporting the whole building roof in truss fashion.

THEM HF chain hoists? one of the ones I got the cover fell off blooding the head of a buddy as he pulled the chain to align two parts. Without the cover, the chain just loops across the sprocket and can fall off and quit working in the middle of a pull.

Some of them HF hoists are junk and only good for pulling engines. The chain links will deform, meaning giving way.

[A.K. Boomer]

I think the 1 ton is the safe maximum load you should try to lift, allowing for dynamic loading. The total loading of 4000lbs is to "cover their arse" in case you have an accident trying to raise (accelerate) a 1 ton load to quicky from rest and exceed the dynamic load limit.

Phil


Thats kinda strange but now that you mention it the "be aware of dynamic loading" is in darker print along with the 4,000 lb max rating --- I just think it strange to have the two differences --- build a 1 ton that is safe to operate within its normal parameters (normal starting and stopping of the chain) and just call it a 1 ton.

With the way this label is there are people that might attempt to lift 4,000 lbs with this thing and god help em -- chain jerking or not.

[Carld]

toolman, standard BridgePorts weigh over 2000 lb, not 1000 lb. unless you stripped some parts off.

I can't remember for sure but I think the Yale and other big name hoists have a load factor of 3 times the rated load. I have an old Yale that I think is one ton (haven't looked at it for a while) but it is huge and looks like it would pick up 3 tons or more and probably has.

You get what you pay for.

[lazlo]

Then on the back side there's this label that states 1 ton -- then it says not to exceed 4,000 lbs ?

The Chinese wildly over-estimate their horsepower ratings, presumably because they have tiny little horses. Perhaps they have tiny little pounds too?

[lazlo]

toolman, standard BridgePorts weigh over 2000 lb, not 1000 lb. unless you stripped some parts off.

1988 lbs for the 48" table, according to the manual.

[A.K. Boomer]

1988 lbs for the 48" table, according to the manual.



Learn sumthin new everyday, I really thought with a 48" table that one would be at least 2,200 lbs and more like 2,400 --- My 8 by 36 china hoe weighs in at 1550 but it doesnt have the fore and aft swivel knuckle and a few other features.

Is that all that separates a bigger BP is the table size? or is the knee built larger and the base too?

[J. Randall]

Carld, toolman stated a ton, which is 2000 lbs. Where are you getting the 1000 lb. figure?
James

[bpsbtoolman]

Carld, I did say one ton ( 2000#) I also don't know where you got the 1000# from. When I said 2X safety factor my asumption that two tons ( 4000#) was there max load and probably near failure. I have used I beams and twim chanel beams and calculated a 7X safety factor. So I decided 6X with care would be OK. The 2000# PM lifts easily with the 3ton HF.
Walt

[wierdscience]

About that rating.SWL(safe working load) is #2000,ultimate load is #4000 and breaking strength is #6000,but I wouldn't try it:)

There are some really good Chinese chain hoists under the label Kawasaki.They actually do carry liability insurance and are ISO9001 rated.They also offer 10'20'30' lifts.

At work we have sold a zillion Chinese chain falls and only had one ever come back as a return.HF has a tendancy to sell things that are too cheap.There are two makers in China that make the same design hoist.One is an old state run factory that makes iffy crap and the other is privately run and makes a good hoist.

On the otherhand 50% of China chain come-alongs are garbage regardless of who made them.

Recently we had a customer that wanted a "good" chain come-along.They picked out a #3000 Ingersoll-Rand.I thought the price was too lite to be US made and sure enough it was made in China.Sent that one back and ordered in a Coffing #3000,it was made in Japan,We both felt better on that one,it looked,worked and even smelled better:)

Now the bottom of the barrel China no-name hoist was $152,the IR rebranded hoist was $269(chrome,name and decals added) the Coffing was $562,easy to see the difference in both the catalog and hoist.

The other brands CM,Yale and Budget,the lower priced units all made in China the higher priced all made in US,UK,Japan,Poland.

[Evan]

I have what appears to be the same chain hoist and it unloaded my shaper with no problems. The hoist is attached with some 3/8 aircraft cable to an 8"x8" beam in the attic that spans about 6 trusses right beside one leg of the W. The shaper weighs somewhere between 1500 to 2000 lbs and the hoist didn't make any odd sounds during the lift. I made sure I was well clear though.

http://ixian.ca/pics6/hoist.jpg

[Carld]

:o opps, my mistake, I guess I was reading to fast.

[A.K. Boomer]

Evans pic does give me more confidence --- I know what im going to do -- im taking mine apart when I get some down time, Iv never regretted doing that for the cheaper chinese stuff - it seems like there's always room for improvement even if its just grease,
It also lets you know "what you got" in there and that's piece of mind esp. for something that can destroy an expensive piece of equipment (or worse yet get you hurt).

They are a neat apparatus -- I was using my come-along to lift stuff and it was a pain in the arss.

[lazlo]

Evans pic does give me more confidence

Mike, Roy and I hoisted the back-half of Mike's 3300 lb Colchester into a trailer with that 1 Ton Harbor Freight chain hoist, and I thought someone was going to die.

You know everyone remarks that Chinese bolts are made of cheese, and have a bad habit of shearing off? Now look at the sloppily-made skinny chain links on the hoist. Plus, it jams a lot, which doesn't give me a lot of confidence on the manufacturing tolerances...

That seems to fit really well with Wierd's post:


HF has a tendency to sell things that are too cheap.There are two makers in China that make the same design hoist.One is an old state run factory that makes iffy crap and the other is privately run and makes a good hoist.

On the other hand 50% of China chain come-alongs are garbage regardless of who made them.

[digger_doug]

Some chain fall ramblings, in no certain order.

I've got 5 of those chinese 1-ton units. They are handy as all heck,
stuff one in my back pocket, climb a ladder with a short chain,
toss it over a beam, and hang it for a temp job.

Even with my american made chain hoist's, don't get under the load,
EVER. In industry, it's a No-No to be under a suspended load.

The first one I bought was a H.F. mailorder one, and it came
with a beautiful manual printed with gold leaf.
Couldn't understand a word in it,
but had a map on the back cover to get to the factory...

The cheapest I have come across is the Homier brand.
1-ton for $19.99 and I have one, but....the hand pull chain is
so cheap they forgot to weld it. Yes it's just folded links.
It does it's job, but ugh.

[wierdscience]

Mike, Roy and I hoisted the back-half of Mike's 3300 lb Colchester into a trailer with that 1 Ton Harbor Freight chain hoist, and I thought someone was going to die.

You know everyone remarks that Chinese bolts are made of cheese, and have a bad habit of shearing off? Now look at the sloppily-made skinny chain links on the hoist. Plus, it jams a lot, which doesn't give me a lot of confidence on the manufacturing tolerances...

That seems to fit really well with Wierd's post:

To add to that,the better of the two mfgs uses chain linking equipment designed and built in Germany and they are proud of it.I shortened one for a customer once and he gave me the left over 3' of chain,suprising how tough that little chain is,well beyond it's rating.

It's the hooks and the shear-ball swivels that must be done right,the hoist it'self and the chains aren't near as touchy.

[A.K. Boomer]

To add to that,the better of the two mfgs uses chain linking equipment designed and built in Germany and they are proud of it.I shortened one for a customer once and he gave me the left over 3' of chain,suprising how tough that little chain is,well beyond it's rating.

It's the hooks and the shear-ball swivels that must be done right,the hoist it'self and the chains aren't near as touchy.



Sounds like I got a good one as the links on even the pull chain are welded --- I shortened mine cuz it was dragging on the ground where I hang it to pull engines --- there is kinda a "master link" --- you really got to look for it - its un-welded -- I just torsioned it over enough to create a gap a little bigger than the chain thickness and removed what I wanted and then torsioned it back - I can't ever see that link failing - I do wonder what the leverage ratio is though?
Seems like you could build one with a planetary system? A two speed for those no load times where you just need to run the chain down to the ground real quick to hook onto something for picking up (then put it back to low) - or suck some of the chain back up for storage/hanging... ?

second thought -- keep it simple stupid.:o