>>> HARBOR FREIGHT CRANE <<<

[SPIKER]

like others said not many moving parts on this style of jack. couple points they have either a pall & seat to keep from leaking down and some seals. the worst thing that can happen is some water getting into it and rusting some of the chrome or polished surface the seals ride on. this is what I would imagine happened to yours if you left it hang on back of the truck during some rain or temp/humidity changes. some of them can be re-polished using a ultra fine hone (like a brake hone on a car I've done one this way & used heavy oil like somebody posted above.)

Mark

[aczlan]

Hi,
What you are missing/not understanding is that both the ram and the base of the jack have a projection to fit into what amounts to a pair of clevises- one on the horizontal arm [beam] of the crane, and another on the upright post under the attachment point of the beam.

Something like what is on this one: 8 Ton Long Ram Air / Hydraulic Jack

Aaron Z

[BHD]

my jack crapped out on my hoist as well, it would not lift and I did follow the directons of purging the air out of it, and yes it was full of oil,

started to act lilke it was low on oil and only pump up a few strokes and then stop, it was not really low but adding oil did not help. and then it stoped pumping all together, or only catch on a pump stroke ever now and then,

worked well when new,

as far as I can tell the check ball is not or will not seat, unless it is perfectly vertical. (would pump up ram in the shop in the vice) but will not pump at the tilt, mine was leaking out of the pump shaft/ram as well,

it is not spring loaded check only gravity, (at least mine did not have any spring looking thing,)

I took it apart and blew out the passages thinking there could be some dirt in it, and the ball was OK I could not find any thing that looked incorrect, replaced the copper washer in the bottom of the pump as the old was no in good shape, (the way the copper washer works it looks to lock the ball check in the port), but I just gave up and ordered a new one, hope this one lasts, they got me for $43 on the jack w/o shipping or tax,, or that is what was said,

I guess one could make a set of telescoping square tubes and a pin and set the angle or height and adjust before one uses the hoist, and just use the winch,

[PhysAssist]

Something like what is on this one: 8 Ton Long Ram Air / Hydraulic Jack

Aaron Z

Something like, but of course that one is waaaayy toooo long!

[PhysAssist]

my jack crapped out on my hoist as well, it would not lift and I did follow the directons of purging the air out of it, and yes it was full of oil,

started to act lilke it was low on oil and only pump up a few strokes and then stop, it was not really low but adding oil did not help. and then it stoped pumping all together, or only catch on a pump stroke ever now and then,

worked well when new,

as far as I can tell the check ball is not or will not seat, unless it is perfectly vertical. (would pump up ram in the shop in the vice) but will not pump at the tilt, mine was leaking out of the pump shaft/ram as well,

it is not spring loaded check only gravity, (at least mine did not have any spring looking thing,)

I took it apart and blew out the passages thinking there could be some dirt in it, and the ball was OK I could not find any thing that looked incorrect, replaced the copper washer in the bottom of the pump as the old was no in good shape, (the way the copper washer works it looks to lock the ball check in the port), but I just gave up and ordered a new one, hope this one lasts, they got me for $43 on the jack w/o shipping or tax,, or that is what was said,

I guess one could make a set of telescoping square tubes and a pin and set the angle or height and adjust before one uses the hoist, and just use the winch,

I was using mine without the jack, because the screw to release pressurexhad frozen/rusted beyond using a torch and vise grips plus liquid wrench type rusted metal lubes to budge.

Infact, the hydraulics stll work fine, I just douldn't lower it.

Onthe other hand, this is my third winch.

[Longbeard]

I have this one and find it somewhat dangerous. I went to lower a #1000 welder out of the truck and the winch let go when I had it at the highest point. My arm got slapped 3 times by the handle before I could get out of the way. The weld hit really hard. It also bent the bedmounts on .my truck. I removed it and haven't used it since. I've been thinking about put one of those HF #2000 electric winch with the auto brake, on the crane and seeing how that works.

[BHD]

I replaced the winch on mine a few months after I bought it, and knew when I bought it that I most likely would be doing that by the reviews on the HF site, I replaced it with a Dutton & lainson there is not hardly a comparison between the two winches, my harbor freight is on the S10, (my other Hoist Vestil Winch Operated Truck Jib Crane on the one ton truck) has a US made winch that has built in brake if you let go of the handle it will tighten up and stop, the problem is you have uncrank the winch to let the cable out, and working by ones self is not normally the easiest thing or the most convenient thing to do, but item for item the Vestil hoist was worth the money difference and the extra shipping, but because the truck it is mounted on the HF gets used more,

on the old original HF winch the gears nearly striped out, and the teeth were being mushed up by the use of it,

[PhysAssist]

I replaced the winch on mine a few months after I bought it, and knew when I bought it that I most likely would be doing that by the reviews on the HF site, I replaced it with a Dutton & lainson there is not hardly a comparison between the two winches, my harbor freight is on the S10, (my other Hoist Vestil Winch Operated Truck Jib Crane on the one ton truck) has a US made winch that has built in brake if you let go of the handle it will tighten up and stop, the problem is you have uncrank the winch to let the cable out, and working by ones self is not normally the easiest thing or the most convenient thing to do, but item for item the Vestil hoist was worth the money difference and the extra shipping, but because the truck it is mounted on the HF gets used more,

on the old original HF winch the gears nearly striped out, and the teeth were being mushed up by the use of it,

Hi BHD,
If you truly feel that the Vestil unit was worth the $251++ you spent on it, then you won't be shy about telling us what you paid [including shipping, etc] for the Vestil hoist unit.... [it is prettier than the HF one]. ...and the Dutton & lainson winches start at $90 for their 1200# capacity models.

...because for the $89 my wife spent on the crane [on sale with 20% coupon in 2002], and the $15 to $20 bucks spent on winches [x2], and most recently [approx $37] on a new jack, my money [a max of $166 by my addition] has been well spent in the many hours of use I have gotten while [over]loading the crane and winch with logs, rocks, and metal....

I agree that the HF manual winches do leave something to be desired, but a nice 12V electric one is slated to be my next crane upgrade.

YMMV,
Thomas

PS: Re: truck bed bending- after bending my bed back to true, I slipped my handy welder friend a few bucks to weld some flanges between the truck's frame, and a metal plate, and we then sandwiched the truck bed between that and the crane's base plate- handily avoiding any further truck bed bending problems. I highly recommend this vs installation suggested by HF's manual.

[BHD]

I payed about $100 for shipping, on the Vestil, unit,

What I am saying is that the vestil unit is more than twice the machine, the jack is considerable better IMO, the steel is heaver, it has bearing in the pivoit, the winch is far superior, and apears to be American made, the hoist I think is American made, (there jack I do think is import tho), the cable is heaver, the sheves are real sheaves, and not jsut a small roller, and on my one tone truck I think I made the correct choice (I did add a longer cable on the unit tho as it only had a 10 or 12 foot cable on it),

I personaly think the HF unit should be rated at halve of it given capacity, not really knocking the HF unit for the money, as I have two of them one on the S10 and one on the log spliter for lifting large rounds,

I built up the under of the S10 considerable for the mounting of the HF hoist and the vestil unit I added some 3/8" angle by 3x3 between two bed members,

one thing I would like add on both trucks is a "out rigger" that one could release easly so once some thing is loaded it could be released and put away, (maybe a trailer jack with the round piviot atached at the bummer) to help supprot if lifting off to the side of the S10, the one tone from time to time I have used it to pull posts with, and even tho the one tone is a lot stiffer than the S10 it could use some thing at times,

I was able to get the D&L winch for about $42 and free shipping, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

[tnmike]

If you order the Vestil crane from Amazon the shipping is free.

http://www.amazon.com/Vestil-WTJ-2-O...ruck+Jib+Crane


I have a friend who modified the HF crane with an electric winch and UHMW bearings in the rotating tube. He had a steel plate welded on to the frame to support it. Made a slick job.