Should any welder be able to shorten a chain for me? Hoist hand chain too long....

[fried1765]

A Sawall or another brand of reciprocating saw, with a "thick metal" or diamond grit blade, cuts chain quickly.

Even easier with a 4" angle grinder, and thin 4" blade.

 

[flyerdan]

I cut mine with one of the 3" air muffler cutters and welded it back together. A number 10 can works good to put the chains in and let the hoist rest on top when not in use, it keeps it from getting tangled up.

 

[k0ua]

I cut mine with one of the 3" air muffler cutters and welded it back together. A number 10 can works good to put the chains in and let the hoist rest on top when not in use, it keeps it from getting tangled up.

I put a hook in the joist and stretch it out and hang on this hook. It only then hangs a couple inches down and is easy to get it down. The TIG weld only took a few seconds. Gas weld would be super easy too. Chain is easy to weld.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I made tire chains for my tractor by splitting links and welding back together with my MIG welder, cant see why anybody with a little welding experience couldn't weld the link back together for you. I would have all the length modification done, with the link back in place and ready to weld, and take a few spare links, cut, copies of the one you want welded, as test runs, should the welder want them, to get settings right. If you were to pull in my driveway, I'd have it done in 15 or 20 minutes, just because it would take that long to drag out my welder and dust of my helmet!

Good luck!

 

[SmallChange]

I made tire chains for my tractor by splitting links and welding back together with my MIG welder, cant see why anybody with a little welding experience couldn't weld the link back together for you. I would have all the length modification done, with the link back in place and ready to weld, and take a few spare links, cut, copies of the one you want welded, as test runs, should the welder want them, to get settings right. If you were to pull in my driveway, I'd have it done in 15 or 20 minutes, just because it would take that long to drag out my welder and dust of my helmet!

Good luck!

That's what I like to hear! I hope the driveway I pick is somebody like you. Unless of course they're already wearing the helmet, and just wishing for something to do....

 

[mrmikey]

The one I have, none of the links are welded, twist a couple of links, remove what you want and put it back together............Mike

 

[SmallChange]

When I purchased my hoist several years ago I had the same issue with the chain too long. If you look at the chain in the loop there may be one that isn't a welded loop, but instead has an open gap that can allow it to be opened to open the loop, and then cut out the section of chain that you don't need to shorten to the correct length and then put the split link back in and straighten it to go through the loop hoist mechanism again.

Hey! Great suggestion -- my hoist has one of these unwelded links too. I just did as you describe, and fiddled for a while with vice grips and Crescent wrenches and screwdrivers and finally a tiny file, getting the unwelded link back into its original shape. Like Gary Fowler points out, there's very little force on the loop chain. In fact it's hard enough to shape this link with hand tools that I'm convinced my usage is not going to get to 10% and probably not even 1% of the force it would take to part the chain at this point.

All set. Thanks for pointing this out!

 

[keljan11]

Because we often used the chain falls we used at work at different heights, when the chain was too long, we just dumped the excess chain into a 5 gallon bucket. It would rarely snag, but worked pretty good. Especially when we needed all the chain, it was nice to have the extra chain available when we needed it.

 

[SmallChange]

Because we often used the chain falls we used at work at different heights, when the chain was too long, we just dumped the excess chain into a 5 gallon bucket. It would rarely snag, but worked pretty good. Especially when we needed all the chain, it was nice to have the extra chain available when we needed it.

I was doing this for a little while, but it's a loop, so you have to be pulling the chain back out of the bucket from the BOTTOM of the pile rather than the top. Sometimes it'll catch and pull some of the pile out, dumping it in the dirt.

 

[Djames55]

why not just leave it as is and put the excess chain in a bucket to keep it out of the dirt and clean... That way you can use the Hoist higher when needed...