Stone grabbing/lifting gadget

[BKColeman]

Interesting idea.

How do you get the chains hooked under the rock? I'm picturing rocks that kind of big and flat since he's building a rock wall and are probably pretty darn heavy (makes my back hurt just thinking about it). I guess if the rock is round you could get under each side a little.

I think the "normal" hooks are called slip hooks since the chain can slip through them and the "narrow" hooks are called grab hooks since they grab onto one link and don't let it slide through. But I could be wrong...

--Brad

[BKColeman]

Gerard,

Looks like we were both thinking along the same lines at the same time, the trouble with getting something under the rocks. That's why the 4n1 buckets or some type of tongs sound so good. Just pluck it up from the top and go.

--Brad

[Kodiak]

How about this idea. Try using an old tire chain. Still requires some ground handling. But should work like the cargo net idea, and easier to unload the rock.

[DONOTDELETE]

bcoleman, I guess my thinking was more along the lines of how to get the rig *out* once the rock was in place. I figured it would be easier to pull out the pipes (assuming you place the rock so the pipes point out from the wall), once the chains were disconnected, than to remove the lifting straps. I assumed that you'd have to roll/lift the rock somewhat to remove the strap, and I was thinking of a way to avoid that.

Take my ideas with a grain of salt. I'm pretty new to this stuff. But tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM a brand-new TC29D arrives at the house....[img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[AndyH]

Several years ago, I talked with some masons who were using a set of 3-legged tongs to lift the side wall of some fieldstone entry steps they were repairing. They had the tongs attached with chains to the FEL bucket of a fairly old ag tractor. The side wall they were lifting was pretty good-sized: maybe 4'x3'x2'. The tongs were able to reach across the 2' dimension. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell me where the tongs were made; their set had come with the tractor when they bought it used.

I'd love to find a supplier too, since I'm planning on repairing numerous stone walls on my own place. A backhoe thumb would be a great alternative, but isn't available for my small backhoe. Presumably, tongs would be a lot less pricey as well.

Andy