raising trusses for pole barn

[IXLR8]

I have a 2" hitch receiver bolted to the top of the bucket on my tractor. I made a boom pole out of 2" square stock a little over 6' long and used it to lift the steel trusses for my shop. I had to lift them about 15' and they weighted about 450 lbs. They were at about the limit of what my tractor would lift that far out from the bucket.
Be careful!!

[Luremaker]

Here is a "Truss Erecting & Bracing" instruction booklet. It gives you a few good tips on truss lifting, installation and bracing. It is from The Canada Plan Service.

truss bracing-cps.pdf

[ray66v]

A lot also depends on the weight, and length of the trusses.

They do reach a point where it is easy to bend them, if not handled properly.

At that point, you pretty much have to you use a crane with a spreader bar, or risk their integrity by damaging them.

[Mudfarmer]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the technique used on my pole barn by the pros in the 1980s to lift the trusses to road legal height. They had two boat winches welded to a six inch open box that fit over the top of the poles at each end of the truss. They built one side of the truss next to the poles, lifted it verticle by hand and put the second side on so that the two poles were like tracks at each end. They had a couple of helpers with guy lines attached to the peak to keep it verticle and then cranked the thing up by the ends at the poles. Once up they bolted it in place at each end and quickly put the purlons in place to relieve the guys with the lines. Admittedly the foreman said on a "big" building it was better to hire a crane.
Mf

[Reyer Farms]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the technique used on my pole barn by the pros in the 1980s to lift the trusses to road legal height. They had two boat winches welded to a six inch open box that fit over the top of the poles at each end of the truss. They built one side of the truss next to the poles, lifted it verticle by hand and put the second side on so that the two poles were like tracks at each end. They had a couple of helpers with guy lines attached to the peak to keep it verticle and then cranked the thing up by the ends at the poles. Once up they bolted it in place at each end and quickly put the purlons in place to relieve the guys with the lines. Admittedly the foreman said on a "big" building it was better to hire a crane.
Mf

The post were taller than joist height and they trimmed them after. Truss bolted on side of post???? I don't know if I'm seeing it right in my head, but other than time to get the purlins secured it sounds painless. I just don't see how it works with inline framing.

[buckeyefarmer]

how long is the span? I did 12' high with my loader by bolting a 4x4 pole on the front of my pallet fork frame. these were 30'long. I couldn't have done 16' high, I'd rent the crane.

[john_bud]

I found a crew that was able to install and finish my 36x48x12 pole building for about a grand. And they were done and gone by quitting time on the 2nd day. Heck, they had all the holes dug down to 50+ inches in HARD ROCKY ground with the last 12-24" being solid rock and all done in an hour. I'd have been lucky to have been finishing up the first hole in that time. After 2 hours all the holes had posts. Before lunch the first day, they had all the trusses up and were starting on tin.

That was sooooo much easier than DIY that the $$ was among the best dollars ever to leave my wallet.


For the OP, I'd rent a lift.

[strum456]

Did I read that the in the OPs profile that he has a 40hp tractor? If this is what you are planning on using, it is way too light in my opinion. I nearly had a catastropy this summer with a 70 hp tractor setting 30' trussess 10' high.

[schmism]

fab up a boom pole for the front of your bucket. there have been several TBN members that have documented how they have done it to much success.



do a search for bucket mounted boom pole

[/pine]

IMO...
If time is of essence...hire a crane (sky hook)...if not, I would find a couple of friends with some framing experience and use a push pole...
Again IMO...trying to use a rigged boom pole and a tractor is just not logical...for more than a "few" trusses...

it is imperative to brace the trusses as they are set...keeping your beams/walls straight to a gauged string...
However using a tractor to support the the first truss (until they are sufficiently braced) is plausible