Stone grabbing/lifting gadget

[bcarter]

What you need is a set of tongs that they use to move Jersey Barriers with. (Jersey Barriers are the concrete barriers used along road construction sites.) Saw a set today on my way to work hanging off a wheeled excavator...

The tongs look just like the pallet tongs that Ed King found only much larger.

No idea where you'd get them though.

 

[Dozernut]

Re: Stone grabbing/lifting gadget *DELETED*

Post deleted by Dozernut

 

[JC4HD]

Yea backwards makes a lot of sense... that's how we learn... at least this time it wasn't learning the hard (expensive) way!

 

[hayden]

By default, that's how I'll do it. In my case I was leaning towards choker chains to get the slip knot effect, and because I have several of them. Straps are an options too, but the primary thing I'm trying to get away from is having a chain or strap under the stones cause it just makes the hook up and unhook that much more time and work.

 

[hayden]

That's exactly what I'm looking for. They exist for grappling trees, and are just like the old ice tongs, but much heavier.

 

[gerard]

I agree, does take a little more time and is MUCH better with two people if doing a lot of rocks. Then the ground person can hook/unhook/position while you can handle the controls. BTW - I used choker chains too but found the strap worked better cause it "grabbed" the rock better. Chains tend to slip a little more and if the rock is really round it's a little more difficult to get a solid grip with the chains.

 

[hayden]

Sounds good. I'll try the straps too.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

In reading this post, I'm struck by the idea of a heavy stone in a scissors-type lift being bounced out as the tractor travels along. When you hit a bump, the weight of the stone will be temporarily lessened, and could cause the jaws to slowly (or quickly) lose their grip.

I have another idea, if I can describe it. Take two loops of chain hanging from the hook. Each loop is threaded through a short length of pipe, say 18" to 24". This creates two "triangles" of chain hanging from the hook. Place one on each side of the rock you want to lift. Then use two short pieces of chain to connect the pieces of pipe together. The result will be a square below the rock, a sort of cradle that the rock is supported in.

Let's see if my ASCII graphics abilities are up to this: /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

...........|
......... /.\
....... /.....\
....../.........\
..../.............\
../.................\
/.....................\
=============

This is a lifting triangle from the side. The chain is threaded through the pipe to give it some rigidity, and to help balance the load. (Forgive the little dots. ASCII graphics and HTML are a poor mix, and they are needed to give the other elements the proper spacing.)


||oooooooooooooooo||
||..........................||
||..........................||
||..........................||
||..........................||
||..........................||
||..........................||
||oooooooooooooooo||

This is an overhead view of the lifting square. Imagine a large rock that extends past both the pipes and the chains that connect the pipe ends to each other. Now you have a secure lifting arrangement that cradles the rock as you lift. The chains prevent the pipes from spreading out and letting the rock drop.

This should be both inexpensive and flexible. If you need something heavier, replace the pipe with heavy steel bar. For flexibility in sizing the lifting square, I think I'd mount a pair of regular hooks on pipe A and a pair of narrow hooks on pipe B. By narrow hooks (not sure of the proper term), I mean the hooks that will hook over a link in a chain and prevent it from sliding through.

Comments?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Whoops! Missed the use of the "[pre]" tag.

 

[gerard]

Seems to me like it would certainly do the job. Only downside I see is having to slide two things under the rock instead of one. By your concept you could also use a cargo net, roll the rock on and hoise and it's going nowhere but unloading is a little more difficult, especially if you want to stack the rock on other rocks without pulling everything apart. I still haven't found anything easier than a lifting strap and I never had one fall out. (Lifted rocks well over 1000lbs with a 20000lb backhoe this way and placed them on a rubber liner for my pond without tearing the liner. I'd be hesitant to try that with metal to rubber contact)