Need to come up with a "crane" to lift trusses

Diggin It · May 10, 2019

That's OK assuming you have a rental place that has one when you need it and have something approaching level ground around where you're building. I have neither. This thread is for ways to home brew something using what we have on hand.

DanMc77 · May 10, 2019

Diggin It said:
That's OK assuming you have a rental place that has one when you need it and have something approaching level ground around where you're building. I have neither. This thread is for ways to home brew something using what we have on hand.

I'll be pouring a slab, so I'll have a nice solid level space to work on. Renting something is certainly not out of the question. I have a 4 ton car carrier trailer, so it would be easy to go pick up a machine. But if I have to spend $200 renting a machine, I would much rather spend that building a solid and safe attachment and have that available in the future, and then I have the flexibility to change schedule without worrying about lift availability. Some of these links showing extended booms on loaders are way beyond what I need. I'll only need a 9 foot boom.

kco · May 10, 2019

I put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on my forks as a platform. Then set each truss inverted between the forks and set it upside down on the beams. Then I could climb up to the platform and rotate the truss to the correct position while a friend nailed it in place.

aczlan · May 10, 2019

kco said:
I put a sheet of 3/4" plywood on my forks as a platform. Then set each truss inverted between the forks and set it upside down on the beams. Then I could climb up to the platform and rotate the truss to the correct position while a friend nailed it in place.

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Just make sure the plywood is secured so that you can't step to one side and fall off...

Aaron Z

DanMc77 · May 17, 2019

Well, this will be an anticlimactic finish for me. I called the lumber yard again and they assured me that if I could get my vehicle in there, then they would be able to get their boom truck in there also. So it's a bit embarrassing for me to have to admit that I won't have to build anything. They will lift the trusses up onto the walls. They will lay them flat so we can slide them into place and rotate them up.