Now that I have a long block to start with, I need to be able to lift it and the motor currently in my boat over the winter months so I can work on them. I have a 2 1/2 ton chain hoist to hang. But how to hang it? Is a 4x6 or a 6x6 strong enough to withstand lifting what will end up being a full dress 454? I've kinda checked around for a chunk of I-beam but even scrap is pretty expensive. I figure a couple of 6x6's from floor to cross member will suffice for vertical load.... length of the cross member will be just over 10' end to end. I plan on securing it to the ceiling joists (3 of them in sequence) for lateral stability. The only force I'm not sure of is the cross member. Height from floor to celing is just under 7'

Suggestions?

'Foul

How tall is the cealing in your gararge? I know of guys that cut a hole in the sheetrock and slid a 4 or 6 inch piece of I-beam in the ceiling to go across the ceiling joist for strength. It helped to evenly distribute the weight. You could save on wiegth by just using the chain fall to put the short block in.

Whatever you do,,,,,good luck!!

I would scab some extra support accrossed the trusses that your ceiling is screwed to and put at least a 4x6 in ceiling,except i would try to put it acrossed as many of the ceiling trusses as possible (like 4 or 5),a boat motor fully dressed is alot of weight.Do you plan on pulling the motor out of your boat this way,i'm sure you know this but if your ceiling is only 7 ft high the motor will never clear your boat,Smitty

"FOUL,
Can you be a little more speacific, you say 7' from floor to ceiling, I'm confused, (it's not that hard to confuse me!). If you only have 7', how will the engine come out over the transom? My ceiling is 13'-6" and I have trouble getting the engines out of my boat. The compressive load of the 6X6 or 4X6 will be just fine, something that might be stronger is triple 2X10's and nail or bolt them together.
Robert

this would be mush easier and I have 1 for sale it goes up 12 ft

I took a couple of 2 x 8's, screwed them together and ran them across 4 joists. The chain fall is attached to the 2 x 8's with a piece of steel cable. It lifts a fully dressed big block no problem. No noticable movement of the ceiling.

Fool I am sure that Cord can tell you what you need to carry the load. You want to make SURE it is going to hold cuz with all that weight on there if it starts to go you will NOT be able to stop it.... 4X4's up should hold that load easily it is the cross beam that I am not so sure about. Remember if you drill a hole in one of the beams you basically make that beam useless so remember that in your calculations....

Jon

Hi Mike
7' is prob not high enough to pull the motor. If your gonna try anyway check the bottom chord of your trusses (if you have them) most likely 2x4. Scab a 8' 2x6 to a minimum of 5 of them with the center being were you want to hang the hoist. Nail 2 2x8'x8' long together and set it centered perpindicular to the trusses over the scabs. Toe nail it to each scab w/ the 8" dim up. This should support approx a 1500# point load in the center. But I wouldnt let it hang there too long.

Mike the Maint. supervisor at Herman has 2 jib cranes for sale for like $200 I might buy one just for what your talking about....They are 10' high with a 10' arm I'm going to shorten the arm and the height maybe retro it to fit into my rease hitch so I dont have to mount it to the floor.Brians 41's picker would be ausome if I had a place to store it.

If foul don't take that 12' stand, I will. I will buy him the 3 x (2x10)s that Tonto recommends which would be the best way to go.

Mark Smith