I'm starting to spend more and more time in the shop, I decided I'm going to finish a project I started 25 or so years ago.   I brought this up a while back, didn't get too many responses but I didnt have any pictures either.  So here is what I'm doing.   

I wanted a shop crane that folded up, yes they are popular now, but when I bought it from HF back in the early 90s, they wernt really everywhere.   The first thing I did was modify the legs.  I cut them off and added a piece of square tubing for the legs ride in, and put some on the back to hold the legs when they are up.  The modified legs are well tested and used on many engines over the years. But the crane part was never finished.  As the picture shows, it does not fold down flat enough.  I have always wanted to change that. 



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What I am going to do is add this piece of tubing on the end of the crane, add a triangular reinforcement in front of that.  I have a brand new jack.  The pictured jack is defective, it keeps leaking at the valve seat. You can probably see the stains on the floor.  It originally came with the rotiserie.   The new piece on the end should raise the level height of the boom 3.5 inches.  If the back is too short, I'm going to cut the end off the bad jack and use the round metal to make a short extension.  It would be removable.  Hopefully the end result will be this will fold up very square.

Last edited by Greg B (4/10/2020 8:15 PM)