Mental exercise, I want a gin pole.

[terry lingle]

I believe that you want the pole on the bottom and the winch cable on the top so that the force on the cable from lifting the load puts the pole in compression.

[monckywrench]

Originally Posted by terry lingle

I believe that you want the pole on the bottom and the winch cable on the top so that the force on the cable from lifting the load puts the pole in compression.

Correct. That's how gin poles are intended to be used. It's also how old mechanical wreckers like Holmes work. Search "gin pole truck" for plenty of industrial examples.

Your lift winch doesn't need to be inline with the pole unless fabbing that way is convenient, for example with one winch or hand crank below the other. The classic Holmes arrangement shown gives more flexibility and you can put a boom lift winch pretty much anywhere you can get clean cable routing. Wreckers used pinned pulleys for convenience, cost and ease of maintenance.

https://d323w7klwy72q3.cloudfront.ne...ve/AV9082C.JPG

[Dr Dean]

Well I got It together late last night and some quick testing revealed that things are acting pretty close to what I thought it would be. 3X4 tube is just a bit small for the job at hand. It's okay when I am lifting so the 4 inch direction of the tube would flex it's okay. Now when the 3 inch side wants to flex which would be forward or back there's quite a bit of flex. Part of the flex is on the tube going horizontal to the frame. I believe that if I had used either 4X4 or 5X5 tube I would have been better off but sadly that wasn't in the resource pile. I do have enough tube to go from the right frame mount out and up the vertical, so I think that I'm going to double up the tube. It will be a 4X6 tube when all is said and done. More updates to come and possibly some pictures from a camera with a decent lens.

[yooper]

Originally Posted by Dr Dean

Well I got It together late last night and some quick testing revealed that things are acting pretty close to what I thought it would be. 3X4 tube is just a bit small for the job at hand. It's okay when I am lifting so the 4 inch direction of the tube would flex it's okay. Now when the 3 inch side wants to flex which would be forward or back there's quite a bit of flex. Part of the flex is on the tube going horizontal to the frame. I believe that if I had used either 4X4 or 5X5 tube I would have been better off but sadly that wasn't in the resource pile. I do have enough tube to go from the right frame mount out and up the vertical, so I think that I'm going to double up the tube. It will be a 4X6 tube when all is said and done. More updates to come and possibly some pictures from a camera with a decent lens.

Need pctures !

[Dr Dean]

Well you want pictures here they are, crappy scratched cell phone camera style.
Starting at the frame, it's attached by 4 5/8 grade 5 bolts. I doubled the 3X4 tube from the right frame rail out, it had more flex than I liked before. I used plain old wagon jacks for stabilizer legs one on each side of the truck. I continued the doubled tube up above the lower boom mount. And the last two pics are the lower mount and the boom mount.

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[Dr Dean]

Here's the upper pivot and the boom winch. Second picture is showing both winches. Third is the boom head, it just slides over the end of the boom so when I need more reach I will slide it off and add the 8 foot extension. The last one is with it stored for transport. I haven't had a chance to see what I can lift yet but it does my 500Lb goal pretty easy now that I doubled the tubing.

So now it's pretty much done I just need to finish the control box. I was going to use a handy box and a plain cover cut out for the rocker switches but it isn't deep enough. I also found out that I need to have a guard around the switches, they are just too easy to bump. There are some pretty cool looking wireless remotes on Amazon however I still want a wired set of buttons for a backup.

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