Woooooo...

and likewise, Hoooooo!

I've had a Horror-Fright quality engine crane (tho not actually from HF) for years. Plenty adequate for my occasional use, plus the legs fold up and it stores in a relatively small footprint.

One disadvantage to the "fold 'em/store 'em" cranes is that with the boom all the way down in storage position, it takes a LOT of pumps on the long ram jack to get the boom up far enough to extend it, much less actually lift anything with it. For some time now, I've wanted an air-over-hydraulic jack to put on it.

Messing around with that 900 pound Onan generator brought the idea to the surface again and seeing as I've made a couple of bucks off Dale this month, I looked around for the jack. Initially, the $170-ish price tag put me off, but I found one on Amazon for $110 and free Prime shipping, so I jumped on it.

It appears to be identical (and quite probably is...) to the one Northern Hydraulic wanted $170 plus shipping for.

Just got done installing it. Had to machine the mount a little as it missed fitting the crane bracket by [i:654c4848f0]this[/i:654c4848f0] much. Other than that, it's a bolt-on and it works slick as a smelt. Air hog, I'd hate to try to run it off a portable air tank, but in the shop it's fine.

Haven't tried to actually LIFT anything under air, but even if it just gets the boom to operating position without wearing my pumping arm out, it's worth the investment to me.

Will you be able lift things just a little bit, like you could with the hand pump? That's what I like about using a chain hoist, I can lift something only .010 of an inch if I want.

Dunno, but it still has the hand pump as well, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I'll play with it a bit tomorrow and post the test results. Dark, cold and a tummy full of supper at the moment..."8^)

I also have a fold up crane.
I leave the boom up above head hight. That way I just walk under it.

I also have a fold up crane.
I leave the boom up above head hight. That way I just walk under it.

With the pipe handle out of the pump you can work the pump fast to raise the arm, that's what I do.

Space is at a premium in my garage. Dang near every square inch is occupied by vehicles or tools and I can just about sidle around everything.

I use mine maybe 4-5 times a year and the rest of the time it's folded into it's smallest footprint and takes up about a 2x3 space in a corner of the garage.

Yup, I suspect that'll be the routine on mine as well. Use air to get it into working position and take up the slack and then pump by hand to actually lift.

I played with it a bit this morning. It will lift half a ton at full extension using the air side, and it's pretty smooth. If I needed to adjust by fractions of an inch, I'd probably still use the hand pump, but for lifting things up onto a trailer or pickup, the air will be fine.

I've got one of those folding outfits too, but the jack on mine is made so that if you lift the arm by hand, it pulls the ram out on the jack and it stays out where you put it.

I didn't realize you would still be able to use the hand pump, that should work well!