I have made a slight boo boo and can't figure out a way to sort it. I had no idea this was going to be so heavy so i built it on it's side for ease. I'd rather not take it apart again as building it upright is going to be V awkward. I could utilise a second body but it's likely to be a week before any of my local mates are able to stop by, but i want to do this today.
So, can anyone think of a way this can be lifted upright by one man? The main posts are 12ft long x 100mm. The deadlift weight must be about 80kg as i find it quite a strain!
My wife could be called into play to position things.
There's a tree stump around 45 degrees left of centre, and a cut tree trunk further left of that.
There's also some side to side play that can result in it falling sideways if not supported well.
My first thought was to lift it and get my wife to put a wheelie bin under to hold it. Then get a hop-up platform and lift it a bit higher and get her to pop a ladder under, then get my platform ladder and lift more, bigger ladder under it etc.
But there MUST be an easier way!
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Check life insurance & A+E availabilty
You must know a neighbour? Anyway, it looks like once you get it past 30 degrees it'll actually be pretty easy to lift thanks to the moment of the leg.
Remove one A frame.
Stand up other plus top beam.
Then pull up second A frame underneath the beam (when on the floor base of A frame where it needs to be, top towards the centre of structure)
Easiest would be to go and get a few bodies to help. Simple job for 3 or 4 big chaps. Isn't there anyone? Given the team you have lifting in stages, maybe with a lever, and propping it up (with your wife putting props in) is probably the simplest and safest
Turn it to face the stump then you can use that with some rope as a pull point, once it's upright then walk it into place?
You will need rope at some point to control the descent - I think otherwise there's a high risk of damage when it descends from the point of balance.
Be highly wary of lifting from a ladder for the obvious reasons - they are only designed for your weight, you're doubling the load when you lift plus all sorts of offsetting load which will try to tip the ladder.
Hence the rope pull once you get some initial height under the cross beam.
If in doubt - give it a miss...
Edit for apostrophe
I'm not anything like fully brain functional yet but, attach weights to top of those diagonal beams and use the climbing frames to wedge under the crossbar? At some point in raising the crossbar, those weights (eg. bricks in sacks) will help lever the goalpost into an upright position.
You and wife get it raised slightly by hand and use poles/ lengths of timber to push on top horizontal piece to elevate? Maybe bit rope attached to it to slow it's drop when vertical.
Build a compressed air cannon out of that green wheelie bin in the background and an old bin bag?? 😆
Alternatively, levers and wedges were good enough to build Stonehenge !(probably, unless it were aliens, obvs)
that climbing frame in the background even looks like a wedge.......
A simple mathematical equation Daniel San.
Mates+Beer+BBQ = success.
give up and go out for sunday lunch down the pub, the weather's minging anyway.
Just lift it and slide ever-larger objects under it. When it gets sufficiently high to get your car roof underneath, it should be easy to tip the rest of the way.
Or turn it slightly to the right, then drag a rope over your neighbour's garage roof and pull from the garden three doors down.
Be sure to take a video.
Without another bod, trying to pull it up using the legs in the air will probably result in it twisting and damage.
Not entirely sure how this would work, but you could try anchoring a temporary section between the legs and using it as a fulcrum to try lift it alone. Anchor the other legs so i doesn't slide, and it might just work.
As shown in my artistic impression below 🙂
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Winch and an A frame to run the cable over so the pull lifts the thingy?
Superb ideas. I like the thought of weights on the legs BUT they'll encourage twisting. Not that the 10mm coach bolts are going to give up, but I'd like to keep strain on the wood to a minimum.
Greg, mates and beers would be the ideal choice, but mates are all working or busy with babies, basically just wrapped up in their own selfish lives just now 😉
Twonks I'd never have the strength to do it that way.
I may rotate it to face the tree stump, lift it upright using straps then just gradually shimmy it into place.
It's bound to work eventually!
Scaffold and a car jack - raise with the jack, build scaffold under it?
Might be difficult as it 'arcs' upwards though. Maybe a ladder would be useful as you could 'step# it up.
tbh It'd be safer with a couple of strong lads just in case.
Can you do anything with a car trolley jack and some kind of additional platform? You might not need to raise it much to get to the point you can lift it the rest of the way yourself.
A-frame plus winch or block and tackle +1
Set up a tripod with suitable length scaffold poles and attach the winch or block and tackle to the top. The trick will be to put the tripod together and you may need another to get that into place 😉
Could you give your location and see if you can gather enough STWers to join you for a lifting party?
Suspect you are a little far north for me to help...
stepladder alongside top beam. lift it a couple of steps in height, tie it off, push step ladder in, untie and lift next couple of steps - repeat. Once at full height of step ladder it should be high enough that you can push one of the legs to do the final tip over
Normally you have to dig the legs of these things in a bit rather than just sit on the ground. did you not have to do that?
It's going to be nasty when you get it over the high point and gravity tries to take over. Take the far end off, and brace the other. Get lots of ropes, a pulley or three, and stakes to use the spare pair as shear legs. Note that they are prone to falling backwards if it all goes tango uniform. That's what a lot of the rope and stakes are to prevent.
Get the bulk of it up as a wonky tripod, move your shear legs to lift the crossbar. Then comes the tricky bit of supporting the crossbar while you sort the supports back underneath it.
IANA fairground roughneck.
That garage/shed is to close to your boundry....................
approx 4500 years ago..
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today....
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😆
Lifting it is the easy half of the problem- you will need to catch it as it comes upright to stop it falling (and maybe toppling right over again). Minimum 4 blokes, I would say: one each end to lift and walk the legs up and two on the other side to take the opposide legs as they come down again.
If it's bolted together, just dismantle it and reassemble in the correct orientation! 🙂
(A frames first, lying flat; join top beam to one A frame as a tripod; bring 2nd A frame upright under the top beam, lifting it to horizontal in the process.)
When I've had issues like this, I've gone outside and asked folk walking past to gimme a hand.
You need a treadmill.
WTF is it, anyway?
Homemade gibbet for mass execution of political undesireables.
swing i assume
as noted the real issue is how to stop it falling down quickly once it passes the tipping point
WInches or jacks to get it up - though i would just ask random folk and offer tea and cake and good wishes
Tirfor jack and earth anchor set?
I'd try lifting one end up a little and getting my wife to place the first or second step of the step ladder under it. Do the same the other end and walk it up to as high as you can manage. Once it's a decent height I'd right a block and tackle to pull it upright.
H&S, what's that 😮 Failing that ask some neighbours or passers by. More often than not they're willing to help.
Climb up ladders and swing from legs, body weight will slowly tip it over
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Use some ropes and pulleys.. Or take it apart and rebuild it the right way
You one one upright, wife on the other then a bit of this...
I take it you're in Glasgow?
Any forum members up that way want to get in on the act and lend a hand ?
I'd happily come over but it's a bit far from the Midlands 😆
I'd opt for your plan of lifting and propping a bit at a time if you can't cadge anyone to give a hand. Would add a rope to catch it as you get past the balance point, tied so that you can lower the far legs down.
Actually, I'd use the timber crane on the tractor, but I'm guessing you don't have one as it would have been upright by now otherwise.
Go chap on some doors and ask for a hand for 5mins.
Give Ainscough a call?
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Are you suggesting i need a giant Pfister to erect my frame?
simondbarnes - Member
You one one upright, wife on the other then a bit of this...www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLtV-jqGfZQ
Problem with chapping doors is that I'm surrounded by OAPs and i don't have time to be taking them to hospital with strained backs, hips and shoulders!
Maybe, but think of the stories they will regale you with!
rope-only pulley system with one end around the base of those shrubs.
Got any big bags? If so:
1) Lift it up as much as you can and prop wheely bin underneath
2) attach one bag to the end of each leg (that's in the air)
3) fill each bag with water and the weight will either pull the legs over or at least make it easier to lift the top bar higher yourself.
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Wedge the end of the legs lying on the ground so they can't move to the left. Loop rope around the join half way along the top leg where the cross brace is and pull the frame upright making sure the frame pivots on the end of the bottom leg where the wedge is.
Dig trenches under the legs lying on the ground, so it sits a bit more in your favour. Then lift the top bar onto a wheely bin. A few more "lift & brace" sequences, with you stood on the wheely bin with aforementioned braces to hand, should see it stand proud. Might be worth tying off the top bar from the lifting side so it doesn't roll with the momentum.
Be sure to video it for the inquest.
If the Coroner doesn't thank you, an appearance on "You've been Framed" will leave your good lady £250 better off.
Wow...That was a bit brown pants and satisfying. I love a bit of danger at the weekend!
Started with a deadlift into a wheelie bin. Wife put it in squint so i had to hold it there for a while so she could pop it in straight. Then I wiggled the hop-up into a spot that would take the angles and popped it higher, with wife bracing it with a small ladder.
I then put up my henchman platform and got it a bit higher. Wife had to use the bigger ladders to support this and they were a bit too heavy for her so it got interesting!
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Then i tried weighting a leg. Didn't get a chance to weight the other leg as this started making things all wobble crazy and start to lean so i had to jump up the platform again. This is where freestyle started and plans went out the window. Once i got the spar lifted higher, the whole lot did a wild pirouette with me 6ft up amongst it all. Amazing, my limbs weren't twisted off, and all i had to do was contort myself to get from the platform alive and shimmy one of the A-frames back upright and it's all good!
A few mini shuffles to get it into place. All i need to do now is tighten the bolts, add some braces, dig the footings and ground anchors, saw a little off the back legs to level it and attach the swings! Hey presto...Biggest swing set for miles!
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Well; [i]that[/i] was a rollercoaster of a thread.
Well done! Just make sure you anchor the legs before use as a swing.
Giz a go of your swing....
Sky hook would have been easier 🙂
Chapeau!
Wife put it in squint so i had to hold it there for a while so she could pop it in straight. Then I wiggled the hop-up into a spot that would take the angles and popped it higher, with wife bracing it with a small ladder.
Post of the Week. 🙂
Well if you MUST take it out of context!!!
takisawa2 - Member
Wife put it in squint so i had to hold it there for a while so she could pop it in straight. Then I wiggled the hop-up into a spot that would take the angles and popped it higher, with wife bracing it with a small ladder.
Post of the Week.POSTED 5 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Crikey. There was an easier way.
I would have done one a frame at a time and then lifted the truss with the same a frames. You could guy them.
Once was presented with a similar lifting problem at work. No one would listen to my protests. I left the site and someone ended up with a collapsed lung.
Nice in theory, but the weight and sheer height of this lot (spar is 3.3m high) was a significant issue. I tried it that way first.
I think tilting the Earth by 90 degrees whilst leaving the frame where it was might be considered cheating?
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