Cheap DIY Ceiling Winch—Overhead Hoist

I’ll show how I mounted this super easy, and pretty cheap ceiling winch/hoist in my garage shop. I mounted two to my ceiling, about eight feet apart. Each winch is rated at 1300 pounds and cost $150. The installation probably took me three hours from start to finish.

Items used in this video:

[larrybooth]

From an old iron worker. Always stay over your load. Love your tables. Keep it up. TKS.

[mikethomas]

I had all the parts, so I thought. But that bar to mount on the beam, I had to watch this again to find what I needed, and then was able to complete my project today. There were about three key you tube videos that helped me, this was the one that got me over the finish line. thank you

[dougmalkemus]

good job, & thanks for showing the "Fail", so others can learn from yor project.

[sycodad]

I used the same hoist you used. I used tracks and rollers for pole barn doors. 2 tracks 6 feet apart run 12 feet wide mounted to all ceiling trusses. I made a 18"x 6' trolley that hangs below with the pole barn door rollers so the trolley moves side to side 12 feet. The trolley has another section of the door track and the hoist is suspended with 2 of the door rollers so it rolls front to back on the trolley. The rollers are rated about 1200 pounds each so they are stronger than the hoist. You could make a 6 foot trolley that would go as far side to side as you want by hanging more tracks. I put it in for pulling the engine and transmission from a old MG Midget. worked great. Rollers run smooth and are nowhere near the rated weights.

[crosse]

Wench brings beers in medieval times. A WINCH is what you hung in the video… you’re still the best Youtuber out there 🤘🏼😜

[nunajobiz]

Thanks for posting that simple oversight. I have a feeling that most would not. It’s nice to see a situation and have a better understanding from someone else’s trials. Most importantly you showed what you did correctly. Your proper harness setup saved you from crushed piggies.

[optrakpad]

Being a welder building tons of stainless projects. I do the same type of flipping on the table
All the time!! I’ve figured out if I put a few clamps on the end of the table, it will keep it from sliding off and let’s you let it down real easy! Just watch when you do that, depending on your setup, you may end up side-pulling on your wench/chain/strap. Just make sure you’re prepared for that just to be safe

[CurtisDrew]

On my 3000 sq ft commercial shop I use the 440 LB HF winches to raise and lower my 16' X 12" Shop doors. The doors are counter balanced with the door spring to about 100 lbs so the winches will lower without having to pull on their ropes unless raised all the way up. Since these doors are opened to different heights for different jobs coming into the shop, these work great as I have to stand there and run the switch to make it go up or down. And I have the garage door tracks marked off for different heights so I will raise it up enough for certain vehicles (Rock Crawler or RV ect) to clear. Love them. I mounted my winches on the shops 8' peremeter railing and ran the cable up, then used the supplied pully to turn the cable down from the top of the door railing and just hooked it to the doors bottom roller bracket. I use them single line, otherwise the door would raise too slow, and be a pain to wait on. Single line is about the same speed as a normal commercial garage door opener. I have several more bigger HF winches mounted on "I" beams with roller trolly carriages to help move material and engines around in the shop. In 14 years I've only replaced 2. And they were both damaged by a lightning stike. I have overhead storage above my machine shop and the HF winch on the trolly is used to store my engine, transmissions & rearend cores up there.

[artstudio]

Others said it already, most important part of the Vajayo is how things can go very wrong! I am so glad you showed that part !!!! Going to again look up rigging tips. Note: if something says not for overhead lifting it is often not because it is not strong enough to lift the load but how it fails will often be catastophic (sp)? bad and dangerous. I am not the safety police type but it helps when you understand how things might go bad or why you shouldn't do something and if you are going to do it anyway understand the potential danger(s) Nice Vajayo!

[dantwomey]

As soon as I saw you lifting heavy stuff in your shop I thought of some sort of overhead hoist. Great to see that you're not going to be laying underneath a heavy table now!

[Itstheoutputs]

Hey Cam,
The thing missing is how to remain safe when lifting...anything..any way. They taught me in safety school that you never position yourself below a lifted object, no matter how heavy.

Please be careful. I don’t want to lose my latest binge just as I’m getting caught up. Love the work. I especially like the “how to/not to” videos.

NTITAI: You’re one of the few woodworkers I’ve run across that actually works for a living and films it. Good job!

[clarencewiles]

I would go back to adding two more lags to the support as in 1/2” x 6”or more into the joists overhead. I don’t know what’s up, but adding longer works better. Thanks again for your work.

[Richard-wkle]

You can create a tell tail by hanging a string from the ceiling with nut or ? on the end to just above the floor if the nut is touching the floor while lifting something heavy than maybe the ceiling is deflecting too much ? also look for cracks in the drywall.

[ckc]

The pick point is were your panel is touching down. That means if your wench doesn't move then the table has to center its self under the wench when lifting . If the wench could move it would travel over to the point that is still touching down . Kind of like a plumb bob. And like some folks have said stay out from under the load, that includes the wench.

[gwhite]

Just a word of thanks for sharing this. I have a 12' x 4.5' model railroad layout that takes up a lot of area in our finished basement. This is one of the best solutions I've seen, and will use it. Again, thanks.

[SybilDefense]

Those heavy duty green dumpster bags are great for working with slab tables. The yellow straps and attachment points are strong and creates a lift bag for your work, a workbench cover (folded down = workbench dust skirt), a great epoxy dropcloth, and a protective cover for transport.
$30 from any box hardware store and can be used for a bunch of projects.... I cut one (2) up to make a rag top camper/toy hauler for my 10' open trailer

[roberthoyle]

Very timely find for me, I am currently I installing a lift to utilize some attic storage space above my garage wood shop. The struts were the solution to attaching my lift.
(the lifts all look exactly the same from harbor freight and amazon). I just have to align it to fit into my opening.

I enjoy your videos.

[JC]

Going to use info from this for my Jeep Hardtop garage hoist! Glad I found it, thank you!

[michaelmyers]

We used zip ties to hold the winch while bolting it. Helped quite a bit!

[mikeengland]

Thx for this video! I used all of your recommendations including the same model of winch/hoist, the type of screws, bolts and the Track that mounts to the ceiling as well. I am using this set up as a lift to raise and lower my hardtop on my Jeep Wrangler. I am very pleased with the install.