Mini shop crane

Hi! Dne’ here! ; )  If you’ve searched through my site, you’ve probably seen My Little Mule, or a small shop crane, in my Tool section? Have you not? Well, this is My Little Mule II ! My other Little Mule is busy at the moment!

Once again, this is a used Hoyer lift or patient lift that I modified for helping me in my garage! This is not a Mini shop crane you buy in a store! However, you can have a mini crane too!  You just need to shop for a used patient lift and do like I did!

This particular lift was much easier to modify than My Little Mule I. All I had to do was remove the part on the end, make an extension, and I’m in business!

Here I’ve already added a length of 1.25″ square tubing and re-attached the hook holder.

Now keep in mind, this is my replica engine on my mini crane~THIS IS NOT A REAL ENGINE! You can read about the replica engine in my Tools section to learn a little more about them. I still need to do a little more work on this one as it needs a counter balance for heavier things.

This photo demonstrates the Little Mule II holding up my TH350 automatic transmission through the cab of my 59 Apache!

Here, I am under my 59 Apache working on getting the tranny just at the right height, and I have the controls right at hand! There’s a relief control for the hydraulics on the cylinder, and the long handle coming off of the cylinder is the pump handle. This is great so I don’t have to keep getting out from beneath the truck just to jack the tranny up or lower it a tad~ neato! ; )

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I really need to get the TH350 transmission out from underneath my Apache! Right now it’s on a shop cart.  I’ll be using my mini crane to lower the transmission down to the floor. I work alone!

In this case, I use 3 tie down straps. 2 for the tranny, and the red one in the photo, to have enough length for the transmission to make it down to the floor.

Here, lowering the transmission down to the floor to an awaiting furniture dolly.

Docking procedure completed Captain! ; )  No strain, just brains over brawn!

Now just look at all of the precious room to work beneath my Apache!

I bought my cranes (Little Mule and my Little Mule II) off of Craigslist for 75 bucks. It pays to shop! If you should have any questions, please contact me! I hope you have found this to be helpful~ believe me, this is a wonderful tool and if you work alone~ you need one too! ; )   Have you signed up for updates from Classic Cars and Tools? ; )