Go BottomMaterial Handling Chains and Hooks
 | candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota 
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2008-06-06 154289
Hello friends,
I'm looking for some input and suggestions from our members, regarding the various chains and hooks that you folks use for your various projects.
Here's the deal......I'm working on a very long clean-up project in the back pasture. (Going on 10 years now.) The fella who owned this place, before me, apparently thought his horses and cattle wouldn't mind stepping over the more than 12,000 pounds of scrap steel, barbed wire, tractor wheels, paint cans.....you name it......that I've removed from the pasture so far. God only knows how much is left back there, as it's all buried under more than 30 years worth of horse and cattle manure.
I have several chains around the place, but it seems I never have one that's the right length for the job -- or the chain might be the proper length, but it has the wrong hooks on it for the job at hand.
This coming Winter I plan on making a complete set of chains for every project imagined by man. (hehehe.) I'm sick and tired of changing out the hooks every time I need a chain. I'm sick and tired of cutting chains, buying more chain, more hooks, clevis pins, cotter keys, etc.
I'm looking for suggestions from you folks. Let's hear about the chains you use for specific jobs around your house or farm.
With the information posted here, I plan to make a complete set of chains, each with it's own place on the wall, so that I'll always have the right chain for the job.........right?????? Somehow I doubt that, but it would be nice to be a whole lot closer to that point than I am now.
Many thanks.
Joel
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 | auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2168 West of Toronto 
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2008-06-06 154300
Few people understand the Mystery of the Chain. When the chain-pull was invented they couldn't find a virgin to sacrifice to the chaingod, which is why to this day nobody ever has the ideal chain on hand for any new job.
All you can do is have an assortment of lengths, each with a grab-hook on one end and a slip-hook on the other. You can spray paint the hooks to color-code them for length and make them easier to find. For your application focus on various lengths rather than strengths and don't worry about the cost because a chain lasts forever.
You can't use a too-short chain but you can use a too-long one, by wrapping it around, or by installing a few extra hooks along its length. Carrying a nylon sling with a loop at each end can be handy too. Finally, a chain-box or two can make a useful weight for a tractor.
Back to history, another little-known fact is that when Zacchariah Goodfeller, in 1623, found the right chain to attach the anchor-rode on the Mayflower, it marked the first use of the term "Happy Hooker." Anything else we can help with, let us know. ....
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 | kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-06-06 154304
Sounds like what you really need is a scrap yard crane with electro magnetic lift for a while. kt
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| candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-06-06 154311
Kthompson,
If I were in a big hurry to get this job done, I think I'd hire a bulldozer with a ripper to come in and pull everything out of the piles.
A magnet wouldn't work too well, because the metal is buried under a manure pile about 15 feet high and 100 yards long. I've got about 40 yards left to dig through.
I'm using a heavy duty Ford pickup with a long 1/2" steel cable and heavy steel hooks, much like skidding tongs. I pulled out a rusted car body and frame last week. Can't tell you what make or model it was, as the thing came out in about 40 different pieces. The frame ripped out from under the body, but for the rear axle, which is still buried in there. I'll have to remove some of the stuff it's hung up on before I can get it out.
I've found nearly 20 carburetors, several intake manifolds, 5 or 6 engine blocks, and too many pistons and rods to count. I've also found tractor wheels, railroad ties, fence posts, and about 6 rolls of barbed wire......none of which was in "rolls". It's tangled in everything. I've got a pair of bolt cutters that I use to cut through the wire.
I've been through about 40 pairs of gloves on this project, and I've got scars everywhere. No telling how many pairs of jeans I've ripped to shreds.
Mixed in with all of this steel, I found an entire barn that had been pushed up and halfway burned. It's a hazard zone, and I've had my share of nails in my feet.
Needless to say, it's a big job. But, I'm getting there. There's no hurry on the project, but I do intend to finish it up over the next couple of years.
Joel ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-06-06 154312
Joel, I'm not sure how it might work in your case, but fella near here had a similar situation with a property.
He solved it by first going over the whole place and picking up the big and or obvious stuff using a pallet grapple hanging on a jib arm on the FEL of the tractor. See link below.
After he had all the big stuff out of the way he disked the whole place and got more bigger stuff out doing that, then as a last step he went over the whole place with a potato digger. The junk just went up the apron chain and into a pile, with mostly clean soil left behind.
If the metal is mixed into the soil even an electromagnet won't pick it up.
Best of luck. ....
Link: Pallet Grapple Link.
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| candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-06-06 154323
Thanks, Murf.
I can think of about 100 times when that pallet grapple would have come in handy. I'll be getting myself one of those.
I found an old, rusty, steel ring while digging in the pile. It's about 6 inches long, and made of 3/4" steel round bar. (Some part of a draft horse harness I believe.)
That's been pretty handy too, as I can run a chain through it and form a large hoop. This makes it possible to use a chain as a slip-knot. Makes it very easy to loosen the chain from the load after pulling something out of the pile.
Wish I had access to about 40 pounds of C-4. hehehe. Explosives come in handy at times.
Joel ....
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| kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-06-06 154325
On the line of what Murf was talking about, how about (I think they are called) rock buckets on a skid steer or FEL?
You could run ad allowing the area to be used for terriost training grounds I guess. They may be able to blow it all loose and at same time round them up. :)
It sure would not be fun to find out there was trash there that caused the EPA to have problems. Hopefully all that was dumped was metal. kt ....
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| candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-06-06 154329
KThompson,
When I was in the Army, as an engineer, we had training opportunities all over the place. In many cases, the Federal Government will pay for digging a pond, necessary for watering cattle on government land. The Federal Government also pays to improve habitat for wildlife on federal lands.
I was involved in several projects that were labeled as "training missions", in which the U.S. Army was involved in digging watering holes for ranchers -- and even constructing man-made islands, in lakes, which endangered bird species could use as nesting grounds, free from land-based predators, such as skunks and so forth.
We used a whole lot of explosives for those projects. The demolition teams were smiling from ear to ear. We never did get any training missions where the .50 caliber M2s were needed, however. RATS! hehehe. A .50 caliber Browning can cut down trees faster than ANY chainsaw.
I can't help but wonder if any of the Engineer units in North Dakota are looking for some demolition training. I've got just the ticket. I might have to board up the windows on the house though. hehehe.
The EPA can go straight to H-e-double-hockey-sticks.
Joel ....
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| kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-06-06 154331
An option to the pallet mover is the old style at least here were called snaking tongs. They work the same but have points on them to pinch into a log as pulled. You might find them locally cheap. You could weld on something over the point if you needed to. kt
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