I wish I found a post like this before I purchased my heavy welder.  I also searched forums…. Nothing seemed to talk about this subject.  The only thing I found was a guy who built a pole hoist for his Miller Bobcat.  Which was really not any help.

So it was on a loading dock and I needed to load my heavy welder into the back of my truck.  (I have a manly Honda Ridgeline.  🙂  I believe a Ridgeline is considered a mid sized truck?)  There were 5 guys and a 2 x 6 board…. whch was cut to be used as a ramp.  Going from the dock to my bed of my truck (gap between bed and tail gate).  We slid the welder still on the cart…. on its axle down the wood ramp.  (No clue how long the wood was…. It was cut in 3 pieces though.  But only used 2.)

The next step was getting the 550 pound welder off my truck by myself.  My plan was to use an engine hoist.  (Then I could also use the hoist to put some motors on my truck by myself!  🙂 )  I really wish Tommy Gate made a lift gate for manly work trucks like the Honda Ridgeline!  🙂

I asked some people and waited until the last day before I needed a hoist…. I actually only had 30 minutes before I had to pick up my kids…. So I purchased an AutoZone Duralast/4000 lbs. engine hoist (I will try and remember and add a link).  I heard bad things about the HF version and the Northern Tools came with a leveler?  They all look the exact same though…. Lets be honest here.  🙂

It actually worked.  The problem is the hoist legs are not wide enough for the side of my truck…. So you had to roll the welding cart to the very edge of the truck bed.  Another problem was the welding cart would not fit between the legs of the hoist.  So I had to turn the welder or cart around.