Toe-Jacks: recommendations?

Milacron · Dec 14, 2022

Spud, just give it up m'man.... 1,500 bucks and you're set for life

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Doozer · Dec 14, 2022

eKretz said:
...
BTW Doozer, you could easily re-cut those grooves with a carbide endmill... I've even done that on old pipe wrench jaws!

Great idea. I love using carbide end mills.
They just make more jobs possible.

-Doozer

Spud · Dec 18, 2022

cyanidekid said:
what machines are you buying? if its not big stuff you probably don't need one.
I've moved a few machines, watched a bunch more being moved by pros. I've never needed a toe jack, and I can't recall seeing one used on anything small (under 3T or so). could have used one on a few occasions, but a heel bar and some dunnage gets stuff up, and a J bar or just blocks under the heel, and keep going till its high enough for some wheels. takes a few minuets, no big deal.
if you have one day to clean out a place with 20 CNCs, well that's different, better bring some gear.

About 2 months ago I got an older Hauser jig borer locally. Was wondering how I was going to load it because auctioneer / seller said no loading help onsite. The machine was sitting on 0.5" pads on the ground. The seller did end up loading it for me, but if he hadn't I would have had to lift it up to get skates underneath, to get it close to the shop rollu door or outside so that a boom outfitted tow-truck could put it in my pickup. The Hauser weighs around 2000 lbs I think.

guythatbrews · Dec 19, 2022

You can really do a lot with a pinch point bar and a handful of steel and wooden shims. Johnson bars are also very helpful. A cheaper solution than jacks.

I've used the enerpac flat cylinders but you have to be careful of eccentric loads. The piston can tilt and jam in the cylinder, or at least get screwed up.

I've coveted covered railroad jacks, but figured the top structure would get in the way too much.

Never trust anything. No fingers or hands in the pinch point if you don't want to loose them!

eKretz · Dec 19, 2022

guythatbrews said:
You can really do a lot with a pinch point bar and a handful of steel and wooden shims. Johnson bars are also very helpful. A cheaper solution than jacks.

I've used the enerpac flat cylinders but you have to be careful of eccentric loads. The piston can tilt and jam in the cylinder, or at least get screwed up.

I've coveted covered railroad jacks, but figured the top structure would get in the way too much.

Never trust anything. No fingers or hands in the pinch point if you don't want to loose them!

These are what I was talking about. No tilting or jamming that I've encountered:

guythatbrews · Dec 19, 2022

eKretz said:
These are what I was talking about. No tilting or jamming that I've encountered:

View attachment 381924

I have a set with this tool but I've yet to use it. I know it will be very handy for lighter stuff.

beckerkumm · Dec 19, 2022

Since I'm usually working alone, I find toe jacks very useful for final positioning. The forklift does the primary moving but fitting a machine into its final resting place takes toe jacks and machine rollers. I can usually get my 5-8K machines shifted by myself. I have some Hillman rollers I bought used and cleaned up and two 10/20T Vevor jacks. the Vevor are typical chinese $200 each bottle jacks with a casting but they don't get used more than twice a year. I oversized them to compensate for my distaste of cheap crap and so far they have worked well on my heaviest machine, a 16x54 Monarch Lathe. Dave

metalmagpie · Dec 19, 2022

jccaclimber said:
I've had to put my Bridgeport on 4x4's a couple times to move them. While maybe easier with a toe jack, I wouldn't buy one for an occasional move.

-Pry bar to get it high enough to be on 3/4" plywood. In my case "pry bar" was a 1/2" steel rod sticking out of a 3' piece of black pipe because it's what I had. Another pipe or a 1" piece of hardwood scrap for the fulcrum.
-Same pry bar with a 2x4 fulcrum to now get a a 2x4 under the corners.
-Repeat on the back.
-Throw another 2x4 under your fulcrum and go up another layer to fit the 4x4s.

If you need a lever longer than 3 feet you will want a helper to shove the blocks under for you.

I wouldn't want to move a large shop this way, or a 20k pound machine, but for something like a garage sized lathe or mill it works just fine.

If you want to lift the back of a Bridgeport, take your 4 ton porta power and put a bunch of extensions on the ram. Hold it upright beneath the rear lug and pump. It will lift off the ground sweetly.

cyanidekid · Dec 19, 2022

there is some ambiguity as to the callout on this bar, but this is what the pros use;

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sometimes called a bent slate bar, sometimes a pinch bar. the important characteristics are the heavy (1 1/4+) square shank behind the "heel", forged tapered handle, narrow stout chisel point.
some calling themselves such are forged from hex bar, that's not really good enough. some have wide chisel tips, generally not good either.
basically any machine sitting flat on the floor has somewhere to apply one of these, and even if you're going to use a toe jack, you typically
start with this.

eKretz · Dec 19, 2022

cyanidekid said:
there is some ambiguity as to the callout on this bar, but this is what the pros use;

Lansing Forge 60" Warehouse Loading Bar 214 | Zoro

Order Lansing Forge 60" Warehouse Loading Bar, 214 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.

www.zoro.com

I have used those plenty too, but they often require two people. One to hump the bar and another to place the blocks. On heavier stuff it's hard to hold the bar end down and place the blocks at the same time by one's self.

dalmatiangirl61 · Dec 19, 2022

cyanidekid said:
there is some ambiguity as to the callout on this bar, but this is what the pros use;

Lansing Forge 60" Warehouse Loading Bar 214 | Zoro

Order Lansing Forge 60" Warehouse Loading Bar, 214 at Zoro.com. Great prices & free shipping on orders over $50 when you sign in or sign up for an account.

www.zoro.com

A cheap toe jack is half the price, on the other hand a prybar won't blow a seal. I have a whole selection of big prybars that I used to use for moving machines, they are collecting dust in the corner today, hope I never need them again. In my opinion prybars work ok IF there is room to use them, and you have enough posterior counterweight. I've danced on the end of a bar without lifting the machine on several occasions.

cyanidekid · Dec 19, 2022

dalmatiangirl61 said:
A cheap toe jack is half the price, on the other hand a prybar won't blow a seal. I have a whole selection of big prybars that I used to use for moving machines, they are collecting dust in the corner today, hope I never need them again. In my opinion prybars work ok IF there is room to use them, and you have enough posterior counterweight. I've danced on the end of a bar without lifting the machine on several occasions.

important thing is its not just a "big prybar". lots of prybars don't have the rigidity and short toe of these and just don't work well on heavy stuff.
regular crow bars in particular, but whatever works for you.
I don't seen how you would never need a prybar if you move machines myself.

cyanidekid · Dec 19, 2022

eKretz said:
I have used those plenty too, but they often require two people. One to hump the bar and another to place the blocks. On heavier stuff it's hard to hold the bar end down and place the blocks at the same time by one's self.

absolutely. shouldn't be moving heavy stuff by one's self anyway..(yea, I know, we do it all the time..

)

dalmatiangirl61 · Dec 19, 2022

cyanidekid said:
important thing is its not just a "big prybar". lots of prybars don't have the rigidity and short toe of these and just don't work well on heavy stuff.
regular crow bars in particular, but whatever works for you.
I don't seen how you would never need a prybar if you move machines myself.

My prybar collection includes bars 5' to 6' long, several styles, including a few bent ones.... I can use them outside the shop to get a machine on blocks high enough to get the toejack under them, but once inside there is just not enough room. The crowbars are used occasionally, they seem to work best for demolition jobs.

cyanidekid · Dec 19, 2022

dalmatiangirl61 said:
My prybar collection includes bars 5' to 6' long, several styles, including a few bent ones.... I can use them outside the shop to get a machine on blocks high enough to get the toejack under them, but once inside there is just not enough room. The crowbars are used occasionally, they seem to work best for demolition jobs.

man, my shop is jammed, but I can still swing a bar here and there, but hey, far be it for me to contradict another guys "need" for any tool or equipment,

having said that, I have used a 2 1/2 T floor jack to raise up the Graziano SAG 17 to get wheels under it once it's against the wall, but at 3950 it's a lightweight for it's swing, being "raised in the sand". toe jacks would have been a PIA to use for that, would have needed at least two, and I'd have had to clear space to get them on the backside of the headstock.

bottom line, jockeying heavy(ish) shit around is an art, and what we end up juryrigging and such is endless.
I think its a "ton" (sorry..) of fun myself.

bottom line, whatever works AND is safe, go for it!

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Toe-Jacks: recommendations?

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