Joe started things off with a question about "lifting devices."

Some years ago I started acquiring lifting devices for handling stuff that I used to just toss around, but now I'm looking for devices for lifting the lifting devices that I can no longer lift.

With Lin's recent stroke, I am anticipating some need for a way to "elevate" her, and have recently been studying on modifying a High Lift Riding Mower/ATV Jack that's intended to pick up both wheels on either axle of a half-ton small vehicle to picking up one little female.

A four foot long "bar" is intended to carry two "wheel baskets" to pick up the vehicle wheels, and cutting the bar down to about 20" to put ONE BASKET in the middle was fairly simple, and I figure That a flat 20" square "plate" on the lift arm will give me a lot of versatility for getting her up to seat level in my truck and maybe for tossing her into the bathtub and such. It's still a work in progress, so success isn't fully guaranteed, but it's $80 for the lift plus about $30 for some nice little locking castors, against $870 for the cheapest remotely similar "medical" lift I could find.

Seemed like worth a try, and she won't be out of rehab for a week or two so I've got a little time to play with it. Fortunately her progress so far indicates she'll have some ability to "assist" the moves she'll need help with for the immediate future. "Make-do" methods are much more difficult as patient capabilities decline.

Most such "shop lifts" are limited to about 12" lift, but this one gets almost two feet of travel, and if it doesn't work out my kid says the scrap yard will give her $15 for the *#@(^&$ thing if I give it up.

John