Ideas for hanging motorcycle from garage ceiling

[TBartlett1]

I have (3) 750cc motorcycles that I would like to hang from my garage ceiling.

I have a 40x60 Olympia steel building and 12x12 overhead doors. The roof is rated for a snow load of 105,000 lbs so I'm not concerned about overloading it.



The bikes would be placed so the load would not be concentrated.

Thinking of using 1/2" eye bolts 2 per bike and pulleys so they can be raised & lowered during our restoration process.

2 of the motorcycles are in a dirt floor barn and 1 is in my cellar I need to get them all under one dry heated roof.

Thinking of using a boat winch to raise & lower.

Anyone done this, or have any advice or better yet pictures of your set-up.

Thanks

Tim

 

[JLEONARD]

How heavy are the bikes?

 

[Hoefler]

You might want to re-think this. The snow load rating is for the top side of the trusses, not the bottom of the ceiling rafters. When you have a snow load on the roof, you have the trusses in compression. By loading the ceiling, the trusses will be in a tension load. Plus, your snow load is evenly distributed on the roof at approx. 43. 75 lbs per square foot. Hanging your motorcycles will concentrate the load to 2 points. If you bike weighs 500 lbs, you will have 250 lbs concentrated in 2 places, which exceeds the load rating and reduces the snow load on the roof. Even if you parked the bike on the roof, you are exceeding the designed load rating of the roof.

 

[BGlidewell]

without getting into the structural issues of your building, what I would do is use some c-channel probably 1/4" and as wide as the rear wheels cut to span the wheels front and back. Onto the front I would weld a loop to capture the front wheel. I would weld a pipe down both sides of the c-channel at appropriate intervals to attach booms that would hing away to load and connect over the top of the bikes securely for the lift points. Much more to it but this is a general idea.

 

[TBartlett1]

Hoefler I agree;

I neglected to say how heavy & where I was intending to suspend the motorcycles.

2 of them are approx 400lbs and 1 is 500Lbs.

I would hang them very close to, or from the main roof supports not in the middle of the clear span.

The main I beams are 20" at the walls tapering to 12 in the middle peak of the building.

I have pulled a fully dressed 5. 9 ctd from the middle of the main beam in the past with no visible deflection or other warning signs!



My building is also in the open and not prone to snow build up on the roof.



Thanks

Tim

 

[SRath]

If you have stout I-beam vertical supports along the walls and if they are anchored very solidly, you might consider roller lifts up 3 of them. It would work similar to a horizontal overhead I-beam trolley stood on end with a horizontal extension arm with a channel attached to the trolley to roll the bike onto and raise like an elevator.



A block and tackle chain hoist attached at the top of the I-beam and to the roller trolley would stay tucked nicely out of the way alongside the I-beam. Keep the extension arm as short as possible.



This all depends on how well braced (especially at the top) and stout and anchored the vertical I-beam is and how high you take the weight since leverage would increase with height and at some point may begin to bow the I-beam. I would devise a safety pin to ensure the bike stays put. Lowering the trolley until it rested on said pin would greatly reduce the leverage on the I-beam, placing the load below the bike.



With this method, you would not be hanging dead weight from your roof. And you would need to figure in the weight of your entire lifting apparatus as well as the bike if you did that.



I would avoid that at all costs if I could.



It's kind of hard to dream something up without photos and measurements of your actual building and its components, but visualizing the typical farm machine shed around here prompts me to offer this suggestion. Good luck!

 

[fest3er]

If you don't want to run them up the vertical (I like Scott's idea) but still want to hang them from the 'joists', I would suggest attaching some form of channel to spread the load among two or more beams (if reasonable and possible), and a means of mechanically locking the bikes up there (rather than relying on a friction brake). You might even want to keep them from swinging (much), that'd be another dynamic load to consider.

 

[BIGNASTY]

I have an American Steel span building for a shop and one for a barn. The shop has an overhead lift built into the slab so its not going to hurt the building. The Barn I have installed a loft to store feed and hay. The weight of the loft is on concrete block walls 10 ft high so the span is not holding any weight I would agree with Hoefler I dont think I would add that kind of weight to the build. without some structure. Before it snowed the loft door opened and closed really nice I was proud of my work after the snows came the doors were tight very tight. one might think that it was caused by wood sucking up the water but that couldnt be as they are vinyl and dont have that problem. Now that the snow has gone Im back to being proud of my work. There is some flex and Im sure that you scooter is not going to weigh as much as snow on top of a 40x60 building food for thought

 

[BGlidewell]

I've seen people scab-weld heavy square-tubing inside apposing steel supports that serve to support an i-beam. You could also set up trolly for loading and unloading lots of heavy stuff...

 

[SRath]

When I poured my shop floor, I welded up very heavy-duty anchor plates and tubes with retractable log chains and flat steel caps that go unnoticed as what appear to be 4" diameter, flush discs in the surface of the floor. If I need to bend or straighten heavy steel, such as a car or truck frame, I use a magnet to lift the disc and the chain welded to it up out of the floor and use hydraulic jacks to do the work. Body & frame shops have similar anchors.



I also deeply imbedded (four feet into concrete) a heavy upright I-beam as the verticle support for a pivoting crane & trolley hoist setup.



If you had a very tall ceiling and were serious about storing weight overhead, you would want a full freestanding 4-corner overhead trolley & hoist setup. Zero stress on the building. And, like most things these days, "kit" type steel buildings are designed to just barely be within code and adequate for the job they were intended, and that does not include suspending heavy motorcycles as dead weight from the ceiling, unfortunately.