DIY Portable Generator EZ Lift System

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This is a great tool to have around your farm or homestead!

Our Generac 7500-watt generator is a bit heavy and unwieldy to maneuver around our farm and homestead in Downeast, Maine. The wheels are solid and sink right in soft ground, and are only useful when moving the machine around the shop during times of maintenance. I’ve been moving the generator about with my tractor loader bucket and chains, but that still requires a bit of heavy lifting. It also takes awhile to chain it up securely.

As I get older, I’m trying to work smarter, rather than harder. To make life easier on myself, I decided to devise an “EZ Lift System” that would hook onto the generator quickly, with little effort, and that could be easily snagged with a grab hook & chain hanging from the loader bucket. I would then be able to lift and move the generator without any lifting, and do it in short order.

You’ll see in this video, I simply drilled holes in the generator frame, installed eye bolts, and then fabricated a chain sling of sorts with grab hooks on the end of 4 equal length chains to snag the eye-bolts on the generator. Two chains at each end are tied together with a shackle, and the two shackles are tied together with a quick link. The single quick link is then snagged by a chain with a grab hook that is suspended from the loader bucket on the tractor.

This EZ Lift System is versatile, as it can be used to move other large, bulky/heavy objects in the same manner. The chain sling goes on and off very easily in seconds without any tools needed.

Materials (Total cost to me - $20.00):

I purchased 10’ of 3/16” galvanized chain and I only used just a tad over 5’ feet of it.
(4) 5/16” x 4” Eye Bolts (with nuts and washers).
(4) ¼” Grab Hooks.
(2) ¼” Shackles.
(1) Quick Link.

Actual time to make and install: About 1 hour.

The video is less than 4 minutes in duration.

https://youtu.be/7idHGCZmQ30