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  1. #1
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    School me on Chairlift Porch Swings

    I made one of my better pick-ups this past winter when Stevens decided to give away a bunch of their triple chairs after upgrading one of the green lifts. It's sat about for the past six months and now it's time to mount this bad boy. It weighs about 150 lbs, 8 ft tall x 4 ft wide. The plan is to cut out a portion of the neck so it will sit at the desired height, then weld it back together. I want to incorporate the stock attachment mechanism (second picture below) but don't have a good understanding of what parts are involved or where to get them. I tried explaining to the hardware guy at Home Depot who looked at me like I was nutso. I went so far as to poke around the website of a lift manufacturer for parts, to no avail.

    Former lift-ops folks and badasses who've pulled this off: what parts am I looking for and where do I find them?

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
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    Click image for larger version. 

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  3. #3
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    I just stuck a pipe thru the grip and hung it underneath a high deck.
    Wasn’t optimal, but it worked.
    I sold the place and didn’t take it.

  4. #4
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    That hanger rod looks a bit off center without the cable grip. How you gonna level it?

  5. #5
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    As stated you probably will need a pipe to go into the collar and get the pivot point toward the center. Or Google Search for chair lift porch swings and see some of the various mountings done with the different brands and types of chairs.

    Do you want it to swing like a lift would on the cable mount or fixed position acceptable?

    Like this if you have a solid ceiling on the porch:

    https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ee/b3/2c/e...87d2a22fed.jpg

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flyoverland Captive View Post
    That hanger rod looks a bit off center without the cable grip. How you gonna level it?
    So I've been looking around and it looks like the fixed grip interface between the "eye" and the cable is what provided that offset. Like it's a whole assembly, and it looks legit but I don't know what it's even called...

    And fixed position would be totally acceptable so long as it's level

  7. #7
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    Fave I've seen uses a big ball joint from a work truck. The z-axis swiveling is cool IMO.

    Or you could use a big bolt/pipe thru the grip boss, with a clevis above. 2 degrees of freedom for that side swing eh.

    I'm about to finally build mine and plan to do the ball joint. I'll report back.

    If you cut it shorter, cutting the jog out makes the alignment easier but worsens the look, IMO.
    Last edited by Norseman; 06-08-2020 at 08:35 PM.

  8. #8
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    School me on Chairlift Porch Swings

    I unfortunately don’t have a structure to hang ours from (T-line chair, not Stevens). Also the J-arm mast makes the suspended height close to 12’, so even building a frame to swing from is a pretty large structure.

    Gonna do legs kinda like this (& remove the J-arm) to keep it simple/cheap
    Click image for larger version. 

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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by ::: ::: View Post
    I unfortunately don’t have a structure to hang ours from (T-line chair, not Stevens). Also the J-arm mast makes the suspended height close to 12’, so even building a frame to swing from is a pretty large structure.

    Gonna do legs kinda like this (& remove the J-arm) to keep it simple/cheap
    Click image for larger version. 

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    That was my thought, looking at your deck.
    Aside from the chair hanger, what are going to hang it from?
    Make some legs for it and call it a day.
    . . .

  10. #10
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    Mine has been on truck springs for ten years, waiting for the right setup to hang. It's nice enough on the ground but hanging ones are better.

    Built a patio last summer/fall so now it's time to hang the chair. Currently welding a steel cantilever beam to bolt to a concrete pile, off the corner of the patio.

  11. #11
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    Use old skis for the "feet'.

  12. #12
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    I got a old single chair that I took when they replaced it with a six pack. Midnight mission to Austria in a government vehicle. It’s been sitting in a garden for years now. I wanna paint it a nice silver and redo the wood seat slats in a nice light oak. If I ever get around to it I will post before and after pics

  13. #13
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    The chairlift porch swing looks best if you leave some of the siding off the house and just go with Tyvek.
    "timberridge is terminally vapid" -- a fortune cookie in Yueyang

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Timberridge View Post
    The chairlift porch swing looks best if you leave some of the siding off the house and just go with Tyvek.
    maybe a ski fence too.

  15. #15
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    my dad built a standalone A-frame to hang a buddies double swing (the old garabaldi chairlift ) I remember thinking it was huge and it took up a lot of deck space, but it worked well cuz dad built bridges

    edit: and over engineered everything he built

    If you have an existing structure to hang a chair off of that might be cheaper/better or forget hanging it and put some legs under it
    Last edited by XXX-er; 06-09-2020 at 11:45 AM.
    Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know

  16. #16
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    here's how i hung my chairlift. you have a big hunk of metal to deal with but could put these at the very end of yours with some cutting.

    theres some pics and links to hardware in posts surrounding this one
    https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...11#post5912211

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by klauss View Post
    here's how i hung my chairlift. you have a big hunk of metal to deal with but could put these at the very end of yours with some cutting.

    theres some pics and links to hardware in posts surrounding this one
    https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...11#post5912211
    Yeah I saw this and looks great, it's my backup option if finding the right hardware doesn't work out.

    Looking at the balljoint option: How big a truck are we talking here: F-450/550?

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Huskydoc View Post
    Yeah I saw this and looks great, it's my backup option if finding the right hardware doesn't work out.

    Looking at the balljoint option: How big a truck are we talking here: F-450/550?
    Yeah I the one I mentioned uses a Ford superduty lower ball joint. Probably some other good options out there

  19. #19
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    Interested in this thread, I have a chair that's been on a homemade frame, totally ghetto, and I'd love to do something nicer when I have the coin.
    "fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
    "She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
    "everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy

  20. #20
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    It would be cooler if you still had/utilized the original grip. Just sayin.

  21. #21
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    Need to hang mine a well. Subscribed.


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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by glademaster View Post
    It would be cooler if you still had/utilized the original grip. Just sayin.
    Of course. But those don't seem to be handed out with surplus chairs. Do they get rebuilt or reused?

    Plus, you'd still have to build some mechanism to provide the side-to-side swinging that the cable twist would normally offer. Or not. I like the real feelz tho

  23. #23
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    So from some quick interweb research it would seem that you'd use a press to seat the ball joint in the old grip mount, put the threaded end through some kind of half of a clevis with a nut/washer afixed to the threaded end of the ball joint, then hang the clevis from some combination of metal stock (speed rail, super strut?) Affixed to the rafters in multiple locations (Say, 3 rafters, 2 mount points each?)

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Norseman View Post
    Of course. But those don't seem to be handed out with surplus chairs. Do they get rebuilt or reused?
    This is the barrier I ran into: New ones sell for $450+ a pop, old ones no where to be found...

  25. #25
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    School me on Chairlift Porch Swings

    Quote Originally Posted by glademaster View Post
    It would be cooler if you still had/utilized the original grip. Just sayin.
    Quote Originally Posted by Norseman View Post
    Of course. But those don't seem to be handed out with surplus chairs. Do they get rebuilt or reused?

    Plus, you'd still have to build some mechanism to provide the side-to-side swinging that the cable twist would normally offer. Or not. I like the real feelz tho
    Quote Originally Posted by Huskydoc View Post
    This is the barrier I ran into: New ones sell for $450+ a pop, old ones no where to be found...
    you guys want mine?
    shipping is likely a bitch...as is cable mounting

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