MAXXHAUL70238 Receiver Hitch Mounted Hydraulic Swivel Pickup Truck Crane - 1000 lbs. Capacity With 3 Boom Capacities of 500 lbs, 750 lbs and 1000 lbs.

I have an engine hoist/crane in my shop. But I had several engines and other parts that I needed to move from one shop a few towns away to another. Taking my full-size engine hoist for that would have been a pain in the butt (I've done it before, so I know what a pain it is).So, I bought this Maxxhaul hitch-mounted crane. And it works pretty slick. I will say that it's way heavier than I expected ... but that can't really be avoided: it's lifting heavy stuff, so it has to be pretty heavy duty, itself. And, even when "broken down" for traveling, it's still a bunch of pieces. But it all goes together pretty quickly -- maybe takes me 2 minutes to set it all up on-site, and another 2 to take it apart when I'm done.One thing I learned quickly: plan on positioning the tail end of your truck right BESIDE the item that you need to lift. The crane doesn't have a long reach, so basically you're just going to pick up your engine or whatever, and swing it 180-degrees to set it down about 3 feet from where it was when you lifted it, into your truck bed. That seemed to be the most stable way to use it. Speaking of which ... make sure your truck is on pretty flat, solid, stable ground when you use this thing; if you're on a hill, it'll be tougher to swing your heavy item around ... or it'll quickly get away from you and might smash into your truck, damaging it.One last thing: it doesn't come with chains or straps to connect your heavy item to the crane. I had chains from my engine hoist, so used them. But if you don't have chains or straps already, plan on getting some with it. Some folks use serpentine belts to lift engine blocks and such, which probably would work fine with this, but I'm not sure whether those belts would lift an entire, fully-dressed engine safely.And it seems well-built. I'm amazed at how smooth and effortlessly the crane pivots on its bearings. Really nice action.Despite all that praise, I probably won't use this terribly often -- only when I'm delivering or picking up engines. But it's super helpful for that use-case, so I consider it a great addition to my "toolbox." If that's something you have a need for, it'd probably be a good addition to your toolbox, too.

I don't own one of these (yet). But there's a pretty good video on YouTube that shows it in action. [...]For $300 this seems like a bargain if you occasionally find yourself loading and unloading heavy stuff in your pick up. I read the comments about the poor quality of the shipping box and the unit coming with some paint chipped off. I guess that would annoy me too for something new I'd purchased, but this looks like the kind of thing that would get dinged up pretty quickly with normal use. Looks like the bearings also need to be kept clean.Update 10/24/13I did buy this item. My primary use would be to load and unload my almost 300 pound Honda generator in and out of my truck.Quality, function etc - This item is everything (good and bad) anyone who researches it should expect. It is big, heavy, and somewhat awkward for a single person to assemble on the vehicle. Everything went together relatively easilly, and I was able to hoist my generator which was standing on the ground up onto the tailgate of my truck by myself. As demonstrated by the youtube video I reference above, it takes many pump strokes to raise a load. Also, the main bearing is very smooth. As some others have said, almost too smooth. My set up was on a slight incline and you really have to hold the load while pumping. To be honest, its really a two person job to be completely safe. Of course, I knew I'd always have another person with me, we,d just lift this thing up into the truck bed (I've done it, but I dont recommend it). So for now, I stand by my original review in that for the price, this hoist does exactly what I expected.I did knock a star off for a couple of reasons.1) When I received the box, it was not badly damaged, but was pretty dinged up. Upon opening it, I found a loose nut, bolt and washer laying inside the packing material. This turned out to be one of the bolts for assembling the hoist arm. I had doubts that all the pieces were in the box when I opened it.2) The paint and finish of the hoist is not very good. Acceptable, but they could have done better3) two of the spring pins that hold the adjustable legs on were damaged. The springs were crushed so you could not clip them on to safely retain the pins in during assembly. I used a couple of cotter pins as a temporary fix, and have emailed Maxxtow requesting replacements. I'll update my review to reflect how they resolve this issue.4) The main bearing for the hoist shaft needs to have a nylon bag covering it after disassembly, presumably to protect it from damage. The bag is pretty flimsy, and already was halfway cut through from being shipped. I'm a bit concerned this bearing will rust causing issues with the crane operating properly5) Although I was able to assemble the crane by inserting the bearing/hoist assembly into the mounting post fairly easily, when I went to disassemble the crane, I had a very difficult time removing the bearing/hoist assembly from the mount. Its very difficult to twist/ shake/lift the heavy assembly to get it out. It appears to be lubricated with a very thick oil (or thin grease).I'll add to this review if anything changes. Right now my main concern is if Maxxtow will send me the replacement parts that were damaged when I received the boxOk, another 10/24/13 update:4 minutes after I sent Maxxtow an email telling them about the damaged pins I get an email back from them appologizing for my incovenience and saying they are putting 3 replacements in the mail today. So I stuck the 5th star back in.

This thing is well built for being made in China. It is heavy and needs two folks to move the package. It was not packaged well as when I got it, it had been repackaged at least twice. Everything was loose inside the multi-layer box with nuts and bolts scattered about. It arrived undamaged but missing some nuts, bolts, and washers which I supplied from my personal stash. There was no paperwork of any kind included and a set of instructions or pictures would really be helpful when putting it together. One person can assemble it but a helping hand is really needed. Once assembled, it is necessary to adjust it to fit your individual application. It did not work on my Polaris Ranger side by side as the hitch is too low to the ground. It did fit nicely on my 3/4 ton Ram truck but needed a lot of adjusting. It now works like a dream when loading my air compressor. I would recommend this tool for loading heavy bulky items by yourself but caution your expectations of the shipping ability. I live in Alaska and that may be why the shipping companies have so many problems shipping this but this is the second time I've experienced this problem and I don't think it was ever packaged properly at the factory.