When I was living in the San Jose area, we hired a painter, for a bunch of interior painting. They showed up with a bunch of general day labor. Luckily I was around at the time. They were starting to paint without drop cloth's, banging ladders into belongings, etc. I talked with the supervisor, and found out they were day labor. I told him that unless he could show me how his contract with me that stated he carried insurance for all his workers would cover these guys, he was done for the day. He left an hour later after many apologies. I then called the company, and fired them. They said we had a contract and they would sue. I told them, that yes we did have a contract, and they were welcome to sue, as they did not meet the terms of the contract, and apparently never intended to.

As a customer, I'm not going to be impressed with day labor on my job, unless it is highly unskilled work I'm looking for... and for a CI firm, I could have called Best Buy in that case!

Sometimes I slow down near them just to watch them get all excited.... then I speed off.

The come-along is pretty redneck. Reminds me of my uncles old garbage trailer. What a pain in the arse. I can think of one really good way to lift the mechansim, and without having to crank it down.

I lifted a 60" pioneer last week with only one other guy. Kinda regretting it this week.

Done that before.. except it was a 60" LG, 10 feet to the top of the display, and one double sided step ladder.

All you winers out there, get some :o

I once installed a 50" Fujitsu on top of a 4 foot high cabinet with the little optional slide on feet.

Heres the problem.. once i got the TV up that high.. i could not get those damn feet to stay still long enough to get the TV in them so i would try and try until i had no strength then put the TV back down and wait a few minutes to try again.

Both shoulders are still damaged from that one.

As i sit here typing.. it dawns on me i could have used some electrical tape to hold the feet in place or some frakkin super glue to hold the feet on the TV. Or.. i wonder if the feet came with screws?

Sure wish i would have thought about some of this before i tore up my shoulders.

Thats one of the reasons I keep going to the gym, If nothing else, I try to hit shoulders once a week just for lifting TVs.

If "someone" were to design a lift starting from scratch, would you all prefer a lift with an electric winch or a hand crank?

120vac or 12 with an on board battery?

I am thinking about one with a movable counterweight that would automatically adjust as the screen was telescoped out off of the center of gravity so it could clear a fireplace mantle, but without the outriggers having to straddle a fireplace.
The system would just roll up against it and with carpeted pads to protect the wall and the screen surface.

reminds me of an old tv transporter that we used to have. it was as heavy as the tvs we had to move, was more cumbersome than the tvs and took at least five times as long to use this thing instead of just carrying the tv.
it was so complicated, all those extra bits made it weigh a ton (well alot anyway)

Well the system would not be a small under the arm jack.

I am thinking of something with small pneumatic tires than will not damage carpet or hardwood floors with a precision lift and positioning system using a hand remote control.

However if you calculate the cost of dropping a unit or the strain to install one (or several) in hard to reach areas or elevations, this might be a good investment. You could also add a surcharge to an equipment list for specialized installation equipment.

For me it would have to be fully mechanical. no need for the liability, or maintinence on electronic parts.

I can see why they chose a come along... but it's a rather cheap way out, if you ask me. not to mention pain in the ass.

Hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this link, but have a look at what's at the bottom of the page.

[Link: commbox.com.au]

What do you think? Would this do the job for you?
I personally put a lot of work into this design after a lot of consultation with many installers of large, heavy panels. Everyone who's seen it wants one!

My boss sent me with another guy to do few things at his house . One thing was to change his bedroom TV. We get there and it's a 40 crt . It was on top of a 5ft dresser. I was maybe 150lbs at the time. We go to take it off the dresser with me going I don't got it I don't got it the whole time.

what will it set me back, so I don't set MY back?

I had to move one of those by myself once. It was in the lower cabinet so at least i didn't have to lift it. I got moving blankets out and these rubber strips i used to use to protect cabinet faces. I tipped it right out on to the blanker and used the blanket to slide it down the stairs. Then i tipped it on to my cart and tipped it right into the back of my van. I don't think i broke a sweat the whole time. I was pretty proud of myself until i got it back to the shop and found out that the elevator was out of order.

Love me some LCD's.