My brand new drywall lift just locked up on me mid-job

I was hanging 12 foot boards on a ceiling in a basement in Evanston yesterday and the crank handle froze halfway up. Tried oiling it, smacking it, everything. Ended up having to lower the whole sheet down carefully with a buddy and finish the ceiling by hand. What a pain, my back is killing me today. Has anyone else had a drywall lift just quit on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

rivera.keith12d ago

Tried oiling it, smacking it" - my buddy's did that and he just replaced the whole crank.

the_brooke12d ago

Oh man, that sounds like a nightmare! I've got to say though, I think you might have the wrong city there. Evanston is in Illinois, but if you're hanging drywall in a basement in Evanston, Wyoming, that'd be a different story. I grew up near Evanston, Illinois, so my brain went right to the one by Chicago. But anyway, that lockup issue is brutal. Did you check if the gear teeth got jammed with a bit of drywall dust or something? I've seen that happen before when people don't wipe down the crank mechanism after cutting boards nearby.