Spreader bar or Lifting Beam

When you are trying to decide which style of below the hook lifting device you need to know the
difference between spreader bars and lifting beams and to make the correct choice you need an
idea of the pros and cons of each.

The Spreader Bar: The Lifting Beam:

Spreader bars are the standard to below the
hook lifting device. It consists of a long
slender structural body with a set of lugs at
each end one pointing up and one pointing
down. The top set of rigging general comes to
a point along an angle of 45-60 degrees and is
attached to the hook on the crane. The lower
rigging hangs vertically and connects to the
load being lifted. If you haven’t read
anatomy of a spreader bar you should read
that first.
A lifting beam is a below the hook lifting
device that performs the same function as a
spreader. It consists of a body and a set of
lugs just like a spreader bar but lifting beams
generally have one lug on the top in the
center and 2 or more lugs along the bottom.
The top center lug hooks directly to the crane
with no need for upper rigging and the
bottom lugs are used to connect to the load in
a variety of methods.
The main difference between the two comes down to the engineering. A spreader bar has a very
elegant mathematical solution that eliminates opposing loads causing it to act like a pure column.
This effect makes spreader bars very efficient at transferring loads and have a much higher
capacity then lifting beams for their given size. The downside of spreader bars is that they require
upper rigging. This upper rigging comes at a cost for the equipment but also requires a lot more
hook height on a crane to lift a given load.

The second difference is that spreader bars can easily made to be telescopic. By constructing the
spreader bar using hollow structural steel material you can get two or more pieces to slide inside
each other. This allows spreader bars to become 2-3 times larger than the collapsed length
allowing the user to have a much more versatile lifting device. In the mobile crane world this
distinction is really important as carrying rigging out to site can be expensive and constrained by
what they can fit on the crane or truck.

A lifting beam is used when hook height and clearance are important. This is because there is no
top rigging and connecting your crane directly to the beam via the top lug eliminates the wasted
height that the rigging takes up. This allows you to lift your load a lot higher on a given crane
using a lifting beam. However, because the transverse loads are not balancing through the top
rigging like on a spreader bar you end up with a bending moment going through the bar. Building
the beam strong enough to cope with this bending moment means lifting beams are heavier than
spreader bars for an equivalent spread and capacity. The length of of the beam plays a huge roll in
this calculation and the difference is sizes becomes increasingly more apparent as the spread
increases. So when would you want to use a lifting beam? Lifting beams are commonly used for
indoor shop cranes. When your hook height is limited as much as indoor cranes and you don’t
need to transport the beam to the worksite every day it makes sense to use a lifting beam not a
spreader bar.

Manufacturing
A bit needs to be said about building telescopic spreader bars vs lifting beams since each comes
with its own challenges. Spreader bars will require pins, holes drilled in long tubing and a tubing
selection that can slide in each other (Stocking Spreader Bar Material). All of these process
require a special machine or technique to manufacture. Lifting beams on the other hand are
heavier but simpler requiring at minimum an I-beam which can be purchased along with a couple
lugs welded on it. Lifting beams give you the flexibility to get creative with the design a bit more
than spreader bars. A personal favorite of mine is to make lifting beams out of two formed
channels that bolt together. This requires a machine to cut and bend plate steel but allows you to
make the channel any height (for exactly the required strength) and doesn’t require welding.
Spreader Bars Lifting Beams
PROS: PROS:
Cheaper per foot and per ton of capacity Efficient use of crane height because of

Potentially telescopic for improved lack of top rigging

reach with smaller footprint Simple to build - one structural member

and some lugs

potentially weldless design

CONS:
Lots of rigging required

Lots of headroom required for upper CONS:

rigging Achieving 20ft reach requires 20ft beam

more complexity with pins, lugs, tubes (hard to transport)

etc. Size of beam increases dramatically

with size.

Expensive
I hope this article clears up any confusion about the difference between spreader bars and lifting
beams. They are often verbally used interchangeable so it can be confusing realizing there is
actually a difference. If you are thinking about building spreader bars or lifting beams I
encourage you to have a look at what we offer by downloading this example spreader bar: Free
spreader bar drawings