Learn how to install an AWS 5 Ton Lifting and Rigging system.
Chuck from Advanced Waterfall Systems presents the five-ton lifting and rigging kit, detailing each component: a top shackle, swivel hook, and a rated four-leg harness whose unused legs can be repositioned out of the way when connecting to panels with fewer than four attachment points. He also covers the two reusable lifting plates that screw into AWS's built-in lifting points, two eye hooks used exclusively for single rock panels with embedded all-thread, and a smaller shackle for attaching one harness leg to a rock panel. The video closes with a demonstration of the Genesis Lifting Bar, which is included in the kit.
What You'll Learn
- Kit includes a top shackle, swivel hook, and a rated four-leg harness; the four legs can connect to grotto tops with four, three, two, or one lifting point—unused legs hook to other legs to stay clear
- Two reusable lifting plates bolt into the AWS lifting points already built into all AWS systems; remove them after each lift—they ship with the required bolts
- Two eye hooks are used only for single rock panels: screw the eye hook onto the embedded all-thread, lift, then unscrew and patch the hole when done
- A smaller shackle is included so one harness leg can clip to a single rock panel's lifting point when the hook is too large for the eye hook
- The fork attachment for the skid steer is not included in this kit; it is a separate machine attachment
- The Genesis Lifting Bar (three parts: center tube with handle, cross bar, cotter pin) ships with the kit and is designed to move the Genesis waterfall base through built-in side holes without straps
Frequently Asked Questions
What components are included in the AWS five-ton lifting and rigging kit?
The kit includes a top shackle that attaches to equipment, a swivel hook, a rated four-leg harness with four hooks, two reusable lifting plates with bolts, two eye hooks for single rock panels, and a smaller shackle. The fork attachment for the skid steer is not included.
How do you use the four-leg harness when a grotto top has only one, two, or three lifting points?
Hook the unused legs to each other or to another leg so they are held out of the way during the lift. The harness is designed for this flexibility—you simply clip the unused legs clear and work with only the legs you need.
What are the AWS lifting plates, and are they reusable?
Lifting plates are hardware pieces that bolt into the built-in lifting points on AWS systems, giving the harness hook a secure attachment. After the lift, unscrew and remove them. They are fully reusable and come with the necessary bolts in the kit.
How do the eye hooks work for moving single rock panels?
Each AWS single rock panel has all-thread (threaded rod) embedded in it. Screw the eye hook onto that rod, attach a harness leg or the smaller shackle to the eye hook, lift and reposition the rock, then unscrew the eye hook and fill the hole. The eye hooks are not used for grotto tops or panels without all-thread.
When do you use the small shackle instead of hooking a harness leg directly to the eye hook?
When the harness hook is too large to fit inside the eye hook opening, use the smaller shackle as an intermediary: clip the shackle to the eye hook, then clip the harness leg to the shackle.
Video transcript
Hello. This is Chuck from Advanced Waterfall Systems. Today, we're gonna discuss our five ton AWS lifting and rigging kit and our Genesis Bar. This is our, lifting and rigging kit. So we're gonna explain to you everything that's included in this rigging kit.
Okay. So what it comes with is it comes with, first, this shackle right here that attaches to the equipment. This shackle right here, it comes with this swivel hook right here, and then it comes with this rated four leg harness. All this is rated all the way down and is designed for safety. It has four legs, which means four hooks.
So you can connect to a large Grotto top that has four legs. You can also connect to something that has three legs, two legs, or one leg. Okay. So if you use this for, say, three legs, two legs, or one leg, what you would do is it's designed where you can move the other legs out of your way while you're working. Right?
So you would take this. You might hook it like this, and then hook it to here. Right? Hook it to here so it's out of your way. And you could do that with up to, you know, up to two more legs and leave one hanging.
Right? So if you were using one, you would hook the other two. So it kinda gets it out of your way. Alright? Now it also comes with two of these lifting plates, okay, that you were you screw these bolts.
All the AWS systems come with lifting points. Right? So you would put this this lifting plate on and then screw it in. Boom. And when you're done lifting, you take it off.
So these are completely reusable. This particular kit comes with two of them, and it comes with the bolts. It also comes with two eye hooks. Right? Now these eye hooks are only used for our single rock panels.
Like you see in our videos, you have a rock that's got, all thread coming through it. You screw this in, and you lift it up and move it, and then you unscrew it. And then when you're done, you patch the hole. So when using like I say, it comes with two of these, and it also comes with this smaller shackle right here. So when you're you when you are moving a single rock panel in the AWS system, the first thing you would do is you would move the, you would most likely move these other two legs out of your way like this, and then you would attach this one leg to this shackle.
Right? Because it won't fit in the I hook. So you have the shackle, and you would do that. Right? So you would first screw it into the rock, then you would clip it to here, then you would pick it up and move it.
Right? You would lift the machine, and it would pick up the rock, move it in place, and when you're done, you would unscrew it from the rock and repeat. Okay? So that's everything you have. Now this right here is a fork attachment for this skid steer, but this is not part of this particular kit.
Okay? This particular kit takes you from the attachment to the machine down. Alright. Thank you. Okay.
What the Genesis lifting bar is, it's a three part kit. Now this piece right here and this piece right here and a little pin. And the idea behind it, okay, is to lift our Genesis bases. Okay? So what happens is this is a base for one of our [[product-genesis-waterfall-kits]].
Okay? So when you see it finished, this is the center, and then there's boulders on the left, the boulders on the right, and a waterfall top. Okay? So the idea is to safely and easily move this basin, right, which weighs a couple 100 pounds. So what we did was we came up with a way to lift this simply and easily without having to incorporate straps or anything that might be safe or might damage the rock.
So we came up with this Genesis lifting bar setup. Right? So what you do is I'll show you guys how it works, but essentially it's three parts. It's this tube with a handle, this bar right here and a cotter pin. Let me show you how it works.
The way the the way this works is there's two holes on one hole on each side of this Genesis base. Okay? So what you do is you put this bar in the center, and then you slide the bar through the holes and through this centerpiece right here. Right? You put this in like this, and you slide it in here like this.
K? And then you put the cotter pin on one side, and then you can see this handle right here is it it you can lift it. There you have it.