I've used boxes as a brace, or mounted a shelf or another piece of equipment immediately below(or used already mounted equipment) to hold up stuff while I put down the screwdriver and slid it out. Most of the time i'm sure i've violated OSHA by doing it. This might be better answered on robbie's datacenter mailing list (datacenter@shorty.com). andrew still looking for a job deepak@ai.net wrote:

This comes up every now and then, and I still haven't seen a good solution, so here is the situation. Every now and then, the graveyard maintenance shift (read: few people) needs to mount a 7' tall or 600 lb piece of equipment we've all come to know and love in a rack. While pad jacks are available to move them around the datacenter floor, equipped with friendly hydraulics and all, there is a piece missing. Is there a common-sense piece of equipment available that 1 person can operate that will support a very bulky, rackmountable piece of equipment so the same, single person can mount/unmount it near the top of a rack? I have seen plenty of solutions for this on warehouse floors, but most datacenters don't have the ceiling height for track-crane. I don't know how people handle the 15' relay racks either now that I am sharing my gap in knowledge. Your advice, suggestions and even jokes are appreciated, but remember, I'm armed. :) Deepak