4runner hard top hoist and storage (1 Viewer)

[bryan89]

sooooo,
weather is getting pretty nice here in chucktown. so the top had to come off. especially since i have a nice used can-back that i need to get ready to go on.

The only problem is that in the rental house I live in, I have only been able to claim HALF of the two car garage. the three other chicks I live with have superfluous crap on their side like eliptical machine, a couch, a rug , and some beach cruiser bikes.....lame.

Whatever, i will deal with it, at least I get half and they are never in there.
.....:rant_off

Any way, with the top off the truck there would be no place for me to park my truck in the garage. And as you can probably start to see, 4 people in the same house, each with their own car (I have two) there is not a lot of driveway.

So I made this contraption to hold my top against the garage ceiling so I can park the truck underneath. excuse crappy cell phone pics

Then here she is topless..with her tits all hangin out for everyone to see.

 

[bryan89]

and one of her all tucked in for the night

 

[bryan89]

so... the spec sheet:

• mounted scrap 2x4s to ceiling with a total of six (1/2)" lag bolts across 3 beams
• used two pipe flanges with 90 degree fittings and a bit of 1.75 inch straight pipe to mount winch. (winch slides left to right a couple feet on pipe for easy positioning over truck)
• got the 880 double pull winch from harbor freight tools on sale for $95 with a two year warranty
• Fabbed up a 1" tube frame in a box with an additional center support. it acts as a spreader bar.
• welded 4 lengths of chain to corners of spreader bar frame and tied to a single point pull with shackles.
• four ratchet straps go down at each corner to two poles that support the tops weight from underneath (like the fsm suggests to resist warpage)
• Ratchet straps have spring loaded clipy things for easy disconnection from bottom support poles. (once its adjusted it stays that way for next time. easy.)
• Bottom and top poles are padded with foam insulation to protect the truck / top from getting beat up.

total cost about 200 bucks and i give it rating for difficulty cause of the welding and safety factoring.
what do you think?

 

[Cannon88]

Simple and effective, nice! Good job. Now, where pics of roomies?

 

[bryan89]

lol. i am sure they would more than love to pose for a pic or two in the truck. ill have to see what i can do.

 

[GRM]

Looks good! But I would not trust the HF winch to permanently hold the top up. I'd try and add some kind of safety (maybe a chain at each of the 4 corners?).

 

[bryan89]

I felt the same way at first. didnt trust some cheap chinese crap winch. but i have hung on it and it seems okay. also read some reviews about people using it and no one has mentioned any failures.

you figure they have at least a safety factor of two built into the thing.

i still might add something but it has been hanging there for two days so far.

 

[Walking Eagle]

I felt the same way at first. didnt trust some cheap chinese crap winch. but i have hung on it and it seems okay. also read some reviews about people using it and no one has mentioned any failures.

you figure they have at least a safety factor of two built into the thing.

i still might add something but it has been hanging there for two days so far.

You call it a winch, but is is a winch or a hoist? They have different safety requirements. Either way, they only have to meet those requirements if it's a listed hoist - and even if it is listed and meets those requirements it only has to meet those requirements when it's tested for listing, and poor quality control could make it fail at a really low rating.

I have a HF welder that is the same model as one sold under a different name (you can tell they are the same) through auto parts chain and was recalled because it stays energized after you've let go of the trigger, so it can suddenly spark if it hits ground. The HF one has the same failure mode (why wouldn't it, it's the same unit) - but it has not been recalled, at least not last time I checks and it hasn't come through on any of my CPSC notices.

All that to say I wouldn't make any assumptions about the quality or safety of anything from HF. Couple chains, straps, or even a good rope, to a couple eyelets on your beams, leave them slack a little so you don't have to adjust anything to remove them, wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.


Other than that - looks great!

 

[bryan89]

walking eagle,
you are entirely correct. it is labeled as a hoist. as you mention i dont know if they adhere to the safety requirements they should, but....

i suppose i could easily attach an additional rope where the hoist fastens to the frame and then cleat it off somewhere. so if it did fail it would only fall an inch or two.

 

[6th Gear]

Good idea... any idea how much weight the hoist can lift? That would be a nice tool to have in any garage. I wouldn't sit under it though

 

[bryan89]

its rated for 440 single line pull and 880 double line.
i have it rigged for double line pull.
i do need to add some safety rope or something though, as mentioned above.