Originally Posted by
johnday
Cool!! I can see something like this working with a floor jack placed under the arms where you have the lift cable mounted.
At any rate, what problems have you had with it? Were you able to lower it enough to maybe rest the cap on sawhorses or something?
More photos, please.
The one big problem I had with it is two parts.
1. The balance of the cap is NOT centered, though the front window (towards the cab) is removable so I yanked it out. I had to adjust the position where the cap was resting on the lift mechanism.
2. When I lowered it back down the top arm of the lifter hit the top of the cap where the rear window is so I couldn't drop it down real far without interference between the cap and the top arms.
The other problem that number 2 above created was it was a challenge to lift the cap off the lifter with 2 people when I got it down as far as I could get. The cap is HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is real awkward trying to lift it and move it.
That all having been said, this weekend I built a dolly out of 2x4's that has a rail height of 40". The way it works is I'll drive out from under the cap, then move the dolly in place, and set the cap down on the dolly. I am hoping the rail clamps are able to go around the 2x4 rails on the top of the dolly - not sure yet if that will work. The plan is to have it to where I can wheel it around by my self.
Tomorrow (Sunday 7/28) should be the test run for it as I didn't get that far with it this evening.
The dolly is a frame that rests on a hand truck. My plan was to have the rails 36" off the ground when on the hand truck, and I factored in 6" for the hand truck height. In actuality, the hand truck came out to 10" so the rails are 40" off the ground - that works just fine, and should give me some head room for the clearance between the cap and the top arms of the lifter.
I also bought a crank style brake winch (similar to what is on a boat trailer, only this one can raise and lower a load without unlatching and freewheeling the spool on the way down/cable going out). I may try to rig it up to the lifter tomorrow too. I haven't got that far with the device yet. I'll take a look at it once I get it all assembled again.
More pictures to come.