Diy Topper Lift

This is absolutely amazing. I've been sketching out a design for my dream rig in cad with linear actuators in mind. I love the EZ Lift Topper design and convenience but that kind of price tag will do a lot of damage to my bank account. Trying to figure out a good mounting system to secure the foot to the bed, a bracket to secure to the rails, and another bracket to secure to the shell. Gonna recruit/contract out some of the work to some friends hahahaha Rather pay friends to help put than overpay by a 1000 bucks.

I know this is an old thread. Anyone out there have any suggestions/tips for wiring??

 

If you’re planning any other electrical mods for the back I’d suggest running a heavy gauge pair of power/ground to a relay/fuse box back there either in or above one of the bed cubbies with an access panel and switches nearby. You can then more easily add things like solar or 2nd battery options later on. Even if you set it up for a wireless remote it’s still a good idea to have a hard wired switch too.

 

The fuse box being in the bed area, right? Noticed the guy had stuck his blue seas fuse box in the engine compartment near the battery. But yeah! Thats a great idea, solar is definitely in the future for me!

Been looking into this all day, my last major inquiry is how the actuators mount to the camper shell. Ive been reading the manuals for the EZ Topper, they put it on blocks and drill the holes into the shell to avoid damage to the truck bed rails, im assuming all corners are lifted and holes drilled at one time. Bolt/"topper plate" threaded through said shell hole, then bracket, then two washers, finally a nut. Struggling with a DIY design for that bracket...

 

Been scheming on building my own lift set up for a while. Good job for all that have.
After camping in the bed for years this seems like the perfect solution. Also might allow me to have a cab height cap instead of a hi rise version. Wayyy more options for tech on cab height caps for some reason.

 

Can You drive with the topper up?

 

I definetely wouldn't but im sure if you had to move your truck to, say another campsite, a short distance, driving slow might be fine. Despite being bolted down to an inch of its life its still a 200+ lb awkward thing on just 4 legs.

 

That’s the difference between static and dynamic weight capacity. Could hold a heavy topper ok but you get that sucker at highway speeds while in “up mode” and you got yourself an expensive kite. Cool idea! Let’s see more pics!