Anyone have a truck "cap" "topper" "shell" hoist?

Rob- this looks like a great idea. Do you have any actual pictures of your shell in the hoist system? Also, I'm not sure I understand the notching in the 2x4s. I was thinking I'd use eyebolts in the ends of two 2x4s that span slightly longer than the width of the shell, and then just set the shell on top of those boards, connect cables to the eyebolts, and lift. I would love to see actual pics of your system if you have them. Any reason this wouldn't would for a full-size shortbed shell? Thanks.

 

I put together a simple setup to pull my shell off last weekend. I ran some 8" eye bolts through the joists in the ceiling of my garage. Drilled all the way through with a washer and nut to prevent any chance of it pulling through. I don't trust lag bolts in this situation.

Then I just bought some 2" heavy duty ratchet straps (rated for about 1000 lbs each).

Backed the truck in, unclamped the shell, lifted it a little bit with my legs and stuck some 2x4 blocks between the bed rails and topper to space it away from the bed to allow me to slip the straps under. Then just ratcheted it up off the truck. The just drive out from under it.

I did have to shift it in the straps slightly once it was lifted since it was lifting to the side of the ratchet more than than side without.

 

These are available at Lowes or Home Depot.

 

I've got a leer topper that I'm looking to lift off of my truck as well. I'm definitely on a budget build, so any tips are greatly appreciated. It looks like the least expensive method is with 2x4's. I have a finished garage, so rafters aren't easily accessible. I will have to screw something into the studs and mount pulleys and some sort of winch setup.

 

Many thanks to db, that was just the solution I was looking for!

I used to do the 2x4/strap hoist...ugh, what a hassle. But I did not have bars then either.

Since then I got a cheap set of bars, but still did the 2x4/strap hoist. Still sucked.

After looking at db's post, I zipped down to the hardware store and in less than an hour I had a working setup. The most expensive part was the pulleys; my choice was 40 lb. working load ($3) or 420 lb. working load ($9), so I went with seven of the higher load ($63, ouch! I am sure you can do much better at a big-box store). $6 for poly-rope and i was ready to go. Almost.

Working out the math, for a 200 lb topper there should only be about 50 lb. of force on the rope-end, but it ended up being too much to safely pull down by hand, especially since the four corners did not raise evenly and I had to keep stopping and leveling it. I then hooked up a ratchet lever thingy (a " come-along" around these parts) and it zipped right up into the rafters. I am going to get a cheap hoist to finalize the project: the come-along doesn't go backward.

with some help I easily loaded it back down onto the truck. yea.

so-o-o, I am looking at about $100 total, which is more than I wanted to spend, but it is so worth it, and much safer than my 2x4 gig. You ought to be able to do it for 2/3 that if you shop around.

 

what top do you have there?
with the rack built in ...?

 

will my wife fit on that?

 

not sure who you are asking, but if its me I can attach a pic and description

 

Was there enough cable or did you have to buy more? Does it take much effort to raise or is there plenty of mechanical advantage? How do you lower it? It looks like it is against the wall and you would not be able to crank the handle?

 

sorry...
I was talking about your topper DB.

 

Some great ideas here. Thanks to those who posted.

 

Anyone ever hoisted their topper by connecting to a Yakima or Thule roof rack? I'm curious if they would support the weight of the topper, I have an ARE z-series. I'll probably play it safe and just run some 2x4's underneath.

 

all you have to do is get 4 of the big wood screws with a loop in the end of it and 4 tie down straps drill them straight in to the rafters its super easy and works like a charm can all be done for under $20.00 its what we used for my dads full size dodge.

if you have a finished sealing in your garage just use a hammer or the back of a screw driver to tap on the sealing you can hear a differance in the sound where your studs are "they should be every 18 inches apart"

or if your really not sure just take a small screw and punch a hole through the dry wall if it goes through easy you missed the stud.

or you could go in the attick and poke a hole from the attick down on both sides of the stud so you know right where they all are and you can center your bolts

 

Eyebolts

and standard construction layout is 16" on centre or for modern buildings , 24" on centre

 

Wait...what?

 

Resurrecting this puppy. I finally have a real garage that will support this.

But I'd love to see more posts and pics...

 

Same question. I know it would hold it long enough to get it off, but would you hang it from that or use something to hold it from the bedrail?

 

As long as the bolts holding the rack to the shell have a good backing plate to distribute the weight you should be ok
I have a hoist system I use. When I had my 96 taco I had hard racks bolted to the shell 4 bolts per rack, 2 on each side, 1/4 bolts with 2" x 4" plates on the inside and I would have it hanging for months. The racks had a type of eye on the end so i would lower the lift to the top of the shell, clip the carabiner to each corner and lift it to the rafters, pull the truck out and secure the corners to fixed cables. I built it out of 1 5/8" unistrut bolted together and a harbor freight electric wench. Now I have a snug top super sport shell without racks so I built bars to go under across the shell and lift it from the ends of the bars so the shell is basically sitting on the bars. Once its raised up I have straps to secure it to the rafters in case the "high quality" harbor freight wench gives out.

 

I know this thread is pretty old. Anyone come up with new ways to hang their topper? I'm looking to store mine in the garage, but don't have the top bars to attach to. I can try the 2x4's underneath the shell. Just wondering what cable, crank, etc. to use for the setup.

 

Jk, but *thread revival* now that I have a house AND A GARAGE I can take my canopy on/off


That's a good idea... just not sure what you meant either by notched 2x4's and lifting from within and not from the outer edges