How I raised my top to the roof(PIC"S)

[BobbyK]

I picked up a 880lb. capacity hoist at Harbor Freight for $70.00,cheap I think.


I welded up a bracket and mounted it in the rafters of my single car garage.


The bracket is made from 1/4" plate and the square tubing is 1.5" square with 1/4" wall thickness.I made cuts in the plate and fed the square tubing through it then welded it all up.

Made some cables from 5/32" aircraft wire cable then raised her to the roof.




Works great and is REAL easy on my back! :grin:

[BobbyK]

Sorry for the delay in my response guys.

Well I modified my design today.As you can see the cables rubbed up against the sides of the top.I wasn't too crazy about that in the 1st place.Plus it didn't allow me to get the top up as high as I wanted.

SO...this is what I did.
I bought some 1.5",.120 wall square tubeing and made a "I" shaped frame.
Here I am welding it up.


Painted it up and added some eye bolts.


I then shortend the cables to about 18" long.


Here's how I actually made the cables.
1st I got the appropriate sized ferrules.5/32" in this case.Same size as the cable.


Made sure I used these teardrop looking things(sorry I don't know the name of them).It helps support the loop part of the cable.


I used these 1/4" links to connect the cables to the frames eyebolts.You'll note the working wt of this 1/4" link(600lbs).


I crimped the ferrules onto the cable useing my vice and a 1/8" drill bit.I used the 1/8" bit so it didn't flatten out the ferrule but it makes it meet in the middle,separateing and crimping both cables.


Here's what the crimp looks like.I crimped each side of the ferrule so the "indentation" in the middle is on both sides.


Here I've connected the cables to the top frame.


Then up to the roof again.Except this time it's a good 12"s higher.


I haven't done it yet,but I will be adding a safety chain so I can take the tension off the winch.

Thanks for the comments guys.