Garage Trailer Lift
If your into garages, gadgets, or mechanical things… you’ve got to watch this.
If you plan on doing something similar for your garage, be sure to consult a structural engineer and properly calculate loads to ensure safety.
I also wanted to make a video that demonstrated the value of my trailer lift in a comical way. I have since repeated this procedure many times. This has been one of my most gratifying projects to date.
As a woodworker, you gotta have the ability to haul lumber and equipment. I don’t have a truck. So, I did the next best thing and bought a trailer. It’s an awesome trailer. It can tip pivot (for loading a lawn tractor) and its made from lightweight aluminum.
My wife was surprised by my unannounced quick purchase. She didn’t see the value in spending $750 for this behemoth. Thankfully, she has realized it’s value many times over… since being used on many projects around the house.
My Volkswagen Golf GTI VR6 isn’t known as a vehicle for hooking a trailer to, but after a fair bit of effort, I was able to attach a trailer hitch.
For all its benefits, the trailer did cause a very big problem. Where to put it? I didn’t want to waste half my garage just to keep my trailer. Actually, I already had a plan before buying it. I had decided to hoist the trailer onto my garage ceiling when not in use. So once I had purchased the trailer… I was committed to engineering a working trailer lift / hoist solution.
Initially I contemplated a manual cranking winch (as you can see in this early sketch), but quickly changed my mind to a motorized hoist.
This is the space above the garage ceiling. I had to customize a mechanical solution that would fit in this space. Let the engineering begin!
Luckily, I have experience with many computer graphic tools. This allowed me to visualize my ideas and confirm the alignment of the cables through the trusses.
For those who might be curious… these renderings were done with 3d studio max and mental ray rendering engine.
Here you can see the engineered trusses of my Pulte built home. It’s deceptively strong. Combined with the fact that my trailer is made of aluminum and is only 700 pounds… means my garage ceiling easily carries the load.
The hoist cost me only $70 at harbor freight. Unfortunately, as you can hear in the above video, the hoist had some broken plastic parts rattling inside the gearbox. So I had to exchange it and install a replacement which has worked flawlessly since. Here you can see the hoist and the beefy structure I built to ensure the it wouldn’t come undone from its’ mount.
I used lag bolts to hold most major components together. Here you can see how I redirect the cable downward through the ceiling at each of the 4 points.
The same pulleys were used to redirect the 4 down points to the single connection at the hoist.
The strongest link in the chain… a single stainless steel ring with a very high weight rating is connected to 4 carabiners and then the 4 cables. Do you think 3 saddles is overkill for each cable?
This is one of the 4 drop cables just after coming through the ceiling. I added some rubber coated lead weights to maintain tension on each line when the trailer is detached. I did this to reduce the chance a cable would fall off a pulley track.
There are 4 additional STATIC lines where I connect the trailer after it has been fully lifted to the ceiling. Therefore, the trailer has 8 lines connected to it when it is on the ceiling.
Here you can see 2 static lines and 2 pulley lines on the left side of the trailer.
Watch my garage trailer lift video.
’)
My dad did a similar thing years ago for the canopy on his PU truck, but he used a hand crank (the canopy is MUCH lighter).
Your execution and planing is, as always, top drawer, you media skills are great too. Your cute daughter at the end of the second video is a nice surprise, priceless!
One question, why do you keep calling it a “Wench” when it is a “Winch” or in this application, I think you could call it a hoist?
Great work, thanks for sharing!
Cheers!
Stu in Tokyo
Thanks Stu.. I am usually decent at spelling, but that is one of those words that I seem to continue making a mistake with.
I noticed that while the trailer is in the raised position you first disconnect two of the safety cables (designed to keep the trailer from falling on you, right?) and then you grab your ladder and pass under the trailer to the other side where you remove the two remaining safety cables. During the maneuver/crossunder where you are only half safe, would you only be half dead if it feel then?
I like it!
The 4 additional lines are mainly there to keep the static load off of the main lines and pulley system while the trailer is stored for long periods of time. Of course they have the added benefit of increased safety as well.
I would like the know the model and source of the pulleys you used. This is exactly what I’m thinking of doing with my smaller and lighter motorcycle trailer but I can’t seem to find suitable pulleys.
@Scott Shafer
The brand of the pulleys is national. I got them at Ace Hardware or Tractor Supply Company. They work great because I could lag bolt them flush to the wood. As long as you keep some light tension (see my red weights) on the lines the cable tracks smooth and easy through the pulleys.
Thanks, now for another question… where’d you get the weights? Also, how did you set it up to stop the upward travel at the right point or do you manually stop it?
If you look at the photo of the hoist you can see a metal bar just under the pulley. When the pulley hits the bar it triggers the hoist to stop. It is a built-in mechanism of the Harbor Freight hoist itself. The weights I made by melting lead (outdoors to avoid the lead fumes) and then I coated them in red plasti-dip.
I just wanted to chime in and commend you on your solution. I was searching the web for ideas to my current trailer storage issue. I’m getting married in a couple months and I need a way to get two cars in my garage. Right now, the trailer is pushed up against the wall and it’s taking up a bunch of my possible storage space. I have a “flat” roof, so I won’t be able to hide the hoist and cables, still, this might be just the solution I need. Not to mention, I have a Harbor Freight a mile away! Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for comment… just make sure your ceiling can handle the static load of your trailer. My trailer is aluminum and very light. Good Luck and keep me up to date on your progress!
Thanks, Alan, for all your help. I pretty much copied what you installed in your attic. My ceiling joists are 2×10’s on 16″ centers so structural strength wasn’t an issue.
Here’s a video of my lift in action:
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/0e6e56c77b786160134262f5e8cbac14/video/9471741
That looks awesome Scott! Too bad you didn’t have room above the rafters to hoist it all the way into the ceiling so that the bottom could be flush with the ceiling. Ain’t it great to have that floor space back!
Thank you for illustrating this idea. I am building something very similar in my garage to hoist bikes and bike-related items.
I know it is hard to judge, but it looks like you have fairly light duty cables. I’d be concerned about those not having the long term strength to do the job safely.
Also, for anyone considering this project, you do not need to make your own cables using the saddles. You can order heavier duty, thimbled, machine swaged cables for an application like this for less than $20 each. This may be cheaper than building your own cables. I bought mine from American Rigger’s Supply. I just needed my cable length, diameter, and eye treatment, and they built them for me.
I would mount a long 1×6 across the joists with lag bolts (distributing the load) and close to the wall. Just be sure that your wall can handle the load for your trailer.
Alan, I am thinking of doing something similar in my garage. I want to mount a HF electric hoist on the wall and pull up a trailer on its end for storage. I was wondering if you have any ideas on how to mount the hoist to the wall securely? Thanks
Did you bolt the red housing to the wood “box” that you made? If so did you purchase some other longer bolts to go through the wood housing and into the red one for the hoist?
I bolted the hoist to the large board first… then the large board is bolted to multiple joists… the idea is to distribute the load across multiple joists. You can see more detail by watching the video at the bottom of my online portfolio…. http://panofish.net/portfolio/
Alan,
If it’s okay, I’m planning on copying your design to free up some space in my garage. I’m not clear on how you anchored your winch. I’m guessing the winch instructions will show where/how to hook everything up. The rest of the pulley, winch, and anchoring is pretty straight-forward, to the untrained eye!!
Awesome job and really clean design!!
If it’s okay, I’m planning on copying your design to free up some space in my garage. I’m not clear on how you anchored your winch. I’m guessing the winch instructions will show where/how to hook everything up. The rest of the pulley, winch, and anchoring is pretty straight-forward, to the untrained eye!!
Awesome job and a really clean design!!
edit; What model number winch did you get at Harbor Freight? I see they have a number of 12v winches and only a few 120v’ers.
Thanks!
Also, about how much cable did you end up buying for the 4 anchor points? Does Ace Hardware have all the assorted bits and pieces needed? What make pulleys are they?
I’ve little experience doing this but am handy, have tools, and the desire.
Thanks for your help!!
Hi Alan, I used your concept to build a rig to lift my wife’s Hobie Wave sailboat. It worked great. When I get the energy, I’ll build one to lift the tralier over her car. But for now at least I can park in the garage again! Thanks for posting the pictures and explanations.
For stablizing weights I used two 3/8 threaded pipe flanges and a close nipple to connect them. I saved money on the big ring and quicklinks by just using a shackle connected to the four thimbles. If you would like pictures, let me know.
@John Muno
Alan – this is a wonderful design. I’m going to use it to lift a 5′x10′ HO Race track table in my garage.
What diameter wire did you use? And, I couldn’t tell from photos – is it vinyl coated?
John – I like your readily-available weight idea. Please do supply pictures.
Thank you!
Thanks Jim! The wire is not vinyl coated. I’ll have to check the diameter when I get home. I chose cable that was as thin as possible and yet was still rated to carry more than double the load that I had to lift. I wanted to make sure the cable would easily thread and turn through the pulleys. A heavier cable would have had trouble making the 90+ degree turns and would have been overkill for the load.
@Alan Lilly
Hi Alan. Did you get the opportunity to check the cable diameter?
Have a great weekend!