Cargo Bar for Penthouse lift assist

[MrHenrietta]

Anyone in Utah with experience adjusting springs interested in helping me out with mine?

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Middle of the page.
https://www.aluminess.com/accessorie...r-accessories/
Herb

I have that one. Not the smallest thing to lug around, and you need onboard air for it, but it works so well.

[Orv]

Are you opening a door or a window first? Lifting my top becomes impossible if the doors and windows are all closed. After the first time I tried it I did the mental math, and realized there's something like 100 cubic feet of air that has to come from somewhere.

[JVan]

Originally Posted by MrHenrietta

Anyone in Utah with experience adjusting springs interested in helping me out with mine?

I can help advise. PM sent.

Just about to cut my roof to install one.

[arctictraveller]

Well, I got mine open using a jack. There was no obvious damage, but it took a large amount of force, so I'll be checking out the springs soon.

[sbgrimm]

Originally Posted by Orv

Are you opening a door or a window first?

Yes, learned that the hard way early on. I bet all of us have tried to open or close the PH top at least once without opening a door. I still do it from time to time...

[berns378]

I use the same one I bought from Sportsmobile 15 years ago, 370 dollars. Used it 100 plus times and replaced fuse once. Faster then a electric top

[sbgrimm]

Here's an progress report on lifting my loaded PH top:

I completed the LenS cordless drill power lift, pretty much as he described using 1x3x3/4" oak and braced with aluminium angle material. Pictures below. It worked great without a load on the roof. But I don't have any problem lifting the top without a load, so I tried it again with the Yakima bars on and my raft frame on top. The electric drill lift again performed great, the only issue being the raft frame wasn't centered on the roof and when the PH top moved sideways a bit the threaded rod started to bind on the T-nut. That was easy enough to deal with by having my wife operate the drill while I steadied the PH top. The oak board did bend quite a bit under the load, past my comfort zone, so the next iteration will have to be stronger.

I was curious how much force it takes to raise the top, so using a highly scientific method involving my bathroom scale I found the unloaded top (with one solar panel) to take 111 pounds of force to raise before the main springs took over. With the raft frame on board it took 209 pounds of force. I've already adjusted the main springs and the helper springs to help me lift a load, so an unaltered PH top will be different.

I'm pretty happy with the cordless drill lift. My main concern now is how to reinforce the oak cross bar to handle the load. Currently the reinforcing angle aluminium is 1/16" thickness. The options I've thought of so far:
- Replace the 1/16 aluminium angle with 1/8"
- Replace the aluminium angle with steel angle iron
- Use a thicker piece of oak, or glue & screw another piece of 3/4" oak to the existing, since my local big box hardware store doesn't stock anything thicker.

I'd appreciate any and all thoughts, thanks in advance.

[BUFFALO]

How about something like a broom handle from the floor to the underside of the oak board? Could double as an actual coat hanger rod to dry out wet gear if that is something you need.
Maybe an adjustable hood prop for easier storage.

[sbgrimm]

Thanks Buffalo, I hadn't thought about supporting it from below. This is what I love about the SMB forum, access to ideas from people smarter than me!