Headache rack toolbox lift

[farmboy12]

Title may throw you for a loop. We are getting a new truck sometime this year, and have decided we want a headache rack. We also have plenty of truck toolboxes, but have never put them on our farm pickups because we need the room in the bed. The rack will be custom built, of course.

I've come up with the idea, that if we have a headache rack, we may be able to lift a toolbox up and above the load that's in the bed.

I've thought of one good, completely working way- a light duty, 500-1000# winch mounted to the frame, the cable will come up between the cab and the bed, where it will then be put over a pully on top of the headache rack, then it reaches down to the frame holding up the toolbox and picks it up.

Confusing, but can anyone give me a good way to do this?


Kyle

 

[CurlyDave]

It seems to me that you only need to put the toolbox up there once.

I would first think long and hard about putting that much weight so high up and cornering stability. The box itself is not too bad, but I would have 1000 lbs of tools in there within a week. If I still wanted to do it, I would just make up some kind of bracket to hold the tool box, lift it up with my forks and attach it permanently.

 

[farmboy12]

No, we need it to be able to lift often. We carry large loads of hay/straw, as well as a/c and heat units because of the business that we're in. There would probably be 500lbs in there. So, in that case it would probably take 3 guys to maneuver it out of the bed. I have some more ideas, but I can't really explain them.


Kyle

 

[rhett]

Title may throw you for a loop. We are getting a new truck sometime this year, and have decided we want a headache rack. We also have plenty of truck toolboxes, but have never put them on our farm pickups because we need the room in the bed. The rack will be custom built, of course.
Kyle

If I were buying a new truck, and from what your needs suggest. I would get a truck without the bed, then add a Flatbed. Toolboxes could then be added below and on top of it, or of course get an aftermarket Utility Bed which already has tool/lock boxes, plenty of storage and cargo room.

It will look like a service truck, but is that not your goal.

A lift mechanism could be fabricated, but will need to be extremely rigid, 4 vertical guides, the 4 lift points moving in concert, 4 mechanical locking pins in either raised or lowered position. Kinda complex and more than likely will be a pain to use frequently.

Rhett

 

[farmboy12]

rhett-

We've thought about flatbed/service bodies, but we are getting a 3/4 ton truck. And a good body of good length, will weight too much to have a good payload. We really don't need the toolbox, but figure it'd be worth a try.


Kyle

 

[BrentD]

What you could do would be to build a frame that will hold the tool box and an outer frame that will provide the lift. Put a pulley in all 4 of the lower corners. You'd also need pulleys at various points along the outer frame.

Your winch cable would come up between the bed and the cab, then go to a pulley at the top of the headache rack, over to one corner, down through both pulleys on the lifter frame, then loop back up to another pulley at the top of the outer frame. From there it goes across the top of the outer frame along the narrow line, then down through the pulleys in the lift box, loop back up, across the front side of the outer frame, and threaded through the pulleys on that side.

Once you're back up to the at the top after the last set of pulleys you fix the cable at a solid point.

You'll probably need a lot of extra winch cable to make this work. When the winch pulls, it will take the slack out of the line and lift the toolbox like an elevator. To make the lift stronger, you can use double pulleys and make two loops of cable at each corner and at the primary winch feed.