Lid too heavy for wife

[woodlandfarms]

Well, it has happened. My wife is having temporary hand issues and cannot lift the hood on the pt to fuel or service. I have not heard of any of you doing a mod but I have to ask if you have any ideas.

Carl

[Clumber]

I have a similar issue due to ligament damage in my wrists. I have thought of cutting a hole in the lid to expose the gas cap (on my PT 425 the tank is situated high against the lid top).

I assume you have a diesel storage tank with a pump so lifting a 5 gallon gas can and holding it up for a minute plus while it fills the PT gas tank is not an issue. I usually have to transfer fuel to a 2 gallon container to be able to handle refueling. Having a gasoline storage tank with a pump is another set of issues.

[washita]

lift arm cylinder similar to the ones on mini-van tailgates, but getting the geometry correct to achieve 90 degree movement could be interesting, or maybe a 12vdc linear actuator some are rated to 500 lbs, your machine is all hydraulic use a hydraulic cylinder, possibility of an winch close to the fueling station

[cqaigy2]

Maybe rig a lever that you can hook on your lid handle. Possibly 3ft would be enough to reduce the strain.

[ponytug]

Dear Carl,

Sorry to hear about your wife's hand.

Napa sells a whole range of gas lift arms of different weights and lengths (20-500lbs of lift). I'd put in two. You may want to add a latch to keep it down, because if you take too much of the weight off the engine cover, it may bounce open in use.

All the best,

Peter

[KMA]

Maybe you could bolt on one or more heavy duty spring gate hinges to the lid somehow? Not sure about the geometry and if there would be issues... just a thought.

[J_J]

Maybe you could bolt on one or more heavy duty spring gate hinges to the lid somehow? Not sure about the geometry and if there would be issues... just a thought.

Mount a lift cyl on the lid at the right angle, and use the QA hose to power it up and down.

Mount it so if the engine will not start, you can remove a pin and lift it as you have been doing.

Could add some weight to the back of the lid for counter balance

[MossRoad]

For simplicity sake, mount a 1.5 inch inside diameter pipe 12" long vertically, but angled back about 10 degrees on the rear side of the engine compartment. Then get her a 4' long piece of 1" outside diameter pipe. Slip the long pipe in the short pipe and you got a 4' lever for her to pull the lid back. You could also mount a couple short sections along the side to slip it onto for storage and pin it in.

Or, you could get a 12v linear actuator from under the power seat of a 2000 Chevy Impala from a junk yard and mount that inside the engine compartment with some helper springs.

[woodlandfarms]

So here is what I kinda know... the lid is VERY heavy... I figure you are lifting around 60 to 80lbs and you are trying to get it over your head. The lid on the 1850 is big, and it houses a HUGE radiator that is filled with oil. Plus the steal that makes it up.

The actuator looks interesting but so far I see only 100lb max.

I have found a website with the type that go in cars and you can get up to 250lbs.... Actually you can get higher, but they are very short (Does this matter?)

What I am getting at is that I am thinking this is a lot of weight, but maybe I am missing the physics here.

So.... Here is a design question......... Lets say I am looking at the PT from the drivers side. The lid lifts like this \. So when I put in my cylinder, does it go in like \ or like /.

[coolconnection]

Where do you store it? Inside? Just mount a little come along on it from a beam or ceiling joist and just open it up that way until her hands start to feel better. Shouldn't be to difficult for her to use. Shoot you can even mount a counter weight on the come along so all she has to do is just a slight tug on it and it will open. This was just a thought to make it much simpler.