UPDATE: What size aluminium to use?

50620

Please excuse the poor sketch...

The red lines are where I need to put supports across the truck. They will sit, bonded, on the curved aluminium sections that form the existing truck body.

These supports will have threaded bar that will go through the roof and hold the hoist track internally, signified by the green line.

The front end of the track will be internally supported by the front wall of the truck box.

Hope this helps.
 
Can the hoist manufacturer/supplier not supply this information Steve, they will have design drawings for all sorts of applications?

steel, while heavier would not need to be anywhere near as chunky I would think thus reducing cost and installation.

if I get up to the grand daughters before you have a solution I will take a look at how they did hers. That is in a house though not a van
 
if I get up to the grand daughters before you have a solution I will take a look at how they did hers. That is in a house though not a van

We have a H track in his bedroom at the house. They fitted unistrut spreader braces across the loft joists, then bolts through to the track below. At 800mm centres, way over the top but they have to, to cover their a55.
 
Can the hoist manufacturer/supplier not supply this information Steve, they will have design drawings for all sorts of applications?

steel, while heavier would not need to be anywhere near as chunky I would think thus reducing cost and installation.

if I get up to the grand daughters before you have a solution I will take a look at how they did hers. That is in a house though not a van
Keep up Neil, I asked this question at the beginning.😜
 
I'd suggest going for a closed section to avoid having a gunge trap, reduced wind noise and increased strength.
It looks like 2" square is available with 1/4" wall thickness and that might be strong enough.
What maximum support spacing does the track manufacturer allow?
I ask because you've sketched a fair distance from from wall to first cross beam.
You will also get some load distribution from one cross beam to the mext via the track.
 
We made some packable aluminium tables 8 foot long in 25 x 50 x 3mm aluminium box section. They often get used as staging to reach higher places. None have bent to date.
 
What are dimensions of the track that the hoist travels on as that is the most stressed point of the whole set up ?
 
never hurts to over -engineer, as long as you don't end up with a copy of the Forth bridge on your roof , although that would work
 
Hi Steve,

It is really difficult to get it right with this one without actually doing what I would call a site visit. Hopefully you have suffice info to get the ball rolling.

Good luck (y)

Thanks. I'll hopefully get into the supplier this week.
 
Well it's in :) 50901
50902
50903

I went for 2 x 2 x 1/4 box, with radius corners for aerodynamics lol. Nearly a hundred quid for a 5m length, ouch.

So far I've load tested with my lump hanging off of the track and it seems all good.

Interestingly, the cross rails seem to be sat on some framework hidden in the roof. The ends are sitting proud of the box sides, so I'll add some spacers there to be sure it's strong.

Still a bit of finishing to do, but we can get out again now after it sitting on the drive for far too long!
 
nice job mate , looks strong enough without overdoing it

Cheers Nige. All joking aside, I do have to be careful about the weight, and just don't know how to deal with round stuff, so had to get some box 😀
 
Looks good man, I'd fill ends with some expanding foam, which will keep the beasties oot. 🐜

Price was a bit steep, not much you can do about this, though!!

Foam is a good idea, I thought about the plugs you can get, but I have foam :)

After picking my chin up off the floor I googled it, and an online place wanted around £170 so I didn't feel as bad...
 
Foam is a good idea, I thought about the plugs you can get, but I have foam :)

After picking my chin up off the floor I googled it, and an online place wanted around £170 so I didn't feel as bad...
I would go for the knock in plugs as they will make a neater job and can be removed if need be.
 

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