OK to hoist shell by rack?

I recently purchased this camper shell, and it came with this rack on top. It's sturdy enough that the entire truck will shake if you grab it and push on it. There isn't any wobbling or play in the rack. I'd like to suspend it from the garage ceiling by hanging it from the 4 corners. I've been looking at 2,000 lb hand winches at Harbor Freight, and I was thinking I would have my wife crank the winch that would be connected to the front rack bar, and I would manually lift the back side and hook it onto 2 fixed bike hooks hanging from the ceiling that are reinforced in wood boards connected to the joists. Once the back is hanging on the bike hooks, I'd leave the cable connected to the front, and I was thinking about having 2 turning bike hooks that I could turn and support the camper shell once it's up there. It would then be supported by 4 bike hooks, which are screwed through 2x6's connected to the joists. I hope all of that makes sense.

Here are some pictures of the rack the previous owner fabricated. They are pretty heavy-duty nuts and bolts, and they're all the same. Do you guys think that's a good plan?

 

I don't think there would be a catastrophic failure.
The weight of the shell would not be enough to cause the shell to pull through the holes.
8 holes should be enough to evenly distribute the weight.
To test this, once you have it suspended and if you see alot of strain around the holes, like they want to pull through, you could increase the size of the washers ( or make a small rectangular plate washer) to spread the load of the shell across a wider area.

My only concern would be the tension your putting on the shell material&paint around the holes. Over time, with repeated cycles of storage I'm sure you'd see some spidering of the paint coating going from the holes going outwards diagnolly.

If you can live with that , I'd say go for it. Smart idea with the winch!

 

So, when the shell is up in the ceiling, it won't be suspended by the roof rack, right? In that case, you should be fine. (Though buddy-previous-owner didn't actually get the racks into the strongest parts of the shell... my snugtop vendor suggested the racks be close to the edges.)

 

I was thinking about having it suspended by the 4 corners of the rack and nothing else.

My backup plan is to connect cables to the ends of two boards, wiggle them under the shell while it's on the truck (4 corners again), and suspend it by them. Then the shell would basically be sitting on boards, and the rack wouldn't be involved. I just haven't figured out how I would run all of those cables so it would hoist evenly, but I know others have done it.

 

Also after reading the post the second time-

Id inspect the connectionn between the boards that connect with your joist. From the sounds of it - they run perpendicular to your joists? Can you take pics of what your describing at roof?

I'm assuming the boards your describing are acting like bridging between each joist (stopping only lateral movement). Typically these are just toe nailed or quickly put in. I would NOT apply any load to these if that is the case unless you beef that connection up.

 

I would definitely use option 2 (backup) that you just described

 

If your shell weighed 150lbs then there is approximately 18.75lbs on each bolt going through that shell. Probably okay to hold by if you ask me. But its your call

 

I don't think the 8 bolts would pull through the fiberglass or even flex it, and I do quite a bit of woodworking, so I could fabricate the appropriate support for the ceiling hooks...

The point that concerns me most is the bolt I'm pointing to in this picture. The entire weight of the shell would be on 4 of those now that I think about it. The rack is made of iron, but it's only as strong as the connection points.

 

Bolts are much stronger than you think, that bolt is much much stronger than the piece of steel or iron. Here is a reference...
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...GaLMk_RhYCRCh6oig&sig2=CXvsY0nbMiXbg_goGyu-lA

 

The bolts will hold the weight. I'd be concerned about fatigue in the fiberglass at the attachment points.

So I would not lift mine like that. Just my.02

 

Would it really be any more design/engineering to rig the pulley system to two pieces of 2x4(or 6) under the shell rather than the pulley system threaded through the rack? Either way you have to make sure it hoists evenly.

 

This. I saw something like this on a thread here on TacomaWorld.

 

This. I saw something like this on a thread here.

 

I would take the bars off the roof rack, then wiggle boards underneath and support it from the bottom.

 

You have a great plan, just back it up with a few ratchet straps, so the load is shared..

 

The load you apply to the rack/mount setup depends upon your lift rigging. How you attach the four lift points to the winch hook will determine the stress placed upon the shell/rack mounting. The higher the angle from your lifting points to the hook (the shorter the sling, chain, rope, ect between the mounts and hook) the more stress you place on the mounts.

 

Lift it with the rack, then put supports under the shell for storage like in post #15 ^^, release the weight from the roof rack...

 

I googled " camper shell hoist"...
Even tho this isn't a taco...this is how I would store it...seems sturdy and evenly distrubutes weight

 

Seems like lots of good input here so far. I would just add that if you do the initial lift via the rack bars, I would put an additional backing plate on the inside of the cap between the washers under the nuts and the cap's fiberglass ceiling. It will distribute and reduce the pressure on those drilled-through bolt holes. The rack was designed to take loads in compression, not tension. The backing plates would help manage the tension pressure during hoisting.

 

Do not lift the cap by the rack on top. Racks are designed to hold weight (downward force). The pullout strength (upward force) has nothing to do with the bolts and washers and everything to do with the fiberglass they are attached to. This is why canoes and kayaks need bow and stern tie-downs and you can't just strap them to the rack. A Yakima rack, for example, is rated to 150 to 185 lbs DOWN force, but the pull off strength is like 50 lbs. A canoe is like a giant parachute on your vehicle. Without a bow line at minimum it will rip your rack off your vehicle like nothing. What you're asking of your rack to store it by hanging it by the rack only is like tieing ropes around your thumbs and big toes and suspending yourself by them. You can do push-ups on your toes and fingers (down force) but you wouldn't like to hang by them. Use straps or boards under it to lift and support. Like a woman's bra.