HARKEN - Truck Cap Overhead Garage Storage Hoist, Self-Leveling, Safe Anti-Drop System, Easy One-Person Operation, Smart Garage Organization

This is an excellent hoist. Considering doing other side of garage ceiling when the need for more storage arises. I built a custom size pallet to store some bulky items up high outta the way. Shopping and planning took a while (and painting). I took my time, to get it the way we wanted, and it took quite a bit of "time." Like others, am suggesting you too take your time for planning. Considered putting the pigtail bolts directly into rafters (and could have), but went with the recommended system structure (I mean, the hoist manufacturer recommends following the directions for a reason, right!!)? Regarding the instructions, IMO, the instructions are a bit choppy (some details were in some areas, but other details, for example, would be in an inset diagram). The information is there, just maybe not succinctly. Just take your time before drilling, and review install manual, then re-read prior to putting holes in wood or ceiling. Hope the pics give you some ideas along the way, as i reviewed others, and found maybe 3% of reviewers provided good images, and recommendations. The best guidance was from some youtube videos I searched long and hard to dig up. Technical Advice on Install: I found the 10 pc neodymium super strong magnets (easy purchase on Amazon) were extremely beneficial locating the rafter lines. The magnets find the nails in the rafters and stick to the ceiling attracted to the nail, so this helps you visualize the rafter line across your ceiling regardless if you have a stud finder or not. I do also recommend a stud finder to verify/confirm the center of the wood - but the magnets kind of get you started and help visually continue planning to bolt the 2x6's to the ceiling. One of my pics has the magnets showing what i'm trying to explain. For your precision lining up your mounting hooks to the ceiling pig tail bolts, recommend getting some string (cord) with a couple heavy washers, and holding that cord against your ceiling (while on your ladder), and seeing exactly where the corners of your object are, so you can precision mount your hookup points. Another technical tip on this hoist, like I've seen others mention, once the hoist is in place and your object is overhead, the single welded eye (that the moving tackle and all the ropes attach to in the wall - a single bolt supporting all the weight of your object) does make you really desire (a lingering internal curiosity) to reinforce/beef up the single bolt that bears holding the weight into your wall.... so i have included pic of what i did to assist in securing the welded eye to my setup, and would imagine something similar could be done if coming straight out of your wall plate, with some wire rope eyes bolted to the plate on left/right side, fastened with lag screws and heavy duty washers. Tensioned down the wire, twisted it once around, and secured it to another adjacent board i installed (see pic). It holds the welded eye nice and tight, now in both directions. For added piece of mind, i also added a paracord 550 (1/4" thick), with CamJam XT locking tie down tighteners on both sides (center 2 rafters), simply to take some tension off of the four main lines (these are quick disconnect, anytime we want to lower the pallet), and again this was for extra insurance and piece of mind (see pic). Finally, want to mention your rope management (you'll want to ensure the extra rope is not in the way when your object is up in place), and we installed large cleats to line up a guide to ensure no snares or chafing; and to also both support the load, and to manage the excess rope that will be overflowing when you lift your object). We went with the 200lb capacity, in the event we wanted to put a few more things up outta the way on the pallet. Pallet weight is 87 lbs, so we have plenty of space and weight to add onto the pallet if/when that should occur. Hope this review helped, and BTW, you'll be very pleased once you get this in place. Really happy with this hoist, and just what freed up lots of walking space in our garage!!! It's easy, just take your time, and enjoy the project. You're going to go up and down ladder many times, and you'll go to the hardware store more than once - but you'll be thrilled when you hoist up your gear - you'll take pics and send to several of your buddies. Enjoy.

Used to lift and store an iKamper 2.0 which weighs 175 Lbs.Installed on 10' ceiling above where the garage door rolls to open. The tolerances were tight and I needed this to be precise, and it work flawlessly, so far I have not been disappointed. Planning and installation took 2-3 hours outside of hardware store trip (2x6's are $12 each right now!) Easy for 1 person to place load on an SUV, all the way down to the floor, or pull to the ceiling. Be sure to wear gloves, at 8 to 1 that is 80' of rope sliding through your hands to lower to the ground. I did not experience any issues with lowering like I had read on other reviews. I can see where there may be an issue to lower if there is little or no weight on the line, I used a 20 Lbs sledge hammer, but needed the significant other to pull on it to get the sling to come down to the floor before I put the iKamper in the sling the first time. I have added a couple of hooks to hold the sling after lowing the iKamper onto the car and the sling is not being used so I don't have to deal with lifting and lowering an empty sling. Feel like I am somewhat project oriented so found the installation easy and am impressed with the design and build of this unit. The custom block and tackle pieces make this something that a vast majority of us would find impossible reproducing with parts from a hardware store, I have tried in the past with Canoe's and roof top storage units. I am currently replacing them all with the various models of this unit. 5 Star Rating.

There are probably a few things you should keep in mind when planning to install this product. One is that it is much more difficult to work on the ceiling than on a wall. It is not quite like painting the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, but everything is considerably more difficult. A second thing is that this is not something that you want to fail, as the box or boat or whatever could come down on your car, or worse, on your head. So you really have to get this right.I tried a less substantial hoist system in figuring out the two things above to store my cargo box on my garage ceiling, but then realized that neither I nor my lighter weight hoist was up to the job. As a result, I ordered this Harken Hoister and asked my handyman to make sure it was done properly. I know this handyman as he has done considerable work for me, including building frames around air vents on the ceilings of my house, so I know he was capable doing this right.In addition to figuring out the system, there were a few things he did to ensure that the hoist was installed properly. One was that he used the typical studfinder tool to find the joists through the wallboard in the ceiling, but then he also used a wallboard saw to check to find where the edges of the studs were, and located the pigtail lag screws exactly in the center of the joists. When each one was fully screwed into the joist, he tested the connection by putting his entire weight on a strap hanging from each individual pigtail screw, although only a few inces from the ground.The hardware and the system is of good quality, but I did find that the block and tackle cleat does not stay open when lowering the cargo box to the top of the car, no matter what angle I hold the cord. As a result, I have to use a yardstick to hold the cleat open while allowing the box to come down. Fortunately, the hardware works smoothly and it is possible to lower it with one hand while holding the cleat open with the other. One thing that I did like about the system is that it raises my cargo box all the way to the ceiling which was important for me as I do not have a lot of room between the open garage door and the ceiling.One other thing worth mentioning, and that is you have to have some room on the wall in front of the vehicle and boat, cargo box, etc. to hang the cleat for the hoisting rope. Of course, the garage shown in the installation manual (see link below) is entirely empty except for the vehicle, the boat, and the hoist, but I suspect most garages do not look like that. In my case, the hoisting rope had to be attached to a boxed in beam, which worked OK since the 'front wall' is covered with shelves and would not have been suitable in any case.[...]All in all, this is a great system if installed properly, and fortunately I realized early I was working on something that was over my head.

I was able to modify this to be used for my BMW e30 hardtop. I also had extremely low clearance for the puller and was able to hold the ropes off the garage door with some simple eye-bolts.The front straps are sandwiched in between the hardtop anchor points on the roof, and the rear slides under the centering pin.