DIY Roof Top Tent Hoist

[Samf48]

So after a lot of online searching, I couldn't find a compact solution to hoisting my RTT on to my truck. My garage is too low so I can't lower it off the ceiling and drive away unfortunately. After a lot of brainstorming and about 3 trips to Lowes, below is my working hoist. I tested it with my weight (185lbs) first to be sure it would hold, and it didn't budge at all. My tent weighs about 135lbs so this solution works great.

I have 3 pulleys on it so the pull weight is down to 1/3 of the weight of the tent. It breaks down into two main pieces, the hoist arm, and the a-frame. The a-frame folds up so both pieces fit nicely in a small corner in the garage. If anyone is interested in further details let me know.

@Hector45acp

very cool design man, I was in the exact same situation as you. My Jeep Cherokee wouldn’t fit in the garage with the tent so I ended up reverse engineering your design based on the pictures you posted. It worked well enough for me to hoist it up in the air. The 3 pulley system allowed me to hold the rope with one hand and tie a knot with the other. I would just say that on the end of the rope there needs to be a ratcheting mechanism that’s anchored to the wall so you don’t have to hold the rope while it’s up in the air. Overall though this was pretty nice considering I can break it down and fold it up for another day.

 

[b1bjetmech]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

 

[chrish]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

Great idea, nice simple concept, do you have a close up photo of the pully arrangement?

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

So after a lot of online searching, I couldn't find a compact solution to hoisting my RTT on to my truck. My garage is too low so I can't lower it off the ceiling and drive away unfortunately. After a lot of brainstorming and about 3 trips to Lowes, below is my working hoist. I tested it with my weight (185lbs) first to be sure it would hold, and it didn't budge at all. My tent weighs about 135lbs so this solution works great.

I have 3 pulleys on it so the pull weight is down to 1/3 of the weight of the tent. It breaks down into two main pieces, the hoist arm, and the a-frame. The a-frame folds up so both pieces fit nicely in a small corner in the garage. If anyone is interested in further details let me know.

Yes, I'd like to know more about how it operates. I have a roof rack that needs something like this so one man can install it. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 100#.
Is the door of the garage helping this contraption to operate ?

 

[Poseidon]

@Hector45acp

very cool design man, I was in the exact same situation as you. My Jeep Cherokee wouldn’t fit in the garage with the tent so I ended up reverse engineering your design based on the pictures you posted. It worked well enough for me to hoist it up in the air. The 3 pulley system allowed me to hold the rope with one hand and tie a knot with the other. I would just say that on the end of the rope there needs to be a ratcheting mechanism that’s anchored to the wall so you don’t have to hold the rope while it’s up in the air. Overall though this was pretty nice considering I can break it down and fold it up for another day.

That is genius

 

[b1bjetmech]

Great idea, nice simple concept, do you have a close up photo of the pully arrangement?

I can take some pictures and post them for you once I get home from work.

 

[b1bjetmech]

Yes, I'd like to know more about how it operates. I have a roof rack that needs something like this so one man can install it. It's somewhere in the neighborhood of 100#.
Is the door of the garage helping this contraption to operate ?

Thanks for your response!
The hoist doesn't use the garage door/frame at all. It simply plugs into the receiver hitch on the Jeep. I made the hoist frame in two parts so I can install it by myself since it's kind of awkward fully assembled. Just for SA. I spent about $60 on the metal, $25 on the hand winch, and $10 on the pulleys.

 

[Poseidon]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

Since I have no garage this would work great, awesome design [emoji108]

 

[PapaDave]

Thanks for your response!
The hoist doesn't use the garage door/frame at all. It simply plugs into the receiver hitch on the Jeep. I made the hoist frame in two parts so I can install it by myself since it's kind of awkward fully assembled. Just for SA. I spent about $60 on the metal, $25 on the hand winch, and $10 on the pulleys.

Strong work

Do you need to remove the rear spare to place it in?

 

[Vgnlndr]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

I BOUGHT something similar and I am glad to see that the concept worked. I took mine to a fabricator because I wanted to make the top arm longer, he told me that it would fold like a pretzel and could be dangerous. My tent is slightly heavier 194lbs.

This is what I bought for $179.00


I really like your DIY approach (also cheaper), if I could weld I would have done it myself also. Good job.

 

[b1bjetmech]

Strong work

Do you need to remove the rear spare to place it in?

Probably not - but I made the receiver portion of the hoist as short as I could to minimize the load on it. I think it would be ok if you made it long enough to clear the spare - I just chose not to.

 

[b1bjetmech]

I BOUGHT something similar and I am glad to see that the concept worked. I took mine to a fabricator because I wanted to make the top arm longer, he told me that it would fold like a pretzel and could be dangerous. My tent is slightly heavier 194lbs.

This is what I bought for $179.00


I really like your DIY approach (also cheaper), if I could weld I would have done it myself also. Good job.

That deer hoist was my inspiration! I knew that I would have to modify it to make it work, so I priced out the materials and decided to just make my own.

So did you end up getting the deer hoist modified after all?

 

[Vgnlndr]

That deer hoist was my inspiration! I knew that I would have to modify it to make it work, so I priced out the materials and decided to just make my own.

So did you end up getting the deer hoist modified after all?

No not yet, waiting on another friend who can weld. Once I do I'll post the results here. Maybe I can just figure out a way to bolt on the additional length needed.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Thanks for your response!
The hoist doesn't use the garage door/frame at all. It simply plugs into the receiver hitch on the Jeep. I made the hoist frame in two parts so I can install it by myself since it's kind of awkward fully assembled. Just for SA. I spent about $60 on the metal, $25 on the hand winch, and $10 on the pulleys.

I need to see more to understand how it works. I don't see anything that can plug into a hitch on the three pics you supplied.

 

[b1bjetmech]

I need to see more to understand how it works. I don't see anything that can plug into a hitch on the three pics you supplied.

That's weird - I posted 8 pictures. You only see 3? Ok - so here is a picture that shows the receiver portion of the hoist.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

That's weird - I posted 8 pictures. You only see 3? Ok - so here is a picture that shows the receiver portion of the hoist.

Yes, for some reason there is an x on 4 or 5 pictures on my end. I see the receiver pic fine.

 

[Hector45acp]

@Hector45acp

very cool design man, I was in the exact same situation as you. My Jeep Cherokee wouldn’t fit in the garage with the tent so I ended up reverse engineering your design based on the pictures you posted. It worked well enough for me to hoist it up in the air. The 3 pulley system allowed me to hold the rope with one hand and tie a knot with the other. I would just say that on the end of the rope there needs to be a ratcheting mechanism that’s anchored to the wall so you don’t have to hold the rope while it’s up in the air. Overall though this was pretty nice considering I can break it down and fold it up for another day.

Awesome job reverse engineering, looks great, wish I saw your IM earlier. I've got some crude MS paint blueprints with measurements I drew up if anyone needs them.

 

[Hector45acp]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

That's awesome, love the design! Reminds me the way WWII era BB's would retreive recon planes from the water.

 

[b1bjetmech]

Great idea, nice simple concept, do you have a close up photo of the pully arrangement?

Here are some close up pictures of the pulleys. I slotted the end of the square tube on one side, and used a bolt with washers to help center it. The pulleys are 2" in diameter.

 

[Apdski]

Hey everyone. I was searching the web to find a solution for installing my rooftop tent by myself, and I came across this thread of ideas. I liked some of the ideas on here, but they weren't quite exactly what I was looking for - so I made my own version!
Like many of you, my garage roof is tall enough for the tent to be installed on the Jeep on the inside, but the garage door is too low to be able to drive in or out of the garage with it on top. The garage door opening is only about 7' tall, and I need at least 8' to clear. So I needed a way to install it on my driveway.
I decided to use the receiver hitch and make my hoist attach to the Jeep. I basically used 2" square tubing with 1/8" walls, a couple of pulleys, and a hand crank winch to accomplish this. I used a 1 3/4" OD round tube inserted in the vertical part of the lower receiver portion to allow the crane to pivot around. The crane comes apart so it's easy to install/remove/store.
To test it initially, I hung off the end of the crane and it held me just fine (I weigh 220 lbs), so I knew it would hold my 116 lb tent.
I have about $100 in this project, and it works great! Yes, I realize knowing how to weld helps, but this could also be made by bolting it all together with some modifications. If you have any questions, I would be more than glad to answer them.

This is genius. Our house is currently be built so I’m not sure if the garage door height will be tall enough for driving in and out with a tent mounted. HOA wouldn’t let us have a taller garage door than anyone else. If not I’m totally using this idea, so simple and easy. Bravo