Quote:
Originally Posted by COONDOG96
OK great looking toy hauler and great thread. Hope your still on here. I was wanting to see if you could post a few more pics of the lift for the ramp/ rear door ?? Looking to do something like that on my toy hauler and would love to see more on how it works.
Thanks Robin
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After over 2 years fulltiming on the road, we've been north ,south, east, and west. Seen both oceans, 4 of the 5 Great lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico. Winter in the desert sucks so we now winter in Florida.
The rear door is a heavy SOB and I can't take credit for the construction or design. The previous owner created this little monster. The mechanicals I've rebuilt so I kinda understand how it works. First off, if you don't run hydraulics off the motor, you can stop reading now. My hydraulic system runs the back door, the internal wench, and the tilt trailer for the car. The 2 pistons for the rear door are both rated at 20,000 lbs.
The door system is a series of wheeled pullies cables, and cantilever steel trusses attached to the steel C-beam substructure of the door. The skin of the door is smooth aluminum about the same thickness of the inner walls of the bus. The ramp side was 3/4" 5-layer plywood (I recently replaced it with 1/2" 7-layer double-sided MDO -Medium Density Overlay). I learned the hard way that plywood MUST be completely sealed with oil-based paint, fiberglass, or polyurethane, etc so the weather doesn't destroy it. But that's a story for another time.
The picture of the underside shows how the pistons are connected to the pullies. The end of the cable is anchored to the base of the cantilever arm. The pullies are stabilized with a steel rod that is the axle for the lawnmower wheels that travel back and forth in the frame rails. To close the door the pistons extend 8" under pressure. To open the door all positive pressure is released and a little tug on the door allows remaining piston fluid to drain back into the 8 gallon reservoir and the door slowly opens as the pullies retract.
The only reason I like this system is it has no side wires. This allows me to screen the garage, lay the door flat (propped up on jack stands) and use it as a porch.