How much weight can a pop up lift mechanism raise?

[Laeka]

Hey folks,

I've been lurking for forever and a day, but the vardo threads have me thinking about making the leap. I have an old Coleman pop up camper that the mechanic says would be way too costly to fix. The canvas is a mess and one of the slideouts needs help. I'm picturing the camper :? stripped to its frame while the lift mechanism is repurposed to raise the upper half of a sheep wagon style camper. These two threads show the look I'm going for and the way someone named Rachel the goatwoman did it:

http://www.schaeferwagen.de/
http://www.daphnescaravans.com/

Problem is, while I can calculate the weight of the campers walls and roof, I have no idea how much one of these devices can lift. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Daniel

[pete42]

Most pop-up tops can safely lift the original top a vent and a air conditioner.
top say 75 to 100 pounds
vent another 3
ac unit 125 to 150
so a total of 253 easy if you make tour top from foam no problem.

I have thought of modifing a pop-up remove the canvas and bunks and
make a trailer with folding sides and ends.
Or If the side canvas were ok then remove bunks and bunk canvas
add new straight canvas to both ends sleep on the dinnett.
pete

[Forrest747]

From what i know of Whiffletree's is that each one will hold 100 pounds. Crunching the numbers of the thread and the nylon bushings, it came out to about 92 pounds of holding force, that is with no margin of safety.

[Laeka]

Thanks Pete, I had forgot about the air conditioners sitting on the roofs! I'll try putting some numbers together this week. Worst case, if it's too heavy I'll work on one of the fold down bow top designs I've seen. It comes to mind that I won't really need insulation in the walls or ceiling since my crew and I are fair weather campers. Single wall construction should really lighten things up!

Forrest747, aren't whiffletree's the things you tie the horses too? No horses in this household! I've got enough work taking care of two kids while I'm going to school!!

[Forrest747]

That would be correct about Horses and Whiffletree.
Its to help move the trailer around in the garage to fight global warming

http://www.rvworkshop.com/index.php/cat ... ee-coleman

[Laeka]

Forrest747,
I had no idea thats what those thingies were called. Does that mean then that I could go as high #360 since there are four connections there or is it #92 total for the whole rod? Love the diagrams in the pdf that goes with that site. Thanks!

[Forrest747]

I crunched the numbers for one whiffletree. so the more you put in the higher the weight you can take.

So if we do the math right we can use about 25 of the to lift a small male adult clydsdale. Just in case the tow vehicle dies pulling the tear drop.

[jandmz]

We had a '03 Coleman popup. The owner's manual said that the lift mechanism could lift 350 lbs maximum. I don't know if that is more than the older mechanisms could handle.