Poor Man's Qwik Lift for $250.00 (look!)

[RedBarchetta]

Wow! I thought this thread had made its way to the graveyard by now! LOL!

Here are some notes I had on my computer....this should answer your question on the pedestals and how the whole thing goes together.

-Dean

General Notes about the build:

- I predrilled all the boards. I drilled the pass-through board but did not drill the anchoring board. The pass-through board is the board that the screw starts on, while the anchoring board will be the second board that the screw will “bite into.” You take the risk of splitting the wood if you don’t perform the drilling steps.

- I made the front & rear pedestals the same height, as my garage does not have much of a slope. If your garage has a slope, you may need to compensate for this (which changes a LOT of the measurements, accordingly).

- Once I got started, I found it much easier to primer and paint all the boards with a roller BEFORE I began measuring and cutting. This way all you have to do is finish the ends with a brush after cutting and assembly. You then coat each component with polyurethane AFTER assembly.

- All boards are finish-cut, meaning that a 2x4 is actually more like 1.5x3.5. Remember this fact as you measure each piece for cutting and also for drilling the pass-through boards.

- It’s hard to find 2x10 and 2x12 boards without the ends already splitting. Find the best ones and cut-off the split ends before you perform your actual measurements and final cuts. I typically had to cut-off 4-6” on either end to start with a clean, split-free piece of wood.

- Each step of the procedure is for the completion of ONE component. Since you will need to build TWO of everything, take this into account when you purchase the wood and begin your cuts.


FRONT PEDESTALS:
Start with the front pedestals, as they are easier to construct. Each front pedestal is 23" long and has a 2x4 "tire stop" for safety. You will need the following:
2pcs - 2 "x 10" x 23" (top & bottom)
2pcs - 2" x 6" x approx. 9.5" (width of 2"x 10")
1pc - 2" x 6" x 20"
1pc - 2" x 4" x approx. 9.5" (front tire stop)
2pc - 2" x 4" x 7" (used to support bridges)

Grab all of the 2x6 pieces first. Form an "I" with the 20” section in the middle and the two 9.5” pieces on the top and bottom. You will need to pre-drill the two smaller pieces. This is the basic “back bone” of each pedestal and will provide tremendous strength.

Now attach a 2x10 piece to form the top and bottom of the pedestal (again, pre-drilling these beforehand). Add the front tire stop to one top side end of the 2x10 (pre-drilled). Some people might want to double-up the 2x4 stop to make it taller, but you will definitely feel the front tires gently bump a single 2x4. Then add the two 2x4x7” bridge supports to the opposite bottom side end. I mounted the bridge supports flush with each outer edge so that you have more room for adjusting the bridges and disassembling them later.


REAR PEDESTALS:
The rear pedestals are made a little different because.....THE REAR TRACK IS 4" WIDER THAN THE FRONT (at least on an SPF with the standard 15" Trigos it is). So I had to get creative and used the 2x6s for the "I", but used three of them in the middle instead of just one (you could probably use just two, but I went with three). I also used 2x12 and turned them sideways, mounting two pieces side-by-side. This yielded the same overall length (23") as the front pedestals, but it gave me a pedestal width of 14" for the rears. You will need the following:
4pcs - 2 "x 12" x 14"
2pcs - 2" x 6" x 14"
3pc - 2" x 6" x 20"
2pc - 2" x 4" x 7"
4pc – 2” x 4” x 7” (one end cut at 10 degree angle)

Grab all of the 2x6 pieces first. Form a Roman numeral "III" with the 20” sections spread evenly in the middle and the two 14” pieces on the top and bottom. You will need to pre-drill the two smaller pieces to accept the center “spines”.

Now attach two 2x14 pieces to form the top and the other two to form the bottom of the rear pedestal (again, pre-drilling these beforehand). Then add the two 2x4x7” bridge supports to one bottom side end, BUT PAY ATTENTION HERE! You have to build mirror images of the rear pedestals, so these attachment points will be different for each one. Mount one piece flush with the outer edge and then mount the second piece using similar measurements from the completed front pedestals.

Finish each rear pedestal by mounting the 4 pieces of angle-cut 2x4x7 to the opposite bottom end of the bridge supports. No measuring here…just line them up side by side, pre-drill, and mount. The 10 degree top cuts will form a nice downward transition for the ramps later in the build.

.....more to follow.