I'll be 59 years old in a few weeks and lifting the doors on and off my Jeep was not the easiest thing for me to do. I used to get my wife or son to help me. So I made this contraption to help me. Now I can easily take my doors on and off by myself with no fear of dropping them or scratching the paint. It also allows me to easily carry them and hang them on the wall.
The tool is also easy to make. It's made from:
1- panel carrier sold by Home Depot, Lowes etc.
1- heavy duty computer bag or camera bag strap with a padded shoulder piece and swivel metal attachment ends.
2- straps with 2 metal "D" rings.
Padding to cover the panel carrier so you don't scratch the door's paint
Here is the finished product
Here is my son wearing the tool
As you can see it takes little effort to hold and carry the door, even with one hand.
It's easy to get the doors off the Jeep or off the wall. Lift with your knees
You can adjust the neck strap so it fits the way you need it.
We are thinking about doing a video that show just how easy it is for anyone to remove and re-install the doors with this tool.
It just hooks on the bottom, but I did put padding on the bottom, but the weight of the door will hold it there without it. I would also recommend using both hands, that will allow you to hold the door in place, but you could actually carry it with one hand. It's so easy now to get the door off and on. I don't even need the guider pins anymore.
To much involved from a legal point of view if something went wrong. There are some very klutzy people out there that might trip over their shoe laces while holding the door, and I don't want to be held responsible for that.
That's the key your arms do none of the lifting and don't carry any of the weight. All the lifting is done with you legs. Putting them back on is easy since your arms aren't holding the door up they only have to guide the pins in the holes.
A stroke left me with reduced physical abilies so handling the doors was a real challenge for me. I am happy to say not any more.
Looks nice but I recommend adding some sort of hook at the bottom. It currently looks like the door is just resting precariously on a narrow support. If it were to slip, there would be nothing to keep it from crashing down on your shins, feet, etc.
BTW, I am 59 and I don't have any trouble just lifting those monsters with the power windows out of the door pins or reinstalling. Maybe in 10-15 years things may change. One hand on the upper part of the window opening and the other hand on the bottom of the door. I pick them up from the outside.
Fantastic idea! Yes, please do a video on how to construct the device. This would be so handy for my wife to be able to remove the doors when I'm not around.
The door hangers are made by Teraflex, but to be honest if I had the door lifting tool before I bought the hangers I would have bought hangers that hung the doors by the pins on the hinges.
My back has taken a beating so getting the doors back on is a little hit more work. Don't have a problem lining them up, more an issue lifting them without killing my back.
I copied him. Used a laptop strap, but didn't trust the metal clips so instead used some 550 Paracord double wrapped connecting the straps to the lifter. Wrapped it with some insulation strips and black gorilla tape. Mine has a little bit more play in the strap because I'm putting them on the floor rested against a wall.
Much easier -- my back spasmed on me last week when I lifted the doors. With this - zero stress on the back.
I use the same sheet rock carrier from Home Depot. I don't have a strap for around the neck but just using the tool makes it a TON easier to put the doors on/off.
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