Raising the Roof on a box trailer...

weid · Post by **weid** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:30 am

I have an 8 foot long x 5 1/2 foot wide x 4 Foot tall box trailer with no roof.

The plan is putting a roof on the trailer with telescoping legs so that the roof can be raised and lower to Use and Protect a soundsystem.

I've been told that hydraulics would be economically out ofthe question but I'm afraid that 4 legs and a wood roof would end up being too heavey for 1 or 2 people to safely raise and lower.

my gut tells me since the sides are 4 feet I would probably need about a foot of overlap so the legs could extend to 7 feet total without having to nest more than 2 parts of the legs within itself... I'm afraid everytime you add another nested peice of leg the structure may not be as strong.

Any thoughs or advice would be great....
John

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:26 am

While it'd be extra cool to be able to just throw a switch and have the hydraulics, pneumatics, linear actuators or what-have-you raise the roof automatically, it'd be a lot more cost-effective to take a page from the "Domes" or "Shelter" threads and make a bent-PVC or geodesic top. Hell, it's gonna be up all week, right? It may as well be sturdy. My concern would be that any big single piece of metal or wood that you'd use to make a solid roof AND that's rigged to move WILL move, when you least expect it to. Like on the highway, or in a big playa-gust.
If it were mine to play with, I'd whip up a 5.5' diameter 2-frequency dome with "stretcher struts" in the middle to give me the extra 2.5' I'd need to cover the full length...Whip up some brackets and loops along the sides of the trailer to anchor the dome and tarps/cover, and voila'! Done well, you could probably even drive around like that...I'd check local clearances and regulations first, though. In the end, you'd have (mostly) nine feet of height, and enough strength in the EMT struts to hang speakers, lights, hammocks....And you can scramble up on top and watch the burn! If you're not familiar with geodesics, there's plenty of support around here. And with a little help, you can set up or knock down in about an hour.

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:48 am

And with a little help, you can set up or knock down in about an hour

and a little practice pre-playa!

weid · Post by **weid** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:53 am

thats a cool idea that I hadn't thought of... but I also like the idea of the trailer being semi secure so I could leave it ina parkinglot and not have things walk off since it's an opentop trailer...

my thought was based off an EZ-Up I have where I basically weld/attach a tube or square in each corner of the trailer with a matted tube or square in side that with matching holes cut up and down it... that way the roof would have pins locking it down... but you are rght if something fails then the whole thing could come off.

I'll give it more thought...
Thanks

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:25 am

I started out with a 5x12 flat bed trailer for my project. I considered a raisable roof and beyond what I already know how to do I have friends with experience in pneumatics, hydraulics, and even mechanical lift systems that he designed for lifting boats out of the water for winter. That being said I ended up giving up on all of those ideas and stuck with a hard box due to weight and power requirements. It's definitely possible to build something, I ended up with a prototype hydraulic design that I could hand crank up if the pumps failed...I'm big on failsafe / backup systems. Anyway the idea got scrapped...I have to pull whatever I build 3600 miles and weight starts becoming a concern once gas prices go North of $2.50 a gallon for me. Also it was sucking up too much time to build it and I wanted to move on to other things.

In short I can't offer much besides a wish for good luck, rarely has a project offered me as much frustration as the adjustable height roof did.