Truck Cap Cart

Author: Dave
Date: 03.08.12 - 4:03pm

Here is an idea for a modified cart/wheelbarrow made to fit a truck cap.

With my old aluminum cap, I would just dolly it around and then prop it up against the side of the garage for summer. The new fiberglass full sized one however is to heavy to store this way.

Putting it on we had 3 people and it was still heavy. In normal operation, taking the cap on and off and carting it around must be a one person job for me as I have no one to help.

The loading/unloading I already have figured out with the help of an engine lift and an adapter arm I made for working with the truck cap.

Now came the task of figuring out how to easily move it around once it was off with one person. The answer was to take the lifting frame I use to support it, and slap some wheels under it to make it double as a cart and storage rack.

I was a little bit lazy and just did a slight mod on an old trailer dolly i had. While the wheelbase is wider than a normal dolly, its still a little too narrow, but passes in a pinch.

Next thing to do will be to make an adapter arm so I can pull it with the lawn tractor and slap another tire on each outside corner for stability.

All in all though, not bad, enables one person to easily move what takes at least 2-3 guys some sweat to move normally.

Quick update (8.22.12) - After wheeling the cap out for the winter install, i decided to invest a little more time and add the extra two outrigger wheels to make it easier to cart around. 2 - $10 cart wheels from tractor supply and about half hour of fabrication to weld up some basic axels with metal from the scrap bin and were in business. (Tractor supply wanted $65 for 1 wheel with a mounting bracket! humm 20 bucks and 30 minutes labor, or 130 dollars. Glad i have the tools to do it myself!)

One more thing worth mentioning. In the bracket shown above, the bolts are long enough to go through the hub and get the nut on but I can only put the nut on about half way. Plenty secure strength wise, but I didnt want to loose the nuts in my yard if they worked loose. Since the nuts are so deep, half a nut depth is still the perfect amount to insert a basically a large set screw to jamb it in place. I took another bolt the same thread, cut off a half inch piece, notched the end with a hack saw for a screw driver to turn it and voila. One giant ass set-screw to work just like a jamb nut. :)

Update 4.21.13 - last fall I welded a ball mount on the lawn mower to move a trailer, today when I took the cap off (see video in truck cap cart II post) I decided it was time to put a hitch coupler on the truck cap cart as well. Pretty quick and dirty, but its just being towed around the yard and couldnt see wasting the metal or time to weld up anything more formal. Worked perfect.