YOHKOH 4x4 FT Overhead Garage Storage Rack – Heavy-Duty Ceiling Lift System with Hand Crank & Secure Lock, Adjustable Storage for Workshop & Basement

Can be a little tricky if your ceiling has dry wall up. Finding the joists and making sure you hold the template up level and plum . I got it up by myself but fixed the brackets to some 2x4's first and then held them up to the ceiling to screw them into the joists. But once up, it goes up/down with ease. Be sure to use a drill to or else you'll be turning the crank for days. Very smooth.

It came with everything I needed to make it work for a pickup topper hoist. I mounted it to 3- 2x6s and bolted it to my shop ceiling and presto! very strong and handy. I will repurpose the rest of the unit for shelving.

Really like it, I like that it can hold up to 400 lbs, and this one lowers all the way to the floor even with tall ceilings. Thinking about buying another one. The only suggestion is that I would purchase your own lag bolts. The ones provided tend to twist off when using an impact drill.

The assembly was rather difficult because the template that they send is part of the shipping box. very difficult to lay out and get accurate. you want this accuracy so that the cable will feed on to the main shaft in a nice even line and keep the unit level when you lift it. other than that I'm very happy with this unit we have 300 lb of Christmas decorations on it and it is perfect.

The unit is installed and functioning, and performing as advertised. Overall, I am pleased. I gave this a 4-star rating because two improvements could make this a 5-star item. First, a template is included with the unit, which, when stuck to the ceiling, identifies where to install screws for the mounting brackets. The template is not aligned to standard 16 or 24" on-center ceiling joists. The mounting holes are spaced 47 1/4 apart, and in my case did not line up with the joists to adequately get a good bite into the wood. I was able to move the holes 3/4 of an inch to make it work but it would have been better had the template been drawn correctly. Second, once installed, the unit is raised and lowered with a hand crank. Each rotation of the crank lifts the unit very slightly. This makes raising heavy loads easy but requires hundreds of rotations to lift the unit from the floor to the ceiling, making it impractical for anything but infrequent use and long-term storage. A method to hook up the crank to a drill would alleviate this issue and improve the product.

The design of installation is bad. The spread of the bar is only 47” so too short to properly land on studs or rafters. This made installation a horrible pain and modifications had to occur. The shelf works well but just installing it according to the template would have had it just through drywall, not safe. If you have some know how they do work well.