I have been picking away at a project in the tractor shed to make more floor space available.
Luckily there is some vertical clearance so the only way to go it up ↑.
Over the past several months I have been messing around with a way to get the lawn tractor
up and out of the way for the winter. One was to make hangers and purchase a set of forks for
the John Deere. The only issue was limited room to move the tractor and running the diesel for
a while in there wouldn't be fun. I modeled some 2x8 ramps and a platform but didn't like that.
I don't want something too permanent. Final iteration testing was with my truck ramps.
This seemed to be a good plan. I mounted a length of unistrut to the wall so the ramps can
hook into the slot and be adjustable side to side. It's bolted about 42 inches up from the floor.
The longest ramps could find on sale at Tractor Supply were still rather steep. Next up I
grabbed a hand winch off amazon. Mounted to the extended piece of unistut, it goes to a
snatch block mounted on center above the ramps. The cable from the winch runs up from
where you see it under the window then 90 degrees down the center of the ramps to the front
of the mower.
Once I made some adjustment and got everything mounted the winch pulled the
mower right up the ramps.
Since I didn't want anything interfering with the floor space I bolted a large eyebolt through the center
carry beam 6x10 and added a small chain fall. A length of unistrut tied the ends of the ramps together
and has another eyebolt for the lifting hook.
Using the chain fall the ramps are lifted from the ground to slightly above level and mower rolls
slowly forward an inch or so and bumps into the far wall.
I will add some safety chains to either side of the ramp near the rear wheels so the chainfall
doesn't stay loaded all winter.