Storage - pallet rack height and snowmobile lift ideas

[ahkim]

Hello all, I'm looking for feedback on 2 items:

1. How tall should I go with my pallet rack shelving? 8' or 10' tall? Maybe it doesn't really matter.

2. If I can figure out a way to get one of my snowmobiles on top, I would go with 8' tall racking. The question is, how do I get the snowmobile up there? I don't want to use a ceiling hoist system as it'll likely crack some of the drywall joints. Could I put a winch on the far right side and pull it up?

 

[whateg01]

Buy a telehandler from zkdiesel! I might think about something like a 4 post lift but smaller just for lifting one machine up, then slide it onto the shelf. Then use the lift to pick up the second one and leave it on the lift. But I like to complicate stuff

 

[Innovate1]

Height really depends on the height of what you put on top shelf. How heavy is the snow mobile? I have seen lifts for camper shells that are just a manual boat winch with the winch mounted on the wall and then the cable has four cables spliced to it. Those go over 4 pulleys at the corners of the load. Put 2 x 4s under shell, attach cables, and lift. Maybe do something similar - put the snow mobile under the rack, attach the pulleys to the top of the racking, and pull it up through the racking (if the racking is wide enough - no idea how wide a sled is).

Did you search for what others have done? Here's one right here on GJ.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...let-racking-in-garage-snowmobile-lift.497321/

I don't need to store anything that big on my racking but I have 14' ceiling and found a 12' rack. Great to using the space but difficult to get anything very heavy up there. I have some light bulky stuff so it's up there. For anything heavy some sort of elevator would be great. Maybe some sort of lift using my scaffold on wheels. Bet someone has done something like that.

 

[moab11]

If you can get a 12ft long ramp or so, then you should be able to just drive the sleds up

 

[kaymccampbell]

 

[wssix99]

You can also get the material lifts ^ in less expensive manual crank models.

As you measure, you will want combustible materials 2' from the ceiling, so that's something to think about.

I put my heavy equipment on my lift, put it on a custom pallet and move it over to a heavy duty rolling table and use cribbing to elevate it off the table. I then roll it over to the rack and slide the pallet over onto the rack.

 

[cvairwerks]

I'd buy two 12' and one 8' vertical. Trim the tops of the 12's if needed, just enough to stand up and use them at the ends. Then I'd secure the tops of the 12's to the wall as well as bolting the bottoms of all three to the floor. With that setup, wouldn't be any problem with both sleds on the top, if you can safely get them up there.

 

[TurnipTruck]

Many of my former coworkers are serious snowmobilers (snow machines, up here), five of whom have entered the IronDog, one won it. Most have mezzanines and electric forklifts. A friend put 6’ forks on his forklift and stabs them longways on his shop bathroom. One I know of has pallet racking, but it’s tougher finding 12’ beams to fit the longtracks. I do see lots of enclosed trailers used as summer storage and winter transport.
I personally would not use a cable hoist.

 

[no704]

Looks like you have plenty of room for a walk behind pallet stacker or a stand up forklift.

 

[kwb]

Pallet racking is meant for Pallets.
Pallets get moved with forklifts.

 

[Renegade1LI]

No trailer? For the past 25 years I've kept the sleds & all the gear in the trailer. I try to put them away ready to go for next season, never had an issue. I always figure a sled at 4' wide x 10' long x 4' high with a weight of 500lbs, add a little more height for lifting off the shelf & the suspension .