BROPHY CAMPER CABLE JACKS TO REMOVE FLIPPAC?

homemade

Adventurer
Quick question, I was hoping someone had some experience removing truck caps with cable jacks like the Brophy unit. My garage door isn't tall enough to get the truck with the flippac in, so a ceiling hoist won't work. The bed rails on a F350 are 58" off the ground so safely removing the cap is an issue. These jacks are really old school and hard to find a retailer but JC Whitney sells them and they have one that can lift up to 67".

Anyone use these to remove a truck cap?
 

camper357

Observer
cable jacks

I used to have 3 of those style cable jacks to unload the last panther camper shell I had. The shell only weighed about 700 lbs, but it was nerve-wracking to use the jacks. I never had an issue, but I did not have much faith in them. I was worried that if I bumped the camper that if would fall off the jacks. I'm not sure what other options are available, but cable jacks would not be my first choice.

How much too tall is your truck? Could you simply deflate the tires? Is the shell simply light enough to manually slide it off the back of your truck onto a slightly lower dolly?
 

homemade

Adventurer
Thanks for the input, my garage door height is about 82”, the truck with flippack is over 90”. The camper is too heavy and too high off of the ground to roll if off safely even with a strong helper. It would be probably be easy enough for smaller trucks but not one this high up. Plus, sliding or rolling it off would damage the camper seal tape. I did give it a try lifting it off with my regular Reico screw jacks rigged to Grizzly type saw horses and 2x6 lumber but that didn’t work well for a lot of reasons. I ordered the Brophy jacks, I do sometimes see truck caps being stored in yards on this type of jack so it must be stable enough to sit out in the wind and weather without falling off. I’ve gotten pretty good at backing my truck under my camper so I’m not too worried about bumping it when moving the truck. I’m not sure if all of the flippacks are like mine but there is a 3”x½” plastic spacer board under the mounting lip, I think to give enough clearance over the truck cab. Because the lip of the cap is about 5.5” wide that gives a couple inch lip that is ½” above the truck rails so hopefully it will be easy to place the jack under this lip and lift it off without damaging the seal.

I bought better triple bulb seal that I am going to use to replace the cheap stuff FRP used and I am going to stick the seal to the camper mating surface instead of to the truck. Getting the old seal off is not easy. The lid hinges are also rusting at the caulking where they enter the lid and top so I am going to cut out the old caulk, clean the rust and paint with rust inhibitor and re-caulk.

I lived in Salem for a few years, good memories.
 

homemade

Adventurer
The Brophy jacks work great. I bought new but they show up used sometimes, just not when I needed them. I welded up some extensions for the lift bracket so there is clearance between the jacks and the truck and I replaced the steel cable with longer stainless cable so it lowers to within about 15" of the ground. Exactly what I wanted, only takes one person to remove cap, stable, sturdy, lift high, lower low - great product.
 

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