Racor - PHL-1R, Garage Ceiling Storage Rack Lift

This is a great product. I highly recommend it for its intended use, as well as for its use in my "modified" fashion (that I will explain below). First of all, if you have the space in your garage to install one, you should, because we all know how full a garage gets with extraneous items. This way, you can store the off-season items you don't need, and rotate it out for things you do. That's what most people do. For me, I wanted a place to store my jeep soft top parts when I had the hard top on. These parts are fragile and expensive, so I wanted them safe and out of the way. As a bonus, I also found a way to hang the hard top, but I'll get to that later. First, the installation. You "could" conceivably do this alone, but it would be a challenge. Better to get a friend (or two) to help. I had my father in law and a buddy, and it went up in a snap. Assembling the shelf is a snap. Where it gets tricky is installing the mounts into the ceiling joists. Make sure you've got a stud finder. The mounts need to go into the studs with 10 screws per mount, evenly spaced. So if you want to install it in a particular orientation and the joists run the other way, you'll have to put up 2x4s first, on the ceiling, and then install the mounts. Luckily for me, the joists ran the correct way for me to install my Racor, which had to be oriented with the winch mechanism on the side (so that I could pull my jeep in and still access it). Think about that orientation before you start installing. Anyway, having a friend help you by holding the mount as you drill pilot holes and insert the screws is very helpful. Went up quick that way. Make sure you do drill pilot holes first, else it will be a lot more work. Also, make sure you measure correctly when installing the second mount, so that it lines up properly. Once the mounts are installed, snaking the cables and attaching to the shelf is no problem. The winch mechanism can be used by hand, but you'll get a real workout, particularly with a load. A drill works great to automate that task, and I highly recommend it. So, for me, I did some mods. I wrapped the edges of the Racor in pipe insulation to provide padding and weight distribution. Then I wove some cam buckle straps through the flooring, leaving the hooks hanging down the sides. So with these hooks, I can "grab" the Jeep hardtop when I back up my jeep right underneath the Racor. One person can then undo the roof bolts, lift each corner, and hook up the Cam strap. Once all 4 are hooked up, I raise the Racor a few inches, and drive the Jeep out. Then I lower the Racor again, adjust and tighten up the straps, and raise it to the ceiling, giving me Hardtop storage without sacrificing valuable square footage in the garage. Bonus that I can store my Jeep soft top parts on the shelf, out of the way, in the winter when the hardtop is on. You can spend more to buy a "custom" jeep roof system that gives you no other storage, or use this with some mods and have a dual purpose system. The roof only weighs ~125 lbs, so plenty of margin for safety. Highly recommend this versatile product.

I had bought 2 of these nearly 4 years ago and installed them in my garage to save space. I recently purchased another 2 of them. I now have 4 total units spread out across a 2 car garage. They fit perfectly the width of my garage and the high ceiling allows for ample clearance for storage. I use them to store 2 car luggage boxes, 5 rolls of astro-turf that I plan to install later, 3 inflatable kayaks, oars, life jackets and other accessories. I use some tie down strap to keep the objects secured on top so they don't shift and fall down. I have the attachment to use a power drill but I currently use the manual hand crank. The hand crank works well and is smooth operation. The units feel well constructed and sturdy. On one of the units I had a missing part. I emailed support and the customer service lady was exceptional. She sent me the parts manual to me, got the part number from me and immediately placed an order in her system. The process was quick and painless and I had the part delivered to me within a week. Installation was fairly straightforward but I added wood cross beams from Home Depot to make my installation extra secure for load bearing. These are great value for the build and quality. I would get these again.

This is a pretty good device. I agree with the other posters that Racor has gotten a bit cheaper on the construction, but the only piece I'm concerned about is the new bearing. It is a simple nylon ring, where the previous model had a nice metal bearing. The remainder of the device still seems sturdy enough. This is my second install, and I thought I'd pass along a few things I've learned during my 2 installs. 1) Unless you can see the joists, use a 2x4 and some 5" lag bolts. Every time I've tried to install without using a 2x4 under it, I get a surprise. In my most recent case, the studs are mounted offset in one section, so I don't have a straight line to mount the bracket. That's really annoying when it's the last 3 lag bolts, and you have to take the ENTIRE thing down to re-install. Because of the way it's made you have to mount both on a 2x4. I lost about 3 hours work this weekend starting over. 2) Install the brackets before you install the winder. It's very easy to install after the bracket is on the ceiling, and it reduces the weight SIGNIFICANTLY. If you're doing all this work over your head, the winder is heavy and makes it hard to hold that half over your head reliably. 3) If you have a high ceiling (Which is what makes this item attractive) replace the cables with longer ones. On a 12' ceiling the until will only go down about waist high. That makes it much harder to load heavy items with it swinging all over the place. With longer cables you can drop it all the way to the ground. I bought model 348277 (50' coated cable) from the big blue home store. Good strength rated and vinyl coated. Downside is it adds a little over $36 to the project. I use the excess cable to wrap around about 18 inches from the platform. This helps secure items.

Packaging was horrible second hand bags used for screws and washers etc which led to trhem spilling out as they had been teared and reused the box was ripped in several places leading to parts all over the delivery van least amount of foam was used so parts were scratched (only paint though) there was no clear packing order parts were just dumped in. the product works fine though so a massive down for the packaging and hassle.

Shipping was very fast and was surprised to see the package 2 days later. Installation is easy unless you have to mount it across joists. Overall it is a great product and works well.

Great little lift. I used it to make an adjustable bed for a camper and it works great. With a little tweaking, it raises and lowers a queen size bed from the floor to the roof in a toy hauler at a fraction of the cost of the fancy electric ones.

Installed this for my 2004 TJ hard top. Easy install. Took my friend and I 30 mins to install. Super happy with this product as it allows me to remove jeep hard top solo in a minute. Added bonus is that you can store the doors and additional equipment on the rack. Love it.

Assembly instructions are easy to follow, lots of pictures to assist, only a couple of basic tools are required. The only thing I would suggest is to lay a 4' x 4' sheet of 1/4 or 3/8 plywood on top of the metal platform to maintain the rigidity of the metal rod platform and spread the weight. If you place any heavier items in the center without it, the platform tends to bow down a bit. Better safe than sorry. Otherwise a good product and would recommend buying it.