I am in need of thoughts and ideas on how to make my bed cover easier to open. The bed cover I have is a 1x1 inch steel frame welded to angle iron that rests on the bed and I covered it with galvanized sheet metal.








So needless to say it is heavy but also heavy duty. I needed it to be able to camp on and carry heavy loads on.
I have a hood release mechanism off the supra my motor came from for a latch with the cable run to the inside of the truck.



My problem is now that I am getting older I dont want to have to lift up this heavy a** top everytime I want to get in the back of the truck. In the past I used hatchback shocks that came off the supra but these tend to fail after a month or so because the bed cover is to heavy and they get expensive in time and money replacing all the time.

So I am asking if anyone has any novel ideas or suggestions on how to make this easier for me? I had wondered about having some type of crank mechanism I could set up to operate through the fender or tailgate but haven't figured it out yet.

 

Wow that looks heavy. Gas struts would be my first guess. Try to find some heavy duty ones if you can. You may end up needing some sort of spring assist also, something similar to the spring loaded hood hinges you see on some cars or old flip up garage doors. Good luck.

 

Hood springs sounds like a good idea highonpottery. Perhaps off a big old american car like a Cadillac or Buick. Thanks for the idea. Im going to look into this.
Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Exactly. My Oldsmobile has this style of hinges

 

Gas struts will do it and will be much easier to setup then the old hood hinges. Get some from a minivan or SUV rear door and they will lift it just fine.
I went to the junk yard and grabbed a pair of struts and mounts from a ford aerostar or windstar for an above bed rack on my truck and they lift up the loaded rack with no issues. I went with those ones because they mounted with a single threaded ball stud and I figured if they could lift that heavy rear door, my rack wouldn't be an issue. You can also check out http://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/ and get what ever length and lifting force you want.

 

Thanks for the link Robert!

 

If the struts aren't enough, maybe a ratcheting winch hooked to those eye bolts (that would also add some extra safety when it's open).

Or, throw in a hinged support (like some old desks have), put a ratcheting winch on the interior bed, and have it pull the hinge straight.