chevynut
12-31-2014, 02:39 PM
I bought a rotisserie a few years ago from a fellow tri5 enthusiast for less than the steel and parts to build one myself. When I assembled it, I realized it was awfully tall so I decided I needed to do something about it. The center of rotation was about 62" off the ground, and with the arms around 14" below that my car would have to be at 4 feet off the ground to load it onto the rotisserie. I don't like having it that high off the ground. So I wanted to drop it as far as possible while still being able to raise it up or 360 degree rotation. The answer is to modify it and add hydraulic jacks.
I don't know the brand of the rotisserie, but it seems really well built and has a nice safety feature in the rotating head assembly. There are two locking bolts, and one of them goes into a groove so the head can't come apart when the bolts are loosened to rotate the body. I don't know if all rotisseries have this, but I thought it was a good idea.
3910 3911
The problem with this rotisserie is that the rotating head is on TOP of the vertical post. This means there's no way to lower it as I'd like to without locating it forward of the post. So the first order of business is to cut off the heads from the posts.
3912
After cutting through the welds with my horizontal bandsaw, I ground the remaining weld beads off of the posts and cleaned up the underside of the heads. The posts are only 1/8" wall but they're 3" square tubing. Since a bare tri5 body only weighs around 600 pounds at the most, that's only 300 per end and I think the 3" x .120 tubing should be sufficient. I think most guys over-build rotisseries anyhow. :)
Now I need to pick up some 3 1/2" x 3/16" wall square tubing to slide over the posts. I already have the two 3 ton HF jacks which only set me back about $100 for the pair.
I found out that you need a minimum of about 41" between the pivot point and the top of the rotisserie legs, and I plan to make this one go to about 44".
I don't know the brand of the rotisserie, but it seems really well built and has a nice safety feature in the rotating head assembly. There are two locking bolts, and one of them goes into a groove so the head can't come apart when the bolts are loosened to rotate the body. I don't know if all rotisseries have this, but I thought it was a good idea.
3910 3911
The problem with this rotisserie is that the rotating head is on TOP of the vertical post. This means there's no way to lower it as I'd like to without locating it forward of the post. So the first order of business is to cut off the heads from the posts.
3912
After cutting through the welds with my horizontal bandsaw, I ground the remaining weld beads off of the posts and cleaned up the underside of the heads. The posts are only 1/8" wall but they're 3" square tubing. Since a bare tri5 body only weighs around 600 pounds at the most, that's only 300 per end and I think the 3" x .120 tubing should be sufficient. I think most guys over-build rotisseries anyhow. :)
Now I need to pick up some 3 1/2" x 3/16" wall square tubing to slide over the posts. I already have the two 3 ton HF jacks which only set me back about $100 for the pair.
I found out that you need a minimum of about 41" between the pivot point and the top of the rotisserie legs, and I plan to make this one go to about 44".