Retractable Garage Loft Stairs Using A Harbor Freight Hoist

My solution to having a small shop and not wanting to use up a lot of room building traditional stairs up to the loft.
I used a Harbor freight hoist to raise and lower the staircase and some block mounted pillow bearings for the pivot. It works great and I haven't had any issues in the year its been since I built them!
Stairs were assembling using leftover 2x10s from the loft and were fastened with 6" LedgerLok Fasteners, so it's stiff and heavy...
Some of the stuff I use on the channel to help out with the builds (some amazon affiliate and some are just random companies with great products!)
Main tools I use:
Langmuir Crossfire Pro Plasma table
Miller 211 MIG Welder: amzn.to/2UL7hX9
Lincoln Square Wave 200 TIG Welder: amzn.to/3fk4bTD
Milwaukee M12 Stubby Impact (Huge timesaver): amzn.to/392RsU9
Milwaukee 1/2 Cordless Drill: amzn.to/3kPx7Uv
Milwaukee: Horizontal Bandsaw: amzn.to/3nDYa78 (with SwagOffroad conversion)
Makita 1/2 Impact: amzn.to/3nGVDJx
Dewalt Angle Grinder: amzn.to/3fkZoBf
Bucktool Direct Drive Belt Sander: amzn.to/3pNQmBG
Jackson Safety Welding Hood: amzn.to/2HnmgDP
JDsquared Model 3 Bender: www.jd2.com/model-32-bender
Company For Bender Mods/Fabrication Tools: www.swagoffroad.com/
Filming Equipment:
Canon 80D: amzn.to/35RqxbV
Sony ZV1: amzn.to/3nQC8yl
GoPro Hero: amzn.to/392bvlA
Canon 10-18mm Lens: amzn.to/3lS6FLt
Rode Video Micro: amzn.to/35SlZlE
Manfrotto Tripod: amzn.to/36VjgXX
Joby Tripod: amzn.to/392Chuj
GoPro Tripod: amzn.to/3nOb3Mb
If you want to stay up to date on all the progress make sure you follow my Instagram: / kris_wintercorn
Like and Follow on FaceBook: / dirtygarageracing

[@kurtbayer9513]

Great job, most people don’t show all of the details like you have done. The stairs are my next project for the loft.

[@benjaminreinhardt259]

I like the support for the lifted position of the stairs! I do not like things suspended above my head, but that solution takes care of the issue. I built a finished staircase in my garage to get up to the loft, just didn't want to deal with raising and lowering a ladder. Now that I have the loft, I probably go up there at least twice each time I go out to the garage.

[@rocooper5686]

Love this! I've been wanting to put raisable stairs in for my sleeping loft but was really hung up on having a hefty hinge system rather than gate hinges, this is a perfect solution though I'm annoyed I didn't think of this myself. Great work!

[@jamesbell6765]

Wow, well done! Hoping to do something similar with my barn loft buildout soon.

[@brandonkisor3375]

good stuff I think the cable connected only on one side is wobbly without any additional cross angle bracing but if you’ll twist the drill clutch tight around your bit then one click back it locks in place I think you tightened it a few times on the second mounting but could be wrong thanks for a cool video

[@aussietruckphotosandmodels8510]

That worked well. I've been thinking about a mezz floor in my big shed, then couple of weeks ago a customer asked if I could paint another Kenworth for him.... cant have it both ways.... Hill climb on Saturday, Bet it rains again....You've hit the big time now, 3 sets of adds per video.

[@DirtyGarage]

Lol yeah KZbin is a killer with the ads recently, though I think I get like 1 penny per ad they run on a video. Hopefully it stays dry for the hillclimb

[@arosales1634]

That’s great good job

[@brucemalm1420]

Great video. Would also like to know what hoist weight rating you used

[@TheChumzo]

First! Just want to say I'm a huge fan of the channel, and you've definitely inspired me to start getting into SCCA rally and eventually ARA rally. (Still working on how to convince my gf to become my co-driver lol)

[@DirtyGarage]

That's awesome, I'm trying to convince my wife to join me for another rally coming up. We'll see if it happens

[@johnyoung3561]

Which hoist did you buy from harbor freight?

[@TaylorMadeMoment]

For the supports in the lifted position, if someone was an idiot like me and could not weld, what could I buy as a support? Lol

[@gmr5480]

Curious why you put the treads so far apart?

[@Hudjunababa]

Saw the launch control that just dropped, that damage looked bananas and the repair was impressive!

[@DirtyGarage]

It was quite the fix, but it was a lot of fun getting the car back in the race

[@deezlpwer07]

I am not much of a race car guy. I have a shop with a mezzanine like yours. You cut the 2 by 10s twice at different angles at the hinge point. Could I Ask what those 2 different angles were? Great shop great video. Thank you for sharing

[@briansoteros2987]

What angle did you use for stair treads and how did you calculate it?

[@fortyoddyears5295]

So impressed! Please come make mine.

[@SakuraMunsta2]

Dang man wish I had a garage like yours with the high ceiling haha I could just live in my garage. Oh btw I think I saw you on the newest episode of Subaru Launch Control 4:54 into the video.

[@DirtyGarage]

Thanks, it’s been a decent process getting it to where it is but I’m finally starting to really appreciate working in it. And yeah I was in it a few times, STPR was a hectic event this year.

[@victor7574]

An alternate tread design would work better for a stairs as steep as this one.

[@gmr5480]

I went with 8 1/4 on my treads. It's a lot of stairs, but makes it easier when carrying heavy loads to the loft.

[@StalePhish]

Don't know the full layout of the garage, but it seems the easy way out would've been to extend the floor over the doorway and then have the staircase permanently on the left of the door 😅. Awesome job nonetheless. Overengineered solutions are usually the most fun!

[@DirtyGarage]

The problem was with it permanently down it takes up a lot of valuable floor and wall space. Making it drop down in front of the doorway allowed me to use space that would normally be open and not take up any room. If I had gone with permanent stairs I wouldn’t have had room for the lift I put in.

[@a.benaway_racing]

What was the design reason behind mounting the hinges differently at the top of the ladder?

[@DirtyGarage]

That was just an initial mistake, I ended up going back and checking my drawing in Fusion and the mounts needed to be below the top step to align properly with the top of the stairs and not cause the bearing to have to be modified.

[@88chrisfrink]

Have you thought about adding some angle or blocking under the treads? A few screws into end grain doesn't seem super strong. Ps are you still living in VT?

[@DirtyGarage]

I think the two inch drywall screws are holding just fine.. I’m not in Vermont anymore though

[@corollabaldera6813]

What kind of mig machine do you use?

[@DirtyGarage]

I use a Miller 211, it's been great since I've gotten it. I would like to get another machine that allows you to specify exactly what IPM and Voltage you're set at, rather than how this is with knobs that don't really mean anything.

[@corollabaldera6813]

Thank you for answering my question you have a great channel and very informative. Thank you for spreading your knowledge