One of the most difficult design challenges, and often a compromise: can you build something that is strong, lightweight, and low-cost? Most designs are a compromise - you pick two of the three, but you can't have all three.
If it's strong and low-cost, it's usually too heavy. If it's lightweight and low-cost, it's usually not strong enough. And if it is strong and lightweight, it's usually way too expensive.
We knew that an automatic pickup truck bed loader had to be all three. And much more... it had to be easily installed and removed, it had to fit a variety of truck and bed types, and it had to have a no-drill install option - because not everyone wants to drill holes in their bed!
The first step was to define where the loading power would come from. Hydraulics are the answer for very large, heavy machinery - but are excessively complex, expensive, and heavy for passenger trucks and vehicles. We knew from the beginning that we would use an electric motor - in the form of a winch. A common accessory in the off-roading and recovery world, it's essentially maintenance-free, lightweight, and incredibly strong.
The next step was designing a mechanism to enable a platform to get drawn onto and into the truck bed smoothly, without binding and without damaging the winch cable. This is easy if complexity, weight, and cost are not a concern - but again we refined and perfected the design to meet our three design goals. We're really happy with the final result.
The rest is all about loading and securing the platform - simple and effective safety latches, guiding mechanisms to keep the platform centered during loading, and other accessories to increase the weight capacity and modularity of the platform.
The complete MotoLoader system weighs under 200 pounds and can handle over 1,000 pounds of payload, and can be built for under $1,000. The MotoLoader proves that a great design can deliver on strength, lightweight, and low-cost.
