I sometimes use this portable gantry (made from scrap metal: a 5" Aluminum I-beam, some 1.5" straight square tubes, and some 2" square tube T's, with common 5/8" hitch pins to adjust the height) with a
12V ATV winch for outdoor lifting. It could have even been powered by the truck's own battery, but I wanted to be able to set the bed down and drive the truck without it. To lift pickup beds, I use a common 2x4 cut slightly longer than the width of the bed under the lip (so it can't spin in the bed) with a heavy screw eye in the center. A few test-lifts to find the balance point take less than a minute before it can be lifted high.
IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it.
Lifting the bed this high is NOT necessary simply to swap bolts. But this truck was getting a lot of other work done.
