Quote Originally Posted by Relentless
We used an M10 rod and having lifted our sofa at least 3 times and been in 10 battles, the thread is good as new. Depends on your ratios I suppose. We could lift a featherweight comfortably.

As for drive, I'd agree that drills are a good starting point. We used (and will use) four 12v cheap drills with 100mm wheels, over-volted to 18v. The result is plenty powerful, and it can do 10mph.

If you go the drill route, I can't help but say, get all metal gears for the gearboxes. We didn't, and this happened: http://s1088.photobucket.com/albums/i32 ... 012402.jpg

our ones were gradually wearing away after our second event and several big lifts the thread sheered right off and jammed our lifter open