Crank-Style "Cover Remover"

Crank-Style "Cover Remover" FARM HOME Miscellaneous 28-5-32 "Taking the cover off our septic tank is a lot easier since I came up with this hand-cranked cover remover," says Clark Carpenter, Hamilton, Mont. "One day I came home from work and my wife had the car by the well and a chain attached to the septic tank's concrete cover. She was trying to get the cover back on the tank. The cover is 3 1/2 in. thick and 34 in. in diameter and, at about 150 lbs., was too heavy for her to move," says Carpenter, who decided to come up with a way to make the job easy. He drilled a 1/2-in. dia. hole in the center of the cover and inserted an I-bolt. Then he dug a 2-ft. deep hole next to the concrete riser and drilled a hole in the side of the riser to anchor a bolt that goes through a 4-in. pipe sunk in the ground. Another pipe pivots on top of the pipe in the ground and supports a horizontal lift bar with a crankshaft on the end. The crank connects to a hook that lifts the cover. "It picks the cover up cleanly - I just swivel it off to the side, then swivel it back in place. I leave the crank right on it," notes Carpenter. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Clark Carpenter, 605 Alvista Loop, Hamilton, Mont. 59840 (ph 406 363-3827).

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