You can load and unload just about anything with the new Load Lifter for pickups from James Engineering, Olathe, Kan. It mounts in the stake pockets around the edge of the box, leaving your pickup free for normal use.

"It lets your pickup do the work it was intended to do without any straining or lifting on your part," says Larry James, inventor.

The loading platform rolls on four small wheels. You can roll it into a storeroom to load it with bags, boxes, equipment -- anything you have to move. Then, roll it back to the pickup and lift it into the box. Or, you can drive your garden tractor or snowmobile on and lift it right in."

The platform is raised by 1/2-in. nylon rope run through two winches at the end of the lifter's extended arms. The platform is winched up with a crank behind the driver's door. When it's been raised above the floor of the box, another crank is turned, drawing in the extended arms. Both cranks can be hooked to an electric motor or 3/4-in. drill.

An optional attachment lifts big round bales into the pickup. Although the extended lift capacity of the lifter is only 1,000 lbs., James says it will lift 1,500-lb. bales because it doesn't lift the whole bale at once.

Other lifting attachments include a water tank cradle, a log cradle and a dump box. The flat lifting platform comes in 4, 5, and 6-ft. widths.

"The amazing thing about this lifter is its simplicity. You don't have to drill or weld anything to mount it on your pickup. It fits in the stake pockets, which are rarely used anyway. And, it doesn't take up an inch of hauling space," says James.