# Closing the Hayloft Door



## mystang89 (Oct 10, 2012)

Ok, first, I guess this is the best place to put this. Second, my curiosity got the better of me. I've always been interested in being able to do things the way my grandfathers father was able to and when I moved into this house last year it came complete with an old barn. I noticed a large hayloft door on the front of the barn that I've been wondering how it worked. Yesterday I decided to open it. It had a long rope attached to it so I slowly lowered the door. As the door lowered, I was raised off the ground. Fun times. I had no choice but to let go of the rope which then let the door slam open, breaking the windows on the bottom at the same time.

The children and I tried to raise it again to no avail. Below are the pictures of what I'm working with.



  





The door isn't as heavy as it looks but gravity and the law of physics are working against me. As you can see in the picture....no windows now.


  





This is the tract that runs the entire length of the barn which the pulley assist slides on.








This is a picture of the pulley assist that is there. Right now the pulley is currently "stuck" on a flange that is on the track. The flange keeps the pulley assist from moving when you are using it correctly. You can see the two pulleys on both sides but there is also one that belongs in the middle which is pictured below.








The pulley on the right hand is the pulley that goes in the middle. There are two metal clips that hold this middle pulley in. When the rope is snaked through the pulleys and you pull on the rope it will lift this middle pulley up. When the middle pulley is lifted up it pushes the clips out which allows the pulley assist to move freely on the tract. Right now the pulley assist is currently "stuck" on the flange because this middle piece isn't in the assist system and I can't reach it at the moment.

Here is a link to what I "think" the barn is supposed to look like. http://www.coolmodelengines.com/html_pages/barn_carrier_descript.html

You'll see a little less than half way down the page that it talks about a support cable and return wire. I don't know what either of those are nor where they would attach too. I don't know how this pulley assist system would be able to pull this door up either. If I pull on the rope in order to pull the door up then the middle pulley will be pushed up thereby releasing the clips which are holding the assist system to flange that is on the track. When the assist system is moved backwards towards the person pulling then physics makes it near impossible to lift the door because your pulley is further back than the fulcrum of the door.

This is another picture that I've found which has the ropes laced around the assist system differently than it was here and differently than I've seen.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Cl...y-Pulley-Barn-Rope-/152450422594?roken=cUgayN

Is there anyone who has better knowledge of this than me. How can i close this door the way it was done many years ago? The person who lived here before us said the only way they managed to close the door was by having a person on the ground taking a long 2x4 and raising the door with another person in the loft pulling the rope. It was then tied off to the beams in the loft. I'm NEAR positive this was not the way it was done back when. Thanks very much.

P.S There are other pulleys hanging around along with hooks as well which look similar to the wooden pulley on the left of that picture with both pulleys on the tire.


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## melli (May 7, 2016)

I think your links show how door was attached to pulleys...very cool you have the OEM pulleys/hay trolley. 
Having some weight on end of system will assist you in closing and opening door in future (like an elevator). Sorry, I have never played with a system like that.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Get a horse.


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## mystang89 (Oct 10, 2012)

Wow, I don't know where you found that video but that's really nice! Thanks.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I am currently building a barn. The plan is to have a second floor, gambrel roof, and a hay trolley. Thus I have been researching hay trolleys. Got about half done before winter.





















I don't plan to fill the second floor with hay but I don't want to carry heavy things up the stairs.


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## mystang89 (Oct 10, 2012)

That's really cool. Good luck on your project. I was taking down a tobacco barn last year but those are a completely different set up than a livestock barn plus I'm born and raised in the city so I know only what YouTube teaches me lol. Wish I knew some of the terminology that made searching this stuff easier. I didn't even know it was called a hay trolleys and typing "cool old barn thingy" in the search engine didn't pull up what I needed lol.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Interesting thread. For one thing, I had no idea that the “mow” in hay mow rhymed with “cow”. Luckily I’ve always called ours a hayloft. 
The trolley thing is pretty cool. We always used a hay elevator which is kind of a pain.
Nothing keeps hay nice like a loft or mow.


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## ASVPRock (Mar 24, 2021)

What a complicated project!


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

That video was way cool... have a friend f/Fairfield I'm going to tell her about it.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

That door and carriage was meant to be operated by a team of horses. My grand father had a barn with doors at each end, and doors on each side in the middle. From about age six or seven it was my job to drive the team. I would walk back and forth with the team, and finally riding the near horse, about one hundred feet away from the barn. The team pulled straight away from the barn or backed up toward the barn. This opened and closed the doors, and lifted the loose hay into the barn. I wish we had thought to take some pictures.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

Update. I still have to build the cupola but the base is built already. I'll put a weather vane on top. Needs another coat of paint. I'm also making 2 Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs to go on either side of the second floor door. There is a thread titled "progress" in the construction forum that shows how I built the barn. A thread titled "Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs" in the families forum shows my work painting them this winter. Still not done with the second big one.


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