Move wheels up and down independently and together for a box
Hello guys,
I'm building a container that has 3 pairs of wheels. The front (left most on the picture), the middle ones and the rear ones (fixed in height).
I need a system manually operated by one person that is able to move the front and middle pairs independently, but is also able to move the 2 pairs at the same time (when I need the load platform to move up and down. The front pair needs to move independent from the middle pair to help to pull the box from the shelf, it will sit on the front and rear wheels at this point and then after pulling a bit more to the outside the middle wheels can also drop. Once the front and middle wheels are on the floor, the load platform can also go down.
When the container goes back into the shelf, the load platform needs to go up first, then the middle wheels go up and then the front wheels go up as the platform is pushed into the shelf.
I thought of two winches, but then how would they actuate together when the platform needs to go up and down? I also thought about similar system of semi-trailer landing gear with interconnect shafts and a 3 position diff in the middle. I'm struggling to find a good approach that's not over engineered and not heavy.
Some more information:
- load platform will range between 20 and 100kg.
- stroke of the wheels is 700mm.
- the container is apprx 750x600mm.
- i want the lightest possible system.
Posted Jul 8, 2026, 12:09 PM UTC