I am truly baffled here...I can get a villager to the top of the lift in the rain, but how to get him to the ledge is a real mystery! How do I get him to the ledge???

Have you waited until the lift is all the way to the top position to see what happens? It's not what you're expecting.

Thank you! I feel like the VV3-idiot!

How do I keep my villager from walking off the lift when it rises? This happened 2x.

If the lift is a little bit up, it's too late and they are not staying on it
We must put them on the platform as soon as the rain begin!

My guy was standing on the lift, and little message saying he was on the lift and as soon as it got half way up, he walked away. I was ready to toss him to the sharks.

You can't leave him on the lift and wait for rain. Even if it doesn't rain, they'll get bored and walk away. If they get bored while it's rising, well, it's no different, they'll walk away.

There's a time limit on how long they can stand still doing nothing. As laurence says, you have to put them on the platform when it starts to rain, not put them on the platform and wait for it to rain.

I used a different villager lol Maybe it was a guy thing. Thank you so much.