Hoist for tropical top?

[80sailor]

I'm thinking of making a hoist/lift in my garage for my hard top. Years ago I made one for a fiberglass Jeep roof and it worked great at keeping it both out of the way and safe from damage.


Wondering a couple of things:


1) how heavy is the roof?
2) is it balanced at all? ie does it want to pitch forward or will it sit nicely?




Anyone here done this before?

[siii8873]

I have moved a roof top with my wife (non tropical) so I'd say less than 120lbs. How it sits will depend on how you rig it.

[o2batsea]

Probably good that you don't have a tropical wife in NY.

[siii8873]

yea balmy -12 degF this AM

[JimnNC]

Apologies for piggy backing on your post 80sailor.

Wondering something similar as you are... re: my 109 series ii safari top.

My initial thought was to build something similar to what I have seen pick up truck caps & campers displayed on where such things are sold - to temporarily hold the top until the chassis is ready to have it reinstalled, but wondered if there is a preferred method to use or not to use.

[S11A]

I made one from angle iron, a bunch of hardware from the big box store, and a 110V winch from Harbor Freight. The hardest part was making sure - SURE - that the lag bolts hit the centers of the joists, and holding things up to the ceiling while driving the lag bolts in with an impact driver (and holding them up while pre-drilling for the lag bolts). I ended up using 2x4s to hold the 2x10s up so my wife and I didn't need to support the weight of the 2x10s and keep them from moving around, i.e.- to keep the holes in the 2x10s aligned with the hole sin the joists.

I used components that were rated for a minimum of 220 lbs at each of the 4 corners, so theoretically the thing will hold 800 lbs, but I don't anticipate lifting anything near that. Most of the hardware at the big box store was rated for that (if you choose the right size) except the eye bolts I used to anchor the safety cables, so I ordered those from Amazon. The bent eyes do not go to that weight capacity since they are in actually open, just bent around to form an almost-closed loop. You can get ones that are completely closed and those have a lot bigger weight capacity. (All the winches I looked at were not rated to have a load hanging from it more or less permanently, so I designed the lift to have it be winched up, the safety cables engaged, and the winch then lets the frame down onto the safety cables.)

Warning: I am not an engineer so there may be safety or danger involved with this so proceed at your own risk if you decide to do something similar, and the actual building of it leaves a lot of room for error or unsafe conditions, e.g.- hitting the centers of the joists, the joists being able to carry the load, hardware install, etc. In short, I am not responsible for anything.

Pics:

http://www.fd3s.net/admin/garage ceiling lift1.jpg

http://www.fd3s.net/admin/garage ceiling lift2.jpg

[Dibsen]

Very cool!

I have been thinking about something similar for that past few weeks, but my idea was ropes and pullies instead of the electric winch.

But I am starting to think the real connivence will be finding a way to easily, and safely, attach and remove the roof from the vehicle. One thing I am worried about is, once its off, I might not ever put it back on. In which case I would just leave the top and sides in my shed for safe keeping.

Might just take it off after the Rover Rally this weekend... we'll see

[JimnNC]

Indeed.... very cool!

[redmondrover]

Mine is not nearly as cool. I just used the winch off a boat trailer plus some ratchet straps to hoist my pickup cab off my 88.9655