[kaybone]

So here’s a description of the hardtop storage rig that I built to go along with the pictures. I had this quickly posted on another thread and I got some PMs asking for some more info so here it is, but, I thought I’d embellish a little more with a better description and some measurement drawings.

















I didn’t take any pictures of it while I was doing it so it really doesn’t qualify as a full blown write-up, but here’s a description and some diagrams to help you build one of your own.
First of all, when designing any thing that hangs heavy overhead you must build in a significant safety factor. I’ve always felt comfortable with about a 5-1 safety factor, if possible, for all components. With something that hangs like that from the ceiling, you don’t want it to come crashing down especially if there are little kids running around playing underneath it.
So with that in mind I started with a Harbour-Freight worm gear style winch that I actually bought on sale for about $22. This winch is rated at 2000 lbs and 880 lbs under load. That load rating and the winch itself is designed for HORIZONTAL use only, like how you would use it on a boat trailer which was partly the reason I mounted my winch on the ceiling not turning a 90 degree corner and mounting on the wall. The second reason I mounted it up high like the pictures show is because it tucked all the cabling nice
and neat between my garage ceiling and my garage door opener hardware which is ugly anyway. This way I didn’t have cables running in all sorts of directions in my garage. This arrangement, although you have to get-up on a ladder to use it, allows you a safe view of your Jeep as you are lowering or raising your hardtop, making it a completely one person operation
The winch is mounted to my ceiling joists, that in my case run lengthwise, the front to back length of the garage, and my Jeep. I did have to go up in my attic and add one more 2x10 piece of blocking, to have a good solid joist structure to mount all 4 lag bolts to. The winch is mounted dead center to my garage door opener. It is mounted to the joists with 4-5”x3/8” lag screws. You want to make sure this baby is really up there good. After all, it holds the whole weight of your Jeep Hardtop, which weighs about 150-180 lbs.
In keeping the safety factor in mind, I chose to use 3/16” vinyl covered steel cable. This cable is rated under load at 1100lbs, a very safe rating. I chose to use steel cable over rope, although, there is some very strong types of rope available, because of the stretching and humidity factor, etc. I didn’t feel like, after taking the time to design this, that I wanted the ropes or cables changing lengths on me when it got wet, etc. The reason I chose the vinyl covering is because of the rust factor. It snows where I live. I purchased about 75 ft of this cable, which was more than enough. I think I had about 8 feet left over. You want to buy extra because you have to adjust things slightly, before you make your final cuts of the cables to length.
The 4 ceiling eyebolts are also 3/8”x 5” lag type eyebolts that are screwed into the ceiling joists. Make sure these are also mounted in the joists very well. Since my garage joists run front to back, that predetermined the width of the eyebolt position to the standard construction joist widths of 16” on center, multiplied by 4, or 64” So if you look at the diagram you’ll notice that the cables do not hang down to the support battens perfectly straight, as the eyebolts on the rear 2x4, for example have a width of 65.25”. This slight angle however is hardly noticeable. The pulleys that hang from these eyebolts are all swivel type and are rated at 450 lbs each, (also keeping the safety factor in mind). By the way, in order to hang the pulleys from the eyebolts you have to pry them open slightly to get the pulley on and then hammer them back closed. This is no big deal.
All of the 3/16” cable is closed off using those eye type cable guards and clamped down with 3- 3/16 cable clamps per cable end. 3 of them are required per end based on the specs of the cable and the cable clamps, as well as the 6” of return cable, you have to wrap and clamp at each end. (This is all described quite nicely on the cable clamp packages.) So, you will need 24 of these 3/16 cable clamps (Yikes!).
At the head end of the winch, all 4 cables are connected to the main winch hook with 2 3/8” or 1/2” “quick link” locking loops (an oval thingy with a nut on it to close it), and the 4 cable ends with the cable guards get looped through that.. Pictures show this better than I can describe it.
At the other end, the ends of the cables all have 5/16 or 1/2” quick snap links, (carbineer like things that snap open and close when you latch it onto something). In the case of the front threaded rod batten, the 1/2" quick snaps just latch on to the threaded rod between 2 well placed nuts for position so the quick snaps don’t slide off the ends. In the case of the rear 2x4 batten, the 5/16” quick snaps just latch onto 2-1/2” eyebolts bolted through the rear 2x4 batten. I like the quick snaps because when you’re removing or attaching your hardtop you can just quickly latch them on or off.
As far as the battens go that actually hold the hardtop up, the front batten is a length of 5/8" threaded rod with bolts and washers placed in strategic positions to keep the front quick snaps in place. This is a very easy arrangement. And, because the threaded rod is so narrow it slides under your hardtop and on top of your padded roll cage very easily when you are removing your hardtop. I covered the 5/8” length of threaded rod with a piece of foam that is normally used to cover 1/2” plumbing pipe for insulation. It keeps it from scratching anything.
The rear batten is a 2x4 with 2-5.5” blocks of ¾” stock glued to the bottom of it to provide more “meat” for the 1/2” eyebolts attached to it, and, they also act as centering blocks so that when you slip the batten on your tub and under the hardtop it lines it up to the overhead bolts, as well as to holes in the hardtop itself.
The 2 end blocks attached to the rear batten also help line up 2 holes that are drilled in the batten, for bolts that go through the existing holes in the hardtop and the batten holes. I just run a 5/16” bolt with washers and wing nuts on them and then hand tighten them. These bolts through the holes in the hardtop and batten are important because they keep the hardtop from sliding off the 2x4 and crashing to the ground. What keeps the hardtop on the front batten is the fact that it’s tucked in fairly far enough to not be a problem, but also I angled the front of the hardtop down an inch or so, so it won’t slide off. This is fairly easily accomplished because of some geometry of the cables moving up and down.
The rear cables will move up and down faster (travel slightly further actually) than the front cables because of the angle that all four cables are attached to the winch. This naturally helps you because, as all four cables are moving up as you crank the winch, the back moves slightly faster and angles the top toward the front in its final position.
The rear battens 1/2” eyebolts are countersunk into the rear 2x4 by a couple of large holes made with a Forstner bit. This also keeps these bolts from scratching your tub.
You’ll notice in the pictures that I also have a set of four pulleys attached to the center brackets of my garage door opener. These pulleys are just there to act as cable guides. They hold no weight at all and only help thread the cables in and around the garage door opener brackets.

[kaybone]

Part 2- --

Just a few additional notes, one reason I choose the worm gear type winch is because it winds slowly both up and down, there is not a fast release latch on it that could cause your hardtop to go crashing down, if it’s accidentally clicked-on. Also, I didn’t include any cable lengths, because your ceiling heights, distance of winch to eyebolts, and how high you want your hardtop to hang , are all variables depending on your personal set-up. Also, you will need a good set of strong cable cutters to cut that aircraft cable, I had to borrow a large cutter from a guy at work. NO WAY you hacksaw that stuff or cut it with a small pair wire cutters. One last thing, even though I built a lot of safety into this thing, after the hardtop is up, I still crisscross underneath it to the opposite corner eyebolts, with a couple of those ratcheting tie-down straps as a secondary system. If the whole winch, or pulleys, etc. fail, the nylon straps act as a back-up.
When my hardtop is in use, I pull the rear 2x4 batten off. The front rod batten stays on and I roll it up as high to the ceiling as it can go. I then latch 2 rear cables that are dangling together with a quick snap. This keeps it all up close to the ceiling.
This whole system cost me $90- $100 in supplies and hardware, which is close to what you can buy one of those t-type lifts for. But those are only hung with one or 2 cables and swing around a lot when you take them up or down. This thing is rock solid and does not sway back and forth during lifting, nor when It’s up there hanging. When I am ready to put on or take off my hardtop, I back my Jeep into my garage right up to a concrete step that positions the tub in the front to back direction and I use the main rail of the garage door opener as a centering line to help position my Jeep for the side to side position. This usually lines it right up.
If anyone has any improvements to this or suggestions, please feel free to add them. It can only make it better.

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[CactusLander]

Very nice!!!

[Jeepxj96]

Very very nice write up. And good pics for those of us that learn better by pics

Bob

[got4-Lo]

i wish i could do that with mine. my top is f@wked

[onlyone]

That is a great setup!

[kenn]

very nice post. thanks for the info!

[the_ronster]

Thats a great setup, Im heading to Home Depot first thing tomorrow!! I already have the winch, so install should be easy!

[TucsonRubicon]

so how do you get the top onto the 2x4 and metal pipe?

[kaybone]

Originally Posted by TucsonRubicon

so how do you get the top onto the 2x4 and metal pipe?

The "pipe" is actually a foam covered piece of 5/8" threaded rod. Once I delatch the front and pull the torx screws out of the back I jiggle everything just to make sure the top is "broke free" from its seal. The front part tips up very easily and I just start on the driver's side and slide it between the roll cage bars and the slightly tipped up hardtop. Then I go around to the other side and slide the rest through. The front rod can be quickly snapped onto with the snap hooks.

The rear 2x4 batten is a little harder. I just open my tailgate and lift up the rear glass and just lift one lower corner of the hartop up and slide the 2x4 under it and then do the same to the other side. The 2 small 1/2" lips that hang down on the underside help center the 2x4 to the tub. It is slightly heavy because your lifting the corner with one hand while your sliding the 2x4 in with the other, but not really too bad.

As soon as the rear 2x4 is on I run the 2 bolts through it and the hardtop to keep it from sliding off. If you build a hoist like this one important thing is to design the cables in the front so that the top tips slightly forward to keep it from rolling backwards off the front "pipe". The top then will lean forward and the front "pipe" will tuck itself nicely right before the door curve of the hardtop.

[TucsonRubicon]

Originally Posted by kaybone

The "pipe" is actually a foam covered piece of 5/8" threaded rod. Once I delatch the front and pull the torx screws out of the back I jiggle everything just to make sure the top is "broke free" from its seal. The front part tips up very easily and I just start on the driver's side and slide it between the roll cage bars and the slightly tipped up hardtop. Then I go around to the other side and slide the rest through. The front rod can be quickly snapped onto with the snap hooks.

The rear 2x4 batten is a little harder. I just open my tailgate and lift up the rear glass and just lift one lower corner of the hartop up and slide the 2x4 under it and then do the same to the other side. The 2 small 1/2" lips that hang down on the underside help center the 2x4 to the tub. It is slightly heavy because your lifting the corner with one hand while your sliding the 2x4 in with the other, but not really too bad.

As soon as the rear 2x4 is on I run the 2 bolts through it and the hardtop to keep it from sliding off. If you build a hoist like this one important thing is to design the cables in the front so that the top tips slightly forward to keep it from rolling backwards off the front "pipe". The top then will lean forward and the front "pipe" will tuck itself nicely right before the door curve of the hardtop.

Thanks for the explanation! Your write up helped me out a ton yesterday when designing my set up and getting it all together. Your write up was excellent and very appreciated. I went with rope instead of the metal cable from the winch over the pulleys to the 2 x 4 in front and 2 x 6 in the rear. The rope I used was rated at 300 lbs of working load so I should be fine. Thanks again.
Rick

[kaybone]

Originally Posted by TucsonRubicon

Thanks for the explanation! Your write up helped me out a ton yesterday when designing my set up and getting it all together. Your write up was excellent and very appreciated. I went with rope instead of the metal cable from the winch over the pulleys to the 2 x 4 in front and 2 x 6 in the rear. The rope I used was rated at 300 lbs of working load so I should be fine. Thanks again.
Rick

Glad you liked it. Post some pics when your done. Rope is an excellent choice and I would have went with it but the weather changes so often here in Ohio that I was afraid of expansion and contraction issues when it got cold or hot, so I went with the metal. The most important thing is to plan for a 4-1 or 5-1 safety ration in all of the componants that you use in hanging anything overhead.

[dirtbagofva]

cool lift. most lifts say not to suspend the load with the winch. When I put mine in I am going to attach short chains to take the load off of the winch. If the winch brakes free you top is toast. The Unlimited's hard top is one heave SOB.

COOL LIFT

[kaybone]

Originally Posted by dirtbagofva

cool lift. most lifts say not to suspend the load with the winch. When I put mine in I am going to attach short chains to take the load off of the winch. If the winch brakes free you top is toast. The Unlimited's hard top is one heave SOB.

COOL LIFT

As a safety backup however I always crisscross a couple of 1100lbs racheting straps under the hardtop to the four corners of the ceiling eyebolts as a secondary back-up. (not shown) But the winch that I have is rated at 2000lbs and 800 lbs under load, so after 3 season of use it still seems to be quite safe.

[Traveller]

I made a similar setup for my old '72 Blazer, it made removing and installing the top a one man job. Good plans.