Best Hard Top Lift?

[Pete_m]

I used the harken idea, but went to whitwhorts got some rope, shackles, blocks and made one my self. Cost less that $50 and works reall well.

You don't need any gearing or extra purchase to left the roof, mines 1 to 1 and very easy to lift.

[Jeeps]

I ended up ordering a hoist from hoistlifts.com. It is suitable for both TJ and JK 2 door jeeps. It turned up about 5 days later (from the USA) in a tiny box:





Contents of tiny box:






Lifting it off:





Hanging free:






A few things to note:

1) The straps are easy enough to guide inside the jeep, but the instructions are very generic and do not explain how to use the straps thoroughly - i had to figure it out. The diagram shows some sort of hardtop for a sports car and mentions rear clips - the jeep version doesn't have rear clips but i had to figure this out.
2) It takes a little bit of adjusting to get the centre balance point, but not hard. Lift the top an inch, see how it hangs, lower and adjust and repeat as necessary. You need a high ceiling, about 1-2 feet at least of clearance above the height of the hardtop when it's sitting on the jeep.
3) The supplied hand brake (rated 600lbs) winch seems a bit finicky. It has a lever which appears to have 3 positions - 1) winch in 2) winch out 3) no brake. I had a bit of a test, it was noisy and i just didn't trust the 3 position lever on the hand winch. No mention of these lever positions in the instructions. It just so happens i had another hand winch to compare with - I bought a Rock hand brake winch (rated 1200lbs) from ebay about a year or so ago when i started thinking about a hoist. I ended up using the mounting bracket from this hoist kit but using the Rock hand winch. The Rock hand winch has no levers or clutch etc, you just wind it up and wind it down and let it go and it just holds the load. I'm sure the supplied winch works well, but the rock winch works better, though it would increase the cost price. See the below pic for the winch comparison. Rock winch on the right, supplied winch on left. Also note the warning sticker on the supplied winch states "Not for lifting Humans" so that was also a deal breaker




It works well and i can easily remove and re-install the top by myself without any dramas.

cheers

[laverack]

Thank you for great description and pics. Can the top be lowered to the ground so it can be put on a cart? Also how about corrosion if outside in a carport only a couple of hundred metres from the ocean?

[Wooders]

Originally Posted by dan-cj7

I have the one shown below but I tossed the come-a-long type winch and got a hand crank winch. Not a braking one but I can control it pretty easy. Just don't let go of the handle! I have it close enough to the Jeep I can let it down with one hand steadying the top as it comes down. I have a CJ7 and I'm guessing it's top is much lighter than a newer one. The self braking one would be the go. I couldn't find one when I bought mine.

Newer Lighter? LOL I am planning a hoist for my CJ hardtops - but the size and weight of our CJ6 & CJ8 hardtops makes the newer stuff look like paper.
I am looking to adapt the Lange system which we;ve supplied many times with good success, but combined with reinforcement of the roof trussing and using a 3-speed boat trailer winch (the one I'm eyeing off has 15:1 which should be slow enough).
Will use something like Dyneema Winch Rope 3000kg.

[SharpWraX]

Originally Posted by Jeeps

I ended up ordering a hoist from hoistlifts.com. It is suitable for both TJ and JK 2 door jeeps. It turned up about 5 days later (from the USA) in a tiny box:

Great pics and looks like an excellent set up. I love the slow cranking handle with steady controllable lift and drop. I'm def doing this type of setup next time.

[Jeeps]

Originally Posted by laverack

Thank you for great description and pics. Can the top be lowered to the ground so it can be put on a cart? Also how about corrosion if outside in a carport only a couple of hundred metres from the ocean?

Hey mate,

yes it drops all the way to the ground. I plan to make some sort or cart/dolly to move it out of the way once lowered to the ground.

cheers

[Jeeps]

Originally Posted by SharpWraX

Great pics and looks like an excellent set up. I love the slow cranking handle with steady controllable lift and drop. I'm def doing this type of setup next time.

Thanks mate, it's definitely an easy way to control the hard top.

Here's a pic of it hanging about an inch from the ground when i was testing it. It does lower all the way to the ground.







cheers