Hello everyone
I have recently joined the band of Stag owners and thought I might share a quick and dirty way of getting your hardtop off and hoisted up to the garage roof. I was wondering how to get my hardtop off easily and out of the way without any help from my friends. I was in a hurry and had a look at the parts which were already in my garage. I found some 3.5 x 1.5 wooden joists and went to Wickes to buy some of their 70 kg rated blue polypropylene rope and a ratchet strap which is actually meant for pulling together and fitting laminate flooring. I bought a couple of 10mm double pulleys off eBay item 400628426848. The whole lot cost £20. I attach some photos of the finished result, the old cushion at the front acts to provide sufficient moment to balance the counter moment from the asymmetric suspension of the hard top from the webbing. The ratchet strap has been screwed onto one end of a horizontal joist and the webbing is fed underneath the hardtop over the T-bar and then out through the other window before being hooked over the joist as it sticks out of the opposite side. The webbing is then tightened with the ratchet although it loosens again slightly once the top has been lifted but the arrangement is very stable. You'll need a couple of pieces of line etc to stop the top from rotating once it has been lifted off. The ratchet strap webbing is only loaded to 20 kg with this arrangement and the rope is only loaded to about 30kg, the strain on the joist is about 30% of tolerance for a critical application. This is OK but perhaps 2x4 joists would be better.
I used double Fishermans knots for the rope and tape knots for the webbing. As you can see I have adjusted the rope so that the pull is slightly behind the centre of gravity of the hardtop, this stops the hardtop from falling backwards by pitching it forward slightly. It also makes it quite easy to pull the roof up and down using two hands on the pulley and then one hand to hold the rope and the other to carefully manoeuvre the top from side to side. A double pully blocks seems to offer sufficient mechanical advantage for me to raise and lower the top with two hands and then hold it with one whilst using the other hand to position it.
Once the top is fully hauled up I used more rope to further secure it to the rafters of the garage. Fortunately I have some substantial RSJs in the garage roof.
I am not representing myself as an expert, this is all at your own risk and I'm providing the information purely for interest and accept no liability should you choose to try it yourself etc etc. I'm sure this has all been done before and more competently by others but to me this seemed quite easy and quick and might get you out of a hole if you needed to make a hoist in a hurry.
By the way if anyone has any tips about the best/not too expensive place to get a new soft top and frame fitted in the north of England and also where to buy some cheap Chrome 14 inch wire wheels I'd be very grateful
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I have recently joined the band of Stag owners and thought I might share a quick and dirty way of getting your hardtop off and hoisted up to the garage roof. I was wondering how to get my hardtop off easily and out of the way without any help from my friends. I was in a hurry and had a look at the parts which were already in my garage. I found some 3.5 x 1.5 wooden joists and went to Wickes to buy some of their 70 kg rated blue polypropylene rope and a ratchet strap which is actually meant for pulling together and fitting laminate flooring. I bought a couple of 10mm double pulleys off eBay item 400628426848. The whole lot cost £20. I attach some photos of the finished result, the old cushion at the front acts to provide sufficient moment to balance the counter moment from the asymmetric suspension of the hard top from the webbing. The ratchet strap has been screwed onto one end of a horizontal joist and the webbing is fed underneath the hardtop over the T-bar and then out through the other window before being hooked over the joist as it sticks out of the opposite side. The webbing is then tightened with the ratchet although it loosens again slightly once the top has been lifted but the arrangement is very stable. You'll need a couple of pieces of line etc to stop the top from rotating once it has been lifted off. The ratchet strap webbing is only loaded to 20 kg with this arrangement and the rope is only loaded to about 30kg, the strain on the joist is about 30% of tolerance for a critical application. This is OK but perhaps 2x4 joists would be better.
I used double Fishermans knots for the rope and tape knots for the webbing. As you can see I have adjusted the rope so that the pull is slightly behind the centre of gravity of the hardtop, this stops the hardtop from falling backwards by pitching it forward slightly. It also makes it quite easy to pull the roof up and down using two hands on the pulley and then one hand to hold the rope and the other to carefully manoeuvre the top from side to side. A double pully blocks seems to offer sufficient mechanical advantage for me to raise and lower the top with two hands and then hold it with one whilst using the other hand to position it.
Once the top is fully hauled up I used more rope to further secure it to the rafters of the garage. Fortunately I have some substantial RSJs in the garage roof.
I am not representing myself as an expert, this is all at your own risk and I'm providing the information purely for interest and accept no liability should you choose to try it yourself etc etc. I'm sure this has all been done before and more competently by others but to me this seemed quite easy and quick and might get you out of a hole if you needed to make a hoist in a hurry.
By the way if anyone has any tips about the best/not too expensive place to get a new soft top and frame fitted in the north of England and also where to buy some cheap Chrome 14 inch wire wheels I'd be very grateful
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and it's interesting to see your chosen nametag matches that. For me it's Aldridge Trimming for the soft top, although they are in Wolverhampton so maybe not close enough for you.
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