Hardtop Storage
This subject has been discussed in several other posts but I thought I would share my recent experiences with the
forum and list the suppliers of the parts used. One of my main considerations when planning the hoist/winch system
was the method of attaching the lifting cable or rope to the hardtop, my first thought was to obtain gutter type roof bars
which are available on the internet but in the end I decided to fabricate my own from 2mm square tubing and some odd
pieces of flat metal and 25mm angle iron, my thoughts on this were that the standard gutter roof rack is designed to have
the load in downwards direction not lifting upwards. The standard gutter bars would probably work OK I was probably just in the
mood to do some welding.
I used a Tiger lifting winch with brake supplied by Dale lifting systems also a standard 15M length of 4mm steel wire with attached shackle,http://www.dlhonline.co.uk/tiger-hand-winches-771-c.asp. One of my frustrating challenges was to find a suitable pulley for the roof and side of the
garage, there are some stand up stainless steal marine on the market but they have very small fixing holes, I came across by chance on
The 100th !! page of Amazon a Gate pulley wheel designed for sliding gates that is 60mm in diameter and would accept up to 6mm steel cable,
using two pieces of drilled angle iron this made a substantial lifting pulley assembly.
The 10mm eye bolt I purchased from:- http://www.safetyliftingear.com/prod...CFfUV0wodKiYNQ
The centre of gravity of the hardtop is approximately 100mm to the rear of the vertical leading edge of the hardtop in the B-post area. The system works
fantastically well and lifts the hardtop with very little effort. In the storage position I have installed some thick cord under the
hardtop for extra safety, this is a bit of an overkill as both the winch and cable are more than able to handle the weight of the hardtop.
suspended hardtop.jpgLifting Frame.jpgLifting Pulleys.jpgparked hardtop.jpgLifting Brackets2.jpg
forum and list the suppliers of the parts used. One of my main considerations when planning the hoist/winch system
was the method of attaching the lifting cable or rope to the hardtop, my first thought was to obtain gutter type roof bars
which are available on the internet but in the end I decided to fabricate my own from 2mm square tubing and some odd
pieces of flat metal and 25mm angle iron, my thoughts on this were that the standard gutter roof rack is designed to have
the load in downwards direction not lifting upwards. The standard gutter bars would probably work OK I was probably just in the
mood to do some welding.
I used a Tiger lifting winch with brake supplied by Dale lifting systems also a standard 15M length of 4mm steel wire with attached shackle,http://www.dlhonline.co.uk/tiger-hand-winches-771-c.asp. One of my frustrating challenges was to find a suitable pulley for the roof and side of the
garage, there are some stand up stainless steal marine on the market but they have very small fixing holes, I came across by chance on
The 100th !! page of Amazon a Gate pulley wheel designed for sliding gates that is 60mm in diameter and would accept up to 6mm steel cable,
using two pieces of drilled angle iron this made a substantial lifting pulley assembly.
The 10mm eye bolt I purchased from:- http://www.safetyliftingear.com/prod...CFfUV0wodKiYNQ
The centre of gravity of the hardtop is approximately 100mm to the rear of the vertical leading edge of the hardtop in the B-post area. The system works
fantastically well and lifts the hardtop with very little effort. In the storage position I have installed some thick cord under the
hardtop for extra safety, this is a bit of an overkill as both the winch and cable are more than able to handle the weight of the hardtop.
suspended hardtop.jpgLifting Frame.jpgLifting Pulleys.jpgparked hardtop.jpgLifting Brackets2.jpg
Comment