kayakmike
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- First Name
- Mike
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- Jan 23, 2019
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- Ramona, CA
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- 2020 Jeep Gladiator Granite Crystal Metallic Launch Edition
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- Rocket Scientist
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- #31
Installation of Roof Rack and Roof Pulley System
After over a week of Santa Ana winds, fire danger, and power outages, I decided to take the top off again since the forecast is in the 80s for the next 10+ days. Last time I had the top off I set it on the floor of my shop, but I don't want to leave it there each time I take it off. The shop has 17' ceilings, so pretty impractical to hang it from that ceiling. Our garage has a 10' ceiling and had several unused Harbor Freight pulleys from old kayaks, so I decided to try and hang it in there.
In general, the HF pulleys are what you'd expect from HF...junk. The rope pops off the pulleys, and the locking cleat can get jammed. I found it easier to keep a ladder nearby when raising and lowering kayaks. But, hey, they were already in the garage and weren't being used, so we had a winner!
I had bought some used Yakima 1A Raingutter towers to use with some old 58" cross bars I had for a roof rack. I decided to use the roof rack to hang the roof. Since the cross bars were old, the rubber coating was mashed which made installing the cross bars a challenge. After a bit of trimming and pounding, I got the bars in the towers and was able to install the rack. I have about 1.5" of cross bar extending from each tower. I mounted each tower 5" from end of the rain gutter (it seemed there was as many recommended installation locations as there were posts I found). I've seen some folks install the front cross bar on the freedom panels to get more cross bar spread, but I just can't see the panels supporting much weight. By putting both cross bars on the roof, it does provide the perfect point to hang the roof from though.
Just to get the roof stored in the garage, I decided to use the pulleys as installed (they were for a kayak on each pulley and not set up with the roof in mind). Two of the pulley systems I had on the ceiling were about the same spacing between the two pulleys, so decided to use those. This created several challenges when removing the roof:
The combination of these issues meant the roof was going to get pulled aft and left as we lifted. I used two straps wrapped around the roof rack to help with the side pull due to the pulley spacing and to keep the strap from scratching the roof.
I had my son work one pulley rope while I worked the other. These show the roof hanging in its final resting place (for now).
Next time I put the roof back on, I'll probably move the pulleys closer to the center of the garage as well as closer to each other so they are closer to the cross bar location.
After over a week of Santa Ana winds, fire danger, and power outages, I decided to take the top off again since the forecast is in the 80s for the next 10+ days. Last time I had the top off I set it on the floor of my shop, but I don't want to leave it there each time I take it off. The shop has 17' ceilings, so pretty impractical to hang it from that ceiling. Our garage has a 10' ceiling and had several unused Harbor Freight pulleys from old kayaks, so I decided to try and hang it in there.
In general, the HF pulleys are what you'd expect from HF...junk. The rope pops off the pulleys, and the locking cleat can get jammed. I found it easier to keep a ladder nearby when raising and lowering kayaks. But, hey, they were already in the garage and weren't being used, so we had a winner!
I had bought some used Yakima 1A Raingutter towers to use with some old 58" cross bars I had for a roof rack. I decided to use the roof rack to hang the roof. Since the cross bars were old, the rubber coating was mashed which made installing the cross bars a challenge. After a bit of trimming and pounding, I got the bars in the towers and was able to install the rack. I have about 1.5" of cross bar extending from each tower. I mounted each tower 5" from end of the rain gutter (it seemed there was as many recommended installation locations as there were posts I found). I've seen some folks install the front cross bar on the freedom panels to get more cross bar spread, but I just can't see the panels supporting much weight. By putting both cross bars on the roof, it does provide the perfect point to hang the roof from though.
Just to get the roof stored in the garage, I decided to use the pulleys as installed (they were for a kayak on each pulley and not set up with the roof in mind). Two of the pulley systems I had on the ceiling were about the same spacing between the two pulleys, so decided to use those. This created several challenges when removing the roof:
- One pulley system was well to the side of the garage opening, and the other one was 72" from the first one. This means the roof will hang about 2' to the side of where I can park the JT.
- The roof is only about 64" wide. Since the spacing between pulleys is 72", the pulleys will be pulling sideways on the roof rack.
- The pulleys were quite a bit further aft than the furthest back I can fit the JT into the garage (in hindsight, I could have went nose in and may have gotten a bit closer).
- The spacing between the two pulleys were set up for 12'+ kayaks, not a ~5' long roof.
- I had previously removed the cheesy hooks the pulley system came with with eye bolts to hang kayaks with straps around the kayaks
The combination of these issues meant the roof was going to get pulled aft and left as we lifted. I used two straps wrapped around the roof rack to help with the side pull due to the pulley spacing and to keep the strap from scratching the roof.
I had my son work one pulley rope while I worked the other. These show the roof hanging in its final resting place (for now).
Next time I put the roof back on, I'll probably move the pulleys closer to the center of the garage as well as closer to each other so they are closer to the cross bar location.
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