Garage woes...

[DeezJT]

Here’s a couple of pics I snapped just right now...
37’s on MC 3.5

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[ShikGluon]

First off: congrats on your first home purchase!! Very exciting.

I agree with others that suggest backing in will solve your problem. Most garage doors are 7’ tall, and most garages are ~20’ long. Even if the garage door fully opened horizontal (they don’t), you’d have ~13’ of clear ceiling available.

The other option if you have the ceiling height is a high lift track modification. It tucks the tracks closer to the ceiling resulting in less of the door going horizontal thereby opening up ceiling space. You can park to one side of the garage door opener arm, or use a side mount opener as @Troybilt suggests. This is the first thing I do when I move into a new house (most builders just hang the tracks down to the “standard” height) as I like to make use of the ceiling area for storage. A garage door installer can do this for you and your HOA (if you have one) won’t care because there is no change to the outside appearance.

If you don’t have the ceiling height for that, I think you’ll find you won’t be able to back out with the top hanging directly above your Jeep. Then it gets into a more complicated pulley system.

Whatever you end up doing, post up your solution!

Thanks!! Will definitely post my solution!

 

[JT614]

Here's my solution. I call it my mini-garage because just the front fits under it. I simply reverse in, walk the top back and rest it on a piece of foam. I have a stop block on the floor so when I pull in forward I stop just before the bumper hits the drywall. To be honest I wanted to do a hoist, and I could with an 11 foot ceiling, but IMO it wasn't worth the hassle and the risk of it falling. My mini-garage works perfect!

 

[TJDave]

Congratulations on your home purchase.
I was so exited to buy our first house with a garage over a decade ago.
A three car garage at that, or so they said. Three Smart Cars maybe. LIARS!
Enough room for my old TJ and the wife's car. I had to do some shelf and workbench remodeling to get the Gladiator in there.
I sent my old hardtop hoist away with the TJ. Interested to see what you come up with. Good luck to you.

 

[Clay]

Maybe if you slide the

Its big but not crazy heavy. The trick is to position yourself near the center of gravity and try to be lifting straight up and down or have somewhere to rest it.


0. Remove the freedom tops
1. Unbolt and unhook everything
2. Walk around the sides and make sure it’s not hooked onto anything
3. Stand in the bed, behind the rear window, facing forward
4. Reach down and grab the hardtop from the side channels, lift up and back to make sure it’s free
5. Lift it up and back a few inches at a time until just the front bolt holes are still resting on the roll bars. Just rest the bottom on the bed rails and the top on the roll cage as you go. Avoid dragging with any amount of weight on it to prevent scuffing your bed caps.
6. Now the trickiest part... lift the whole thing, rotate it onto its side, and set it down in the bed. Just grab it by whatever is convenient. You’ll probably need to move your hand position from the sides to the front/back or something like that. Having a blanket or towel in the bed will prevent scuffs, but don’t slip on it
7. Carry it back to rest on the tailgate, still on its side
8. Get out, walk around to the other side and lift it down, rotating it if you have to
9. From here, you can carry it wherever you need to go. The easiest way to carry it is to keep it on its side, stand on the inside. Don’t try to grab around the outside. You’ll never get enough leverage to walk a distance that way. Just lift from the middle inside.
10. If you need to stop to rest, just rest the whole thing on your foot to avoid scuffing. You won’t hurt yourself. Again, it’s big but not crazy heavy.

I’d do a demo video but I can’t post one that big.

If you have a YouTube acct., you can upload a video to it. Then post the link.

 

[DBravo]

So I closed on my first house this past Tuesday!!! Finally got a chance to park my Gladiator, Venator, in the garage. I totally should have tried out the garage on the model unit LOL... but... I would have bought them both again in a heartbeat!

My main reason for wanting a garage was to have a pulley system to take off the top. As you can see with the pictures, if the garage door is open, I won't be able to take the back top off. My thoughts are currently to build a system to take the top off with the garage door closed and then have it on a slide to bring it forward enough that I can open the garage door with it still hanging. Thoughts? Anyone else have this issue?

Oh.. side note... My CB antenna totally hits the top of the garage door. :D

Nice color choice! Punk’n Orange Metallic rocksI have a low (8’ ceiling) garage and built a rack that I park under and slide the top onto when removed. For me it beat a rolling rack which would take up floor space. I use the rubber corner bumpers sitting on furniture slides. I back in under the rack: Remove the bolts, fold down the back seats, sit in the back and lift the top onto the slides then slide it back. The front “tabs” rest on a ledge covered with part of a foam kneeling pad. Just allow at least 2” of clearance above the bed and good height as my garage drops off slightly outside the door - which raises the angle and the height as you back in or pull in.

 

[Coffeejack]

So I closed on my first house this past Tuesday!!! Finally got a chance to park my Gladiator, Venator, in the garage. I totally should have tried out the garage on the model unit LOL... but... I would have bought them both again in a heartbeat!

My main reason for wanting a garage was to have a pulley system to take off the top. As you can see with the pictures, if the garage door is open, I won't be able to take the back top off. My thoughts are currently to build a system to take the top off with the garage door closed and then have it on a slide to bring it forward enough that I can open the garage door with it still hanging. Thoughts? Anyone else have this issue?

Oh.. side note... My CB antenna totally hits the top of the garage door. :D

Check out the new style garage door openers. They mount on the wall next to the door. They free up the space where your opener motor is located.

 

[Dcoins]

So I closed on my first house this past Tuesday!!! Finally got a chance to park my Gladiator, Venator, in the garage. I totally should have tried out the garage on the model unit LOL... but... I would have bought them both again in a heartbeat!

My main reason for wanting a garage was to have a pulley system to take off the top. As you can see with the pictures, if the garage door is open, I won't be able to take the back top off. My thoughts are currently to build a system to take the top off with the garage door closed and then have it on a slide to bring it forward enough that I can open the garage door with it still hanging. Thoughts? Anyone else have this issue?

Oh.. side note... My CB antenna totally hits the top of the garage door. :D

Back it, pick up a electric winch at Harbor Freight for less then a $100 and mount it to the garage ceiling.

 

[#HuckleberryJeep]

So I closed on my first house this past Tuesday!!! Finally got a chance to park my Gladiator, Venator, in the garage. I totally should have tried out the garage on the model unit LOL... but... I would have bought them both again in a heartbeat!

My main reason for wanting a garage was to have a pulley system to take off the top. As you can see with the pictures, if the garage door is open, I won't be able to take the back top off. My thoughts are currently to build a system to take the top off with the garage door closed and then have it on a slide to bring it forward enough that I can open the garage door with it still hanging. Thoughts? Anyone else have this issue?

Oh.. side note... My CB antenna totally hits the top of the garage door. :D

At least the truck fits in there! Many of the garages around here aren't long enough. Congrats on the house!

 

[Missionsparta]

Here’s a couple of pics I snapped just right now...
37’s on MC 3.5

You ever try deflating the tires some to give you a little more clearance? If so, curious to see how much you actually height dropped.

 

[DeezJT]

@Missionsparta no I haven’t. The only time I’ll deflate is when I go off-roading or deflate to specified psi.

 

[snide]

There's one more reason I got the soft top. :D

 

[HorneyBadger]

Yeah, fine for young who are tall enough or have good backs or no arthritis, etc...... When lifting 70 pounds causes a visit to the heating pad or Advil............
"Oh, it's EASY, anyone can do it"
People so don't even consider the age, health or even handicaps other Americans can have.
What about a guy or gal who is say, 5'5" - not so simple, perhaps.

Someone wants to find a way to pulley it up and they get nothing but pushback "you don't need a pulley, simply lift it off.
If it was that easy for THEM - would they be asking?

I'm 5'6" and 61 years old..... Pfffft! I imagine Op is living alone and 60 miles from the nearest neighbor or friend. Jeeesh

 

[Orange01z28]

I found a similar thing when we closed on this house. It’s a 3 car garage but only one of the stalls in long enough for the Gladiator

at least I have 9’ ceilings though

 

[rr11]

Garage sizes are a joke. MY two car garage will hold my wife's TJ my motorcycle, work benches and tool chest. If I pull my JT in I can't close the door. I laid out the garage using her TJ and my 69 Mustang. chest freezers on the back wall kill the usable space for the JT.

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