One person hard top removal

[Dadiator21]

8 months into ownership and just took the top off for the first time this morning, granted I’m in Maine and nice weather comes late for us.

Anyways, no lift and one person removal seemed very daunting and kept from doing it earlier….but after this morning I can say this is so easy for one person to do!!

Literally the hardest part was removing to car seats to get to the car seats lol.

We’ll see how it goes getting it back on ?

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[NachoRuby]

8 months into ownership and just took the top off for the first time this morning, ganted I’m in Maine and nice weather comes late for us.

Anyways, no lift and one person removal seemed very daunting and kept from doing it earlier….but after this morning I can say this is so easy for one person to do!!

Literally the hardest part was removing to car seats to get to the car seats lol.

We’ll see how it goes getting it back on ?

Off is is easy with one person. Admittedly, on is a bit harder, especially if you're lifted or on bigger tires. Make sure to open the back doors when you put it on, so you don't catch the top on them and scratch the crap out of them. Put some moving blankets or big towels over the bed.

 

[Dadiator21]

Great advice Nacho! Would’ve definitely found out the hard way.

 

[WhiteGlady20]

Well I have a hard cover on my bed so I do it differently. I put a soft blanket on the cover. Disconnect everything and slide the top back about 2 inches so it doesn’t get snagged. I open the window and slowly roll the top backward onto the window side. Then I lift one side and grab the open window and lift. I’m 6’2” so it works for me. Anyone shorter might need a ladder. I dunno. Then I just reverse it to out it back in. Super quick and easy.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Off is is easy with one person. Admittedly, on is a bit harder, especially if you're lifted or on bigger tires. Make sure to open the back doors when you put it on, so you don't catch the top on them and scratch the crap out of them. Put some moving blankets or big towels over the bed.

Not if you have back issues and lifting even 40 pounds is problematic.

As far as a hoist - who says a building has to be "tall enough"? Once the thing is up even 6", you drive out from under it.

 

[htremper]

Off is is easy with one person. Admittedly, on is a bit harder, especially if you're lifted or on bigger tires. Make sure to open the back doors when you put it on, so you don't catch the top on them and scratch the crap out of them. Put some moving blankets or big towels over the bed.

What doors?

 

[NachoRuby]

Not if you have back issues and lifting even 40 pounds is problematic.

As far as a hoist - who says a building has to be "tall enough"? Once the thing is up even 6", you drive out from under it.

I'm not disagreeing at all about back problems. But my garage isn't tall enough or deep enough for a hoist. The garage door opens to where the hoist would need to be mounted. I'd have one if I could. The garage door is only about as deep as the JT is long, so when the garage door slides up, it's taking up all the space in the ceiling. The garage door motor is directly above my jeep, so the ceiling isn't tall enough either. So lifting it off by hand is my only option. It isn't optimal, but it's what we have.

 

[Deleted member 28696]

I have a small telescopic Titan Gantry 1/2 ton adjustable crane that could be used to take off the hard shell cover easily, roof top tent etc. probably would run $600.00 plus $130.00 for the electric 1,100lb hoist. Can be used for other heavy stuff as well like engines etc. In the past I used mine to lift a 37”x 20 tire up on the roof rack. It’s a rolling rack while not optimal it can be stored outside.

 

[AstroZombie]

Take out all bolts and disconnect wiring harness. Open rear window. Climb in bed of truck, put one arm through rear window. Stand up and lift top. Walk to back of bed with top in hand. Set top down on bed rails then climb out. Lift top and set gently on ground.

this is what i do!!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I'm not disagreeing at all about back problems. But my garage isn't tall enough or deep enough for a hoist. The garage door opens to where the hoist would need to be mounted. I'd have one if I could. The garage door is only about as deep as the JT is long, so when the garage door slides up, it's taking up all the space in the ceiling. The garage door motor is directly above my jeep, so the ceiling isn't tall enough either. So lifting it off by hand is my only option. It isn't optimal, but it's what we have.

So with garage door open, and the JT backed in as far as you can back it practically speaking, the garage door is then directly above the JT's roof? Hmmm. yeah, a problem.
And if you drive straight in (man, I haven't done that in decades!) and the front bumper is as close to the garage back wall (or other stuff you may have to keep in the garage) either the garage door is still over part of the JT's roof when open, or, you couldn't get the roof high enough to them be able to back out of the garage and clear the roof.
Yeah, little choice in that case.
I had a neighbor years ago who sunk some treated 4x4s into the ground next to his garage - they were spaced just far enough apart he could back his truck in between them.
He had hooks on the 4x4s and he'd loosen the clamps on his topper/shell, and he had straps with hooks on each end - he'd hook one end of the strap to the hook on the standing 4x4s and he'd one side at a time lift the topper up and slip the hooks in under the topper so the hook would grab the ledge inside that was used to clamp the topper to the truck bed.
He'd lift one side, hook the straps, then go to the other side, lift the topper and slip the hooks in.
In the end the topper was hanging on those posts and up a few inches and he drove his truck out from under the topper.
To put it back on, he did the reverse. He was never really lifting much weight at all and could do it himself in minutes.
A person could use the rigging I put up in my garage on 4x4s like that and be able to lift the roof just enough off the truck to drive out from under it, or simply use straps like some members here have done in their garage.
The only thing to watch out for in our area is if you leave the roof off for 2 or 3 days - LOOK INSIDE BEFORE putting it back on unless you like sharing your cabin space with angry wasps.

this is what i do!!

Like I said - ah, youth, kids, the young with great backs. You WILL end up like me and have a painful retirement because you thought years ago you could lift anything and support it by your back muscles and spine. Xrays will show an extreme curve and crushed pads and pinched nerves

I have a small telescopic Titan Gantry 1/2 ton adjustable crane that could be used to take off the hard shell cover easily, roof top tent etc. probably would run $600.00 plus $130.00 for the electric 1,100lb hoist. Can be used for other heavy stuff as well like engines etc. In the past I used mine to lift a 37”x 20 tire up on the roof rack. It’s a rolling rack while not optimal it can be stored outside.

I have one that was used to load sprint cars onto a trailer. It's engineered to hold a lot more load than my current chain hoist will handle, still, I can lift a car up to back a trailer under the car.
The gantry crane isn't wide enough to back the trailer clear under, but I can get one end on and set it on dollys or jacks and then raise the other end................

 

[AstroZombie]

@ShadowsPapa My back is already Jacked. Honesty only done it once. it was easy to get it off and on to the floor but getting it up off the floor safely was my concern. One door weighs more than the top HAHAHA

 

[AstroZombie]

BUY A SOFT TOP!! That's what I wanted but we compromise to get something we want. I am pretty sure the hard top isn't any quieter than a premium soft top.

 

[Deleted member 28696]

So with garage door open, and the JT backed in as far as you can back it practically speaking, the garage door is then directly above the JT's roof? Hmmm. yeah, a problem.
And if you drive straight in (man, I haven't done that in decades!) and the front bumper is as close to the garage back wall (or other stuff you may have to keep in the garage) either the garage door is still over part of the JT's roof when open, or, you couldn't get the roof high enough to them be able to back out of the garage and clear the roof.
Yeah, little choice in that case.
I had a neighbor years ago who sunk some treated 4x4s into the ground next to his garage - they were spaced just far enough apart he could back his truck in between them.
He had hooks on the 4x4s and he'd loosen the clamps on his topper/shell, and he had straps with hooks on each end - he'd hook one end of the strap to the hook on the standing 4x4s and he'd one side at a time lift the topper up and slip the hooks in under the topper so the hook would grab the ledge inside that was used to clamp the topper to the truck bed.
He'd lift one side, hook the straps, then go to the other side, lift the topper and slip the hooks in.
In the end the topper was hanging on those posts and up a few inches and he drove his truck out from under the topper.
To put it back on, he did the reverse. He was never really lifting much weight at all and could do it himself in minutes.
A person could use the rigging I put up in my garage on 4x4s like that and be able to lift the roof just enough off the truck to drive out from under it, or simply use straps like some members here have done in their garage.
The only thing to watch out for in our area is if you leave the roof off for 2 or 3 days - LOOK INSIDE BEFORE putting it back on unless you like sharing your cabin space with angry wasps.




Like I said - ah, youth, kids, the young with great backs. You WILL end up like me and have a painful retirement because you thought years ago you could lift anything and support it by your back muscles and spine. Xrays will show an extreme curve and crushed pads and pinched nerves




I have one that was used to load sprint cars onto a trailer. It's engineered to hold a lot more load than my current chain hoist will handle, still, I can lift a car up to back a trailer under the car.
The gantry crane isn't wide enough to back the trailer clear under, but I can get one end on and set it on dollys or jacks and then raise the other end................

Very nice! Very similar setup the one I have adjusts from 7'9" to over 11 foot. They have another model that will fit inside a standard sized garage height wise. This one is just wide enough to fit my Gladiator between it with some room to spare but not much. I chose the electric hoist vs chains since I didn't want the chains to damage the paint. It also has a wireless remote control for it. I also have the trolly that rides back and forth on the I-Beam it's nice but can be kind of a pain as well especially on uneven terrain.

 

[Dadiator21]

BUY A SOFT TOP!! That's what I wanted but we compromise to get something we want. I am pretty sure the hard top isn't any quieter than a premium soft top.

I’m definitely in the discovery phase of ownership but I have that about that! I wanted to see how the top off experience was…and it’s amazing haha.

Here’s the thing… No offense but I hate the way the roof looks when down. That’s not a deal breaker though cuz I’m about efficiency. It’s just ashamed there is a cleaner solution.

Getting in the weeds here, but any advice on rain fly’s for a more full-time top off solution? I need to search the board as I’m sure this has been covered.

 

[Blade1668]

Ooooohhhh I need that for taking me tent and rack off all at once

3 4x4s, 2 2x8s, 4 2x4s a few low cost pulleys and low buck hand winch. Misl. Lag screws. What I did so I can remove my LJ hardtop, put on shell on JT, unload trailer, RTT or whatever. Not as elegant as his gantry crane but not to expensive and I built it, stood up by myself. I wouldn't try to lift a lot of weight with it as is but 500 lbs isn't really a problem. I do need to add a few more 2x4s to brace right side.

As far as a hoist - who says a building has to be "tall enough"? Once the thing is up even 6", you drive out from under it.

That's about all I lift my LJ's hardtop to remove it, I then just pull out from under it. Putting back on is a little more involved.
I replaced the cable on hand winch with synthetic line and use cordless drill to raise and lower the load. Spur gear hand winch.

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