Many thanks for this video. What a great Idea! I finished installing mine yesterday. I made a few modifications that I wanted to share for those installing this: (1) I stacked four 2 x 4's instead of three so that the top of the larger PVC coupling wouldn't trigger the safety on the hoist (note: alternatively, you could cut the PVC coupling down on the attic facing side. (2) I used lag screws instead of conduit straps to secure the unistrut to the wooden frame. (3) I used an actual "U-shaped" unistrut. You can get these at Lowe's or Home Depot in 2' and 10' sections. I ended up getting a 10' unistrut and cutting it down because I needed 28" because of the way the attic trusses connected. Note as I was finishing, I realized I could have used a 2' unistrut IF I would have used the bottom two 2 x 4's to span the distance then cut down the subsequent 2 x 4's to slide further under the trusses (because you have adequate strength for load, you're just gaining height for clearance). My total installed cost of materials was $283, but learning from trial and error, I could have dropped the cost down to ~$230.
How strong is that unistrut? I plan on building something similar to this video for my 5 ½' fiberglass camper shell, and want to make sure it'll support both the shell and hoist without bending. (250-300ish lbs) for the shell
This is a fantastic install. I have been checking out many videos and all were mounting the hoist to the ceiling. The way you have it it gives you several more inches of height. Great idea, best for my needs yet. Thanks much.
Great set up. Thanks for sharing. Only one comment. You may want to shorten the safety cable so the top doesn’t drop (even a few inches) if the hoist fails. This will reduce the load on the eye bolts and limit any chance of them pulling out of the ceiling during a failure.
I'm about to do this because the floor style holder I bought is taking up too much space. My questions is a little off topic. but how do you keep bugs from heading up into the attic with a 4" opening? I'm thinking of using some kind of brush cover, but not sure that will help much. Thanks for the inspiration. This approach will make life much easier.
I mounted my hoist to the roof trusses.This way the hoist is five foot above the garage ceiling. Also have a 4ft x2ft opening so i can send christmas stuff upstairs via the hoist. Also added a 10 ft extension to the controller so it is out of the way.
4XTRAIL thank you for sharing a great way to hoist the hardtop with a simple solution to keep the hoist out of sight while ending with a professional appearance. The PVC adapters really give a nice look vs just holes cut in the sheetrock. I installed this over the last few days with my son and we couldn’t be happier to no longer need 2 people to remove the top and it preserved my garage floor space where the top used to sit during the summer months. So glad we went this route and for only ~$200 total, so much cheaper than many of the alternative hoists or ways to store the top. A few modifications I made due to my situation and sharing with others in case it is helps: • Built a frame with 2x4s to secure on the rafters in the attic vs just stacking 2x4’s to give a bit more clearance for the hoist. I wanted 11” above my rafters due to some of the insulations in my garage ceiling. Frame should be stronger, and it also required less lumber vs just staking 2x4s for the height I needed. • Used 9 foot sling straps to gain more clearance in my 10’3” garage ceilings. I wanted to ensure I could walk under the top when lifted to the ceiling. I saw a few others and myself asked some questions regarding clearance and with this set up using a 2” ring on the hoist hook, 5.5” carabiners and 9’ sling straps the top raised to leave ~2 foot gap from ceiling to top of hardtop and ~4 feet from the ceiling to the bottom of the hardtop when fully raised off the Jeep. In my garage with 10’3” ceilings I have 6’3” from the garage floor to the bottom of the hardtop when lifted, enough to walk under. • Since already up in the attic I ran the electric power cord up there and just drilled a small 1” hole right next to my garage door opener outlet in the ceiling and dropped the power cord there, this kept the cord out of sight, and no one can see it running to the outlet. • Winch I bought had a 6’6” corded remote control cord so I was able to drill the hole for this far enough to the side from the hoist opening to allow the cord to hang directly down and still gives 9” of clearance from touching the side of the hardtop so the remote control cord will never touch the hardtop during the process or while the top is lifted up for the season. Also this kept the remote control within reach without needing a ladder or step.
You can carriage bolt and glue a 2x4 on each corner on the bottom cord beam next to your hoist riser, and carriage bolt and glue it vertically to the roof rafter. You will be able to pick up a lot without worrying about your ceiling crashing down on you.
great vidz bro, i got my electric hoist and will just have to put 2 big screws because i have a cement ceiling. hope it works for me. keep up the good work with vidz!
This looks like a fantastic way to conceal the hoist with a nice clean install. For anyone that has installed this exact setup on a JL 4 door Wrangler using the same 10’ straps, what is the distance from the ceiling to the bottom of the hardtop when completely raised? Need to figure out if it will raise the hardtop high enough to walk under without having to duck. Thx
My son in law spent all day yesterday trying to figure out the attic install. I had watched the first video a while ago, but we couldn't figure out the attic side. Thanks for the update. What size carabiners do you use? Amazon has 5".
Glad to hear! I want to say mine are 5” as well. They were the heaviest rated ones from Home Depot - not the largest they sold but highest load rating.
That I do not know haha. It will vary from building to building. Worth doing some looking around before installing to make sure you have a strong rafter system that isn’t overloaded already.
A little pricey but if you can afford an unlimited jeep you should be able to get this system. It's the best and cleanest I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing, now to get up in my attic... 👍
Apologies for unrelated question but - I love those rims on your jeep. Can you tell me what they are? I feel like they'd look great on my Bronco as well!
Now that it has been a few years since your AZ install, anything you would change about how you did it? We are also in AZ and recently got a Jeep. Looking to duplicate something like this.
Hey Luis! It’s similar to the thickness of the hoop brackets on top of the hoist itself. Not as thick as uni-strut or super-strut but was just small enough around to fit through the built in hoops. I would guess 1/16” thick or so. Whatever material you use you’ll just want to make sure it’s rated for task!
Thanks! The cable is just braided cable from Home Depot. The screws were regular wood screws and the nuts for the bar I don’t recall - probably just whatever hardware was strong enough but still fit the size requirements.
Good question! It has to do with the bias of the strap (how much length) is showing in the front vs the back. I might make a video on this! Hopefully you can trial and error it until it lifts level. I had to find the “sweet spot” with mine and then I could hit it pretty close each time.
Great Setup, I appreciate the follow up video with the attic view. I am curious to know If there would be any reason to reinforce the ceiling floor joists? I have a full attic above the Garage so it is a perfect setup. I feel that I could mount this on top of the existing floor - going into the floor joists which are 1x6s. Do you think it would be best to reinforce the two floor joists?
Hey glad to hear it was helpful! I’m assuming you meant your floor joists are 2x6. Ultimately you have to do what you think is best / safest. If you aren’t storing anything heavy in the attic and you have regular sized and spaced 2x4 or 2x6 joists you shouldn’t need any reinforcement. Hard to say for sure without seeing it in person. Hope that helps!
Hey, thanks for the comment and apologies for the delay! Yes, trail and error on backing it in. Swaying or spinning is usually due to strap bias in my experience. If you keep playing with strap bias front to rear hopefully you’ll find a sweet spot where it raises level and stays put. Sometimes I’ll use a secondary strap like a bungee and secure it to the wall to keep it from spinning. Hope this helps!
So what if you have no attic over your garage. My bedroom is over my garage. What do you recommend? I have the rail system and the hoist but no room to mount above the ceiling that I'm aware of? Please help! I want to remove my top!
Hey Jake! I would try mounting the hoist (securely of course) to the back wall of your garage, directly behind the Jeep and just mount a pulley to the ceiling above your top and run the hoist hook through the pulley. The pulley needs to be rated for the full weight of the top plus some margin and secured to the rafter in the ceiling in a safe manner. I would probably run a 2x6 across your back wall and screw it to the studs then mount the hoist onto the 2x6 in some secure fashion. Without knowing your exact scenario it’s hard to say if this would work so you’ll have to use your best judgment. Hopefully that give you some ideas!
I have been everywhere looking for 10’ straps. I found 6’ and 8’ - thinking they will be too short. Everything else is 20’ to 30’ - way too long. Any help on where
Great idea and concept to use electric hoist. You will find lumber is stronger when stacked on the edge, like a rafter or joist. The grain is stronger. That's why lumber is cut this way. Should still hold 150 lbs the way you made it. Just might flex a little.
That's how I did it- I cut two 2x8s at 24", attached them on edge to existing floor joists in the attic, each joint sandwiched between two pieces of 3/16" ply, 10" x 24". Super strong. I also bungeed my freedom panels to the top (2-door JL) b/c I have no available wall space in the garage. So nice to have it up & out of the way.
Yikes seen so many people do it like this. All that weight on just those two small points, no ty. I put my hoist on it's side and used pulleys (8 total) to redirect the wires so each side had it's own wire. A little more work made it much safer and the hoist is lifting a fraction of the weight due to the pulleys
Hey again! Can’t go wrong with extra safety measures! Are you aware that this hoist is rated for about double the weight of the JKU hardtop on a single pull and quadruple the weight using a pulley? And all safety cables, eye hooks and carabiners used here are rated for double and triple what they are actually supporting. These hard tops don’t weigh much. But again, each person needs to do what they feel is safest for their scenario! Thanks for the comment.
Many thanks for this video. What a great Idea! I finished installing mine yesterday. I made a few modifications that I wanted to share for those installing this:
(1) I stacked four 2 x 4's instead of three so that the top of the larger PVC coupling wouldn't trigger the safety on the hoist (note: alternatively, you could cut the PVC coupling down on the attic facing side.
(2) I used lag screws instead of conduit straps to secure the unistrut to the wooden frame.
(3) I used an actual "U-shaped" unistrut. You can get these at Lowe's or Home Depot in 2' and 10' sections. I ended up getting a 10' unistrut and cutting it down because I needed 28" because of the way the attic trusses connected. Note as I was finishing, I realized I could have used a 2' unistrut IF I would have used the bottom two 2 x 4's to span the distance then cut down the subsequent 2 x 4's to slide further under the trusses (because you have adequate strength for load, you're just gaining height for clearance).
My total installed cost of materials was $283, but learning from trial and error, I could have dropped the cost down to ~$230.
Great info! Thanks for sharing 💪🏼
How strong is that unistrut? I plan on building something similar to this video for my 5 ½' fiberglass camper shell, and want to make sure it'll support both the shell and hoist without bending. (250-300ish lbs) for the shell
This is a fantastic install. I have been checking out many videos and all were mounting the hoist to the ceiling. The way you have it it gives you several more inches of height. Great idea, best for my needs yet. Thanks much.
Glad to hear it Terry! Thanks for sharing 🙌🏼
My hoist arrives tomorrow. Excited to duplicate this. Thanks man!
Awesome! Glad it was helpful 🤙🏼
Thank you so much we did this using your video! One add is to use roofing flanges to dress up the holes in the ceiling.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing
Thanks for this follow up!
👏🏼👊🏼
Thanks for uploading this. I just did the same set up after seeing the video. Cheers
Glad it was helpful!
Great set up. Thanks for sharing.
Only one comment. You may want to shorten the safety cable so the top doesn’t drop (even a few inches) if the hoist fails. This will reduce the load on the eye bolts and limit any chance of them pulling out of the ceiling during a failure.
Hey! Good point - thanks 👊🏼
I'm about to do this because the floor style holder I bought is taking up too much space. My questions is a little off topic. but how do you keep bugs from heading up into the attic with a 4" opening? I'm thinking of using some kind of brush cover, but not sure that will help much. Thanks for the inspiration. This approach will make life much easier.
I mounted my hoist to the roof trusses.This way the hoist is five foot above the garage ceiling. Also have a 4ft x2ft opening so i can send christmas stuff upstairs via the hoist. Also added a 10 ft extension to the controller so it is out of the way.
Brilliant!
4XTRAIL thank you for sharing a great way to hoist the hardtop with a simple solution to keep the hoist out of sight while ending with a professional appearance. The PVC adapters really give a nice look vs just holes cut in the sheetrock. I installed this over the last few days with my son and we couldn’t be happier to no longer need 2 people to remove the top and it preserved my garage floor space where the top used to sit during the summer months. So glad we went this route and for only ~$200 total, so much cheaper than many of the alternative hoists or ways to store the top.
A few modifications I made due to my situation and sharing with others in case it is helps:
• Built a frame with 2x4s to secure on the rafters in the attic vs just stacking 2x4’s to give a bit more clearance for the hoist. I wanted 11” above my rafters due to some of the insulations in my garage ceiling. Frame should be stronger, and it also required less lumber vs just staking 2x4s for the height I needed.
• Used 9 foot sling straps to gain more clearance in my 10’3” garage ceilings. I wanted to ensure I could walk under the top when lifted to the ceiling. I saw a few others and myself asked some questions regarding clearance and with this set up using a 2” ring on the hoist hook, 5.5” carabiners and 9’ sling straps the top raised to leave ~2 foot gap from ceiling to top of hardtop and ~4 feet from the ceiling to the bottom of the hardtop when fully raised off the Jeep. In my garage with 10’3” ceilings I have 6’3” from the garage floor to the bottom of the hardtop when lifted, enough to walk under.
• Since already up in the attic I ran the electric power cord up there and just drilled a small 1” hole right next to my garage door opener outlet in the ceiling and dropped the power cord there, this kept the cord out of sight, and no one can see it running to the outlet.
• Winch I bought had a 6’6” corded remote control cord so I was able to drill the hole for this far enough to the side from the hoist opening to allow the cord to hang directly down and still gives 9” of clearance from touching the side of the hardtop so the remote control cord will never touch the hardtop during the process or while the top is lifted up for the season. Also this kept the remote control within reach without needing a ladder or step.
Excellent info Bob!
You can carriage bolt and glue a 2x4 on each corner on the bottom cord beam next to your hoist riser, and carriage bolt and glue it vertically to the roof rafter. You will be able to pick up a lot without worrying about your ceiling crashing down on you.
What did you just say?
great vidz bro, i got my electric hoist and will just have to put 2 big screws because i have a cement ceiling. hope it works for me.
keep up the good work with vidz!
Awesome - Thanks for the comment!
This looks like a fantastic way to conceal the hoist with a nice clean install. For anyone that has installed this exact setup on a JL 4 door Wrangler using the same 10’ straps, what is the distance from the ceiling to the bottom of the hardtop when completely raised? Need to figure out if it will raise the hardtop high enough to walk under without having to duck. Thx
I want to say 2 1/2’ or so but I don’t currently have my top hoisted to measure.
How much weight do you think this can support? I’m hoping for hardtop, roof rack and rooftop tent
My son in law spent all day yesterday trying to figure out the attic install. I had watched the first video a while ago, but we couldn't figure out the attic side. Thanks for the update. What size carabiners do you use? Amazon has 5".
Glad to hear! I want to say mine are 5” as well. They were the heaviest rated ones from Home Depot - not the largest they sold but highest load rating.
How much weight will the ceiling rafters hold before it pulls down the ceiling?
That I do not know haha. It will vary from building to building. Worth doing some looking around before installing to make sure you have a strong rafter system that isn’t overloaded already.
I sure hope he has a lot of life insurance for his family.
A little pricey but if you can afford an unlimited jeep you should be able to get this system. It's the best and cleanest I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing, now to get up in my attic... 👍
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
You can pick up an electric hoist for under 100 so how is that pricey
Apologies for unrelated question but - I love those rims on your jeep. Can you tell me what they are? I feel like they'd look great on my Bronco as well!
For sure! The ones in the video bumper at the beginning are ProComp Series 69 wheels.
Now that it has been a few years since your AZ install, anything you would change about how you did it? We are also in AZ and recently got a Jeep. Looking to duplicate something like this.
Hey Brett! Apologies for the delayed reply here. No, I wouldn’t change anything actually! This system has worked super well for me.
Thank you for sharing! How thick is the piece of metal that you got from Home Depot to hang the hoist?
Hey Luis! It’s similar to the thickness of the hoop brackets on top of the hoist itself. Not as thick as uni-strut or super-strut but was just small enough around to fit through the built in hoops. I would guess 1/16” thick or so. Whatever material you use you’ll just want to make sure it’s rated for task!
Hey great video! What is the name of that safety line you have? Also what are the sizes of the screws and nuts used in the metal bar?
Thanks! The cable is just braided cable from Home Depot. The screws were regular wood screws and the nuts for the bar I don’t recall - probably just whatever hardware was strong enough but still fit the size requirements.
The “U clamps” are actually called “2 hole straps”
👊🏼
Any chance at making a short to show how you get your straps balanced when lifting the hardtop, or will that be different for everyone? Thanks.
Good question! It has to do with the bias of the strap (how much length) is showing in the front vs the back. I might make a video on this! Hopefully you can trial and error it until it lifts level. I had to find the “sweet spot” with mine and then I could hit it pretty close each time.
Great Setup, I appreciate the follow up video with the attic view. I am curious to know If there would be any reason to reinforce the ceiling floor joists? I have a full attic above the Garage so it is a perfect setup. I feel that I could mount this on top of the existing floor - going into the floor joists which are 1x6s. Do you think it would be best to reinforce the two floor joists?
Hey glad to hear it was helpful! I’m assuming you meant your floor joists are 2x6. Ultimately you have to do what you think is best / safest. If you aren’t storing anything heavy in the attic and you have regular sized and spaced 2x4 or 2x6 joists you shouldn’t need any reinforcement. Hard to say for sure without seeing it in person. Hope that helps!
The added reinforcements also gives the hoist the space required. A floor joist, even if they are 6" joists are too short for the body of the hoist.
Just did this set up. How do you stop it from swaying back and forth. And is it just trial and error on backing in?
Hey, thanks for the comment and apologies for the delay! Yes, trail and error on backing it in. Swaying or spinning is usually due to strap bias in my experience. If you keep playing with strap bias front to rear hopefully you’ll find a sweet spot where it raises level and stays put. Sometimes I’ll use a secondary strap like a bungee and secure it to the wall to keep it from spinning. Hope this helps!
Gonna have a lot more reason to have that roof off, now!
This is true! 😎
Any tips to keep the top level while it’s hanging? Mine seems to be dipping forward. Checked hoist in the attic and everything is perfectly level.
Hey Evan, yes - adjust the strap bias front / rear to offset the heavier back section of the top and it should lift level.
In other words, the length of strap coming out of the front of the top versus the back should not be the same. Hope that helps and makes sense!
What is the weight do you think this lift system would hold ?
I believe 200lb is about the max.
So what if you have no attic over your garage. My bedroom is over my garage. What do you recommend? I have the rail system and the hoist but no room to mount above the ceiling that I'm aware of? Please help! I want to remove my top!
Hey Jake! I would try mounting the hoist (securely of course) to the back wall of your garage, directly behind the Jeep and just mount a pulley to the ceiling above your top and run the hoist hook through the pulley. The pulley needs to be rated for the full weight of the top plus some margin and secured to the rafter in the ceiling in a safe manner. I would probably run a 2x6 across your back wall and screw it to the studs then mount the hoist onto the 2x6 in some secure fashion. Without knowing your exact scenario it’s hard to say if this would work so you’ll have to use your best judgment. Hopefully that give you some ideas!
Will this work with the top for the gladiator?
Good question. I’m not sure you can since there’s not a full glass rear window that raises up. Might be able to come up with something similar though!
where did you get the ring and carabiners at?
Home Depot 🤙🏼
I have been everywhere looking for 10’ straps. I found 6’ and 8’ - thinking they will be too short. Everything else is 20’ to 30’ - way too long. Any help on where
There’s a link to purchase them in the video description!
I got mine from Amazon
Great idea and concept to use electric hoist. You will find lumber is stronger when stacked on the edge, like a rafter or joist. The grain is stronger. That's why lumber is cut this way. Should still hold 150 lbs the way you made it. Just might flex a little.
Appreciate the comment!
That's how I did it- I cut two 2x8s at 24", attached them on edge to existing floor joists in the attic, each joint sandwiched between two pieces of 3/16" ply, 10" x 24". Super strong. I also bungeed my freedom panels to the top (2-door JL) b/c I have no available wall space in the garage. So nice to have it up & out of the way.
Yikes seen so many people do it like this. All that weight on just those two small points, no ty. I put my hoist on it's side and used pulleys (8 total) to redirect the wires so each side had it's own wire. A little more work made it much safer and the hoist is lifting a fraction of the weight due to the pulleys
Hey again! Can’t go wrong with extra safety measures! Are you aware that this hoist is rated for about double the weight of the JKU hardtop on a single pull and quadruple the weight using a pulley? And all safety cables, eye hooks and carabiners used here are rated for double and triple what they are actually supporting. These hard tops don’t weigh much. But again, each person needs to do what they feel is safest for their scenario! Thanks for the comment.
Hardtop is only a couple hundred pounds