So after looking up for a while and hoists, I finally designed mine and made it this past weekend. It was a little frustrating trying to hunt down the parts, especially the flat hooks mainly, and the design flaw I had with using only 1 pulley didn't help. Hopefully the pics work

So initially I only had a 1 pulley system and made the thing heavy as hell and nearly dropped the hard top. So I redesigned a 3 pulley system.


I have other pulleys that go over the top and mounted another one waist level so I could use my hand to steady down the top


I couldn't find any flat hooks anywhere except online, and I didn't want to wait so I just made my own


I made a rectangular frame with PVC and this is as I was putting the top back on the car


Another view

 

nice work!

 

Well done indeed. Very servicable and I'll bet you actually get more use out of both your tops now. Funny how that high school Physics works out, eh? (you can tell I'm Canadian!!!). Have a great summer.

 

I like the rectangle design much better..

 

Looks great. However, it looks like it would be a chore to get all the hooks situated on the top so you can raise it up without the hooks coming loose. How do you keep the hooks from coming loose when there isn't any tension on the rope?

Have you considered adding some sort of spring or elastic to the hooks in parrallet to the rope to put stretchy tension on the hooks while you attach the rest of the hooks?

 

Bet that works great for your jeep wrqangler too hahaha

 

I took my top off twice to test it out, but it snowed here yesterday in Michigan. As far as the physics, felt like the hard top was like 90 pounds with just one pulley. Much more manageable with 3 pulleys.

I pull the frame down just above the top and found that its the perfect position where all of the hooks are pretty tight, so I haven't had a problem with the hooks coming loose the 2 times I did it. The hooks I made are about 1/4 inch deep and come out about 1/4 inch as well. They grasp the top somewhat tight as I wrapped the ends in tape to make them softer.

 

Thanks, I felt the rectangle might make it a little more sturdy than the H design that I had seen on the board

 

LOL WHAT THE.....
HOW DID YOU THINK OF THAT!

 

i made one with a 6 pulley system. took a while to lift it but the mechanical advantage was well worth it. i could lift it so easily.

also i used to to lift heavy things into a truck from time to time.

EDIT:

can we get some better pictures of the "hooks" maybe them just sitting on a bench or something so we can see what they look like?