Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: Witt on September 22, 2009, 18:12:23
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For some time now I have been planning to fabricate a HT hoist/storage that I can operate by myself. After searching this site for inspirations I choose the one designed by Raymond. (can be found in the technical advise section ) What intrigued me was the simplicity of the "cantilever" design. ( Leonardo Da Vinci would be proud....)
Raymond was very helpfull after I contacted him and send me more pictures of his hoist and cautioned me that the "hooks" supporting the HT on his design are not suitable for long time storage. Thank's again, Ray.
Now I spend the next few days searching for a solution that would serve my purpose. I wound bore you with the details of that search, but it entailed endless trips to hardware stores, sketches and one sleepless night. (I work at the Home Depot, so I had "inside information" !)But it came to me eventually: I needed to have some kind of gizmo that would fit under the HT and support it without damaging the headliner or weatherstripping. Hopefully the enclosed pictures will illustrate "my" design. The small angle brackets are supporting the HT on the only two solid places I could think of ! It works great, may look complicated but is easy to attach, operate and remove.
Other than using square tubing, that I had on hand, I followed Ray's design for the upper portion of the hoist. If you are using closed square tubing you may get away without using the spacers for the bolts going through the open, split tubing that I used.
After pricing out my first few designs of numerous cables, pulleys and what have you, I decided to go with an electric winch for half the cost. In order to protect my new windshield header upholstery, while guiding the HT locking pins into there respective holes, I fabricated two small temporary protective tabs made out of hard rubber, pictures to follow.
Needless to say, I am very proud of "my" part of the design and am happy to answer any questions and/or supply more pictures if you care to construct that hoist yourself.
CHEERS !
WITT !
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.....let's hope this works !
PS: As you can see, the large outside bolts are eye-bolts and do double duty to store the HT via S-hooks while suspended !
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Looks good. That should do it.
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.....more detailed pictures!
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Hi Witt,
Does your hoist lift the whole car or just the hardtop?
Looks strong enough to do either
Treedoc
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......I take that as a compliment, but the pictures are deceiving.......the whole contraption is quite compact and due to the fact that I used thin wall galvanized tubing not as heavy as it appears.
In order to post the pictures I had to crop them a lot so the parts featured appear much larger as they really are.
I will try to post a picture that will give a better impression of the lightness of the system.
However, I must confess that my middlename is "Overkill"....
CHEERS !
WITT !
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Witt, great improvements! Mine looks like it was built in an afternoon because it was. Your's looks very well thought through and executed.
How long do you estimate it takes you to install the bar and have it ready to lift?
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How much does that hardtop weigh?
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Hi Ray, nice to hear from you and Thank's for the compliment.
I just installed the hard top and I took my time. Unhooking the two eye- bolts from the rafters, rotating the HT ( I get more headroom in the garage that way !) hooking up the battery, taping down the protective tabs on the windshield header, lowering the top and guiding it with one hand and operating the lift with the other, I say it took me fifteen minutes. But as I said I took my time and enjoyed the procedure. (I could do it faster ......but why ? )
Thank's again for your input and advise.
To answer the other question about the weight of the HT, there have been conflicting numbers in other posts but I would estimate 160lbs about the same weight as a person. Hope this will not start a ranting about the weight of people....In any case, I tested my setup by putting my own weight on it to test it and I am somewhat over that ...... 8)..
CHEERS !
WITT !