Hardtop hoist (electric, home made)

Bought a hoist from Harbor Freight and rigged up a "cradle" to hold the 996/997 cabriolet hardtop. Removed it from the garage ceiling of house I recently sold and haven't had a chance to install it in new garage yet. Hope the attached picture with annotations gives you some ideas if you decide to make one. One thing not shown on this photo is a few stabilizer lines to eliminate rotation. With a little practice, installing and removing the hardtop is an easy and quick one person job.

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Looks like you made a real good job there. I bought the manual winch and it looks almost the same as yours. I have a crank on the garage wall where the wire goes through an eye above it and along the ceiling to another eye above the center of the garage where you would have your electric motor. Wish I had seen your idea before I bought mine. Then again, I only intend using mine twice a year.

That's a great one picture, one paragraph explanation. Thanks!

nice write-up and pic. FWIW, you can add another red webbing or two to get a better grip on the rear edges of the hard top ( distributes the load). Someone mentioned that some flat rubber-coated hooks ( bike rack type) work a bit better than the one on your red webbing. Also, look for the spring loaded buckle to adjust the straps to the proper length. The hoist system I purchased was very similiar to the parts you listed. Works like a charm. I use my hardtop over a half-dozen times during the course of a year; takes about ten minutes from start to finish.

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Instead of using a hook on the back edge of hardtop, I loop a piece of webbing around the two lock-down pins on the underside of the hardtop in a "V" shape, and connect that up to the hoist. This gives great stability when raising and lowering the hardtop. When I need to install the hardtop, I lower it so it's just a few inches above the car, then remove the "V" webbing, so that it can be lowered the rest of the way.

Yes, that would work too. the cross bar under the hardtop allows the rear to pivot just enough to align the two attachment locations. But the forward part of the hardtop needs to enter their spots before the top can be lowered fully.

Sears straps work well http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...u=SPM237857509 Strap works also has them with coated hooks Strapworks.com http://www.strapworks.com/Flat_Hook_Straps_p/fhs1h.htm

If you double the winch cable with the sheave it stabilizes it and slows the lift down some. I got nervous using the thin edge of the glass window so I moved the straps to the metal sides of the top. I like the pool noodle idea. The firm foam spreads the load nicely Rennlist thread with multiple types of homemade hoists. hoists https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...oist-help.html

Hope this isn't a stupid question, but why wouldn't you just run a strap under the front of the top instead of using the conduit? Thanks! Ted

To remove the top you have to pick the rear up to clear the mounting pins and then move the top toward to the rear to disengage the front locating tabs. With the conduit: You can hook the rear strap(s) under the rear lip and run the conduit through the windows and attach it to the lift eye, before you even loosen the rear pins or front clamp. Then it is pretty easy to lift it while tilting and balancing it with one hand while activating the lift controller with the other hand. You could probably do the same with straps but it would be fussier to keep the straps flat against the rubber window seals.

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I think you could, but I'd worry about the strap digging into the window seals and the lower edges of the headliner. If you padded it sufficiently, it would probably work. You would still need some straps that go to the back of the hardtop, for balance and control of the front-to-back pitch during installation/removal.

Decided to try it myself. Bought the hoist from Harbor Freight. Use a lift strap instead of conduit but did cover it with a pool noodle. Seems to work pretty good! Just one question though, do you guys leave the hoist plugged in all the time, or do you just plug it in when you want to raise or lower it? Ted

Always plugged in. I put a socket in the ceiling next to the hoist.