Misc. Hardtop owners, how do you remove and store your hardtop?

[elwood blues]

For many years it was me begging the wife, or the last couple if I can catch my teenage son, to get someone to help me take the hardtop of the CJ. It was never easy, and then for a while I was using a Harbor Freight movers dolly to store it on, I tried ro make a stand from PVC pipe from directions I found on the interwebs, but it was super ugly sitting outside and you still had the walk the top over and gently place it on there so it didn't fall over.

While researching a hoist set-up (that probably won't work in my 8" tall garage anyway), I found this thing;

https://www.rollnjack.com/


On thier Amazon store it says they have not tested it on a CJ7 top, but it looks like it would fit. The problem, it's $750

So, what do you all have, what do you use, and what do you think about the RollNJack?

 

[TSB8C]

I initially had a hard top and doors and finally got tired of messing with it. Plus I couldn't carry it with me in case of a surprise shower while out. I converted to a soft top and doors. I also got the boot cover to keep the top on the jeep, wrapped up around the frame when folded down. Now when the top is down, I still have it on the jeep in case I need to quickly put it back up while out. I also had an issue when I made the front windshield hoop for my cage that the hard doors, being thicker, would hit the front bars. The thinner soft doors don't do that. Not trying to diss anyone with a hard top. Just my experience and preference after dealing with one for a while. No more lifting issues. No more storage issues. Easy-peasy.

On the other hand, Extreme Terrain has a hoist for about $100 on their web site. This one is just straps that suspend with hooks in your ceiling joists. They have another with a hand crank that is about $250. But you did say your garage has an 8' ceiling, so definitely an issue. Of course if you back into the garage, you can use one of these lifts to just lift the top slightly enough to then pull forward back out from under it. You wouldn't need to lift it high enough to clear the entire jeep to drive under it - as long as you're jeep is not lifted enough to be over 8' at the top.

I also found another roll around type lift. But it's about $700. So not much better than what you already found. The one you showed looks easy enough to weld up something yourself. A few casters and some pipe perhaps.

I also found a homemade wooden lift if you don't want to weld something. Homemade wooden lift

 

[Patrick]

Converting to a soft top is one of the most popular “must do” mods for tj, yj, and cj vehicles on YouTube. If you don’t want to give up your hardtop, maybe you could fabricate your own version of the rollandjack for about half the price. It looks very functional.