Hanging hardtop from garage ceiling

[timelinex]

I've got a 2023 jeep with a removable hardtop and rooftop tent.

Many people DIY pulley systems to hang the hardtop from the ceiling. Just an example:



The hardtop is around ~150lb and I haven't seen anyone mentioning having issues. My jeep also has a camper on top which adds another ~160 LB. Add the weight of roof rack and pulley systems and let's just call it an even 350#. Which is significantly more.





Using several pulleys/eyelets I don't think there will be any concern for those ripping out of the wood/ceiling. My concern is the added weight to those 2x4's in my attic that it is hanging from. I can add pictures of the attic. It's 2x4's at 24" spacing.

I know the "official" answer is you aren't allowed to put 1 extra pound on them as they are engineered to carry exactly the load they do in the system of trusses. So anytime you want to hang a flower pot on the ceiling you have to bring out a structural engineer for $4,000 to do the analysis.

I'm looking for a more practical answer..... I imagine it would involve using 2 or 3, 2x4's perpendicular to the trusses so we could involve 5+ of them?

Thanks!

 

[Kaizen]

pics would be helpful. If you have the headroom you could secure 2x6 or whatver to the wall joists at the top of the walls using structural screws and some cripple studs. If this is a single bay wide garage you might be able to also attach the pulley's to the headers.
Any ceiling you might have would also come into play for weight.

 

[rlitman]

Aside from the issues with the engineering of your ceiling (that I'll leave to others), I'll add this. I've got a TJ, and the hard top itself is light. The weight is mostly in the glass, which means the weight shifts quite a bit between when the rear window is up and down. Just saying this, because it's something you don't want to be surprised by.

 

[no704]

Assuming u have traditional roof trusses the top cords (against the roofing material) are designed to support a load. The horizontal ceiling cords really are not.

 

[BillK]

So you have 300 lbs suspended from 4 pulleys. That is 75LB from each one. I would bet money that no matter what type of construction you have it would be safe for a couple of 200 lb guys to get up in the attic to do some work. I think you are worrying about nothing.

 

[Codyboy]

Yes you're going to get those that say no way it wasn't designed to hang a load on.
Which is probably true. But whatever.

When I was 20 yo about 40 year's ago. I hung the body from a 67 chevelle from the 2x6 ceiling joists in the garage that were framed 24" o.c. . Frame off restoration.

Went into the attic, spanned 4x4s across the joists, added eyebolts and it hung there for a year or so. No affect on the framing.

 

[dante2]

Are you planning on hanging everything from the top itself or hanging it by the tent? Is the hardware that holds the tent to the top strong enough to hold the weight of the top? Conversely is the top strong enough to support the weight of the tent without support underneath it (bolted to the Jeep)? Just some food for thought.

 

[CraigStu]

I also think you will be fine. OTOH I wouldn't mind running a couple of 2x4s from the top of the truss to the locations of your 4 pulleys just for piece of mind.

 

[timelinex]

Are you planning on hanging everything from the top itself or hanging it by the tent? Is the hardware that holds the tent to the top strong enough to hold the weight of the top? Conversely is the top strong enough to support the weight of the tent without support underneath it (bolted to the Jeep)? Just some food for thought.

The current plan is attach the pulleys to 2 2x4's that go under the tent structure. So the tent will be lifted by the 2x4's and rest on them.

Then put eyelets on the 2x4's with straps that go under the hardtop.

That way the tent/roofrack structure doesn't have to hold the weight of the hardtop and the hardtop doesn't get extra stress at the roofrack attachment points. I can also just hang the tent or hang both.

Thats the current plan anyways. I'm open to suggestions.

Assuming u have traditional roof trusses the top cords (against the roofing material) are designed to support a load. The horizontal ceiling cords really are not.

Which is kind of why I'm seeing the general consensus on this. I do recognize what the "official" answer is.

So you have 300 lbs suspended from 4 pulleys. That is 75LB from each one. I would bet money that no matter what type of construction you have it would be safe for a couple of 200 lb guys to get up in the attic to do some work. I think you are worrying about nothing.

Yes you're going to get those that say no way it wasn't designed to hang a load on.
Which is probably true. But whatever.

When I was 20 yo about 40 year's ago. I hung the body from a 67 chevelle from the 2x6 ceiling joists in the garage that were framed 24" o.c. . Frame off restoration.

Went into the attic, spanned 4x4s across the joists, added eyebolts and it hung there for a year or so. No affect on the framing.

Kind of what I figured. Thanks for adding the +1

I also think you will be fine. OTOH I wouldn't mind running a couple of 2x4s from the top of the truss to the locations of your 4 pulleys just for piece of mind.

Are you saying run a 2x4 vertically from the truss (the wood against my actual roof) to the cord (the 2x4 below it that the pulley is attached to)? I'm definitely open to any suggestion that will reinforce the area with minimal effort. I just want to make sure to do it right.

 

[Tynee]

In my 2-car garage, I rigged a pulley system to store the fiberglass topper from my shortbed chevy. It hung there for 5+ years with no impact to the structure it was hanging from. I didn't even worry about using stretchers to spread the load across multiple rafters. I just threaded the eyebolts directly into the bottom stringer through the drywall ceiling. I've never been in the attic space above my garage (no access), but I'd assume it to be 2x4's, and I know they're 24" O.C.

The only issue I had was misreading the weight rating on the pulleys I bought on the first try. I got the thing off my truck, pulled the truck out from under it, and then a pulley failed catastrophically.

 

[timelinex]

In my 2-car garage, I rigged a pulley system to store the fiberglass topper from my shortbed chevy. It hung there for 5+ years with no impact to the structure it was hanging from. I didn't even worry about using stretchers to spread the load across multiple rafters. I just threaded the eyebolts directly into the bottom stringer through the drywall ceiling. I've never been in the attic space above my garage (no access), but I'd assume it to be 2x4's, and I know they're 24" O.C.

The only issue I had was misreading the weight rating on the pulleys I bought on the first try. I got the thing off my truck, pulled the truck out from under it, and then a pulley failed catastrophically.

Any idea the weight of that topper? I'm guessing ~150#?

 

[Tynee]

I never could find a spec for it exactly, but did find ranges from 150 to 250.

 

[carlaisle]

Like Bill said, you're going to end up with four separate 75lb point loads with each pair of 2 on a separate framing member. We don't know the dimensions of the top, but from the picture let's assume the final attachment points end up spread over roughly a 3' x 5' area, so 15 square feet which works out to roughly a 24lb per square foot live load. Your framing members are spaced at 24" on center. Install something across as many of them as necessary to reach your attachment points and you'll have the load distributed over at least 3 framing members no matter which way they run. Don't compromise the bottom chord and you "should" be fine.

 

[CraigStu]

The OP asked, "Are you saying run a 2x4 vertically from the truss (the wood against my actual roof) to the cord (the 2x4 below it that the pulley is attached to)? I'm definitely open to any suggestion that will reinforce the area with minimal effort. I just want to make sure to do it right."
Yes exactly. In a previous house I pulled a 500# engine by laying a 4x4 across 3 trusses. The red square here is my 4x4.

It worked out for me to sit my 4x4 right next to one of the diagonals that formed the truss. If those diagonals don't match up for your pulley locations, than make additional reinforcers and run them vertically. If you want to get really carried away, don't screw 2x4s to 2x4s. Cut some triangles from plywood and glue and screw them in position.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I did something similar for the top to my K5. I have 4 different attachment points to my trusses and lagged the angle iron directly. Using ropes, pulleys, carabiners, some angle brackets that I bent, and a $100 HF electric hoist I rigged up the system. It's a one person job...on and off. My top only comes in at 212 lbs. though.

 

[CraigStu]

If you get your pulleys at the hardware store, try to get a type that you can take apart and apply bearing grease to before you install them. Long ago I did similar for a 60# fiberglass top. I was surprised how much effort it took to pull the ropes after they went through all the pulleys.

 

[Cheesy1]

I won’t get into the structure of your garage, other than saying, it will be fine.

When I pulled the wife’s JKU top this summer I slid a 2x6 under the back of the jeep top and a 2x6 under the front of the jeep top. Had an eyebolt on each corner in the 2x6s. Then ran ratchet straps from the trusses of my barn to each eye bolt. Just lifted each corner a few inches and hooked the strap to the eyebolt. Then drove out from under it.

 

[BobnCO]

Don't listen to the naysayers there are literally 10,000's of these installed (I did it with an early FJ40 steel top for years) . And many many jeep suppliers selling the kits.

That said, It is good policy to throw a 2 x 4 on top and perpendicular to the bottom cords of the truss and fasten to this to spread the load to several trusses. But I bet most are just screwing to the single bottom cord and never looking back with successs. (just google).

Not everyone needs to wear suspenders with their belts..

 

[bbxlr8]

I made my own for TJ in my old garage using a worm gear manual winch from HF.

Another thought besides weight, I DO like redundancy when parking vehicles underneath for an extended time. I kept the winch/sling straps attached but slightly relieved tension, and used rug-covered 2x4's hung from eye bolts to carry the weight (plus a third/extra tie down separate strap with minimum tension attached to different bolts)

 

[nadogail]

If you sister up the bottom cords and spread the load by running a pipe through several trusses, it is My Humble Opinion that you can get away with hanging a lot of stuff from the overhead.

 

[albaran]

Harbor Freight hoist for my removable hardtop. Just posted this same picture to another similar thread.

 

[timelinex]

Alright guys, I've decided to take off the camper separately and just hang my hardtop. I also decided to keep it simple. I'm gonna put 2 2x4 under the hardtop with eyebolts on the corner. Then 2 2x4's spanning 3 or 4 bottom cords, and eye bolts . Then ratchet strap. Also a small chain with clasps, as a backup between each eyebolt, once it's in place.

I had chatgpt (yikes) go through my plans and it made some suggestion that I would like your guys opinion on. It insists that the 2x4's bolted to my ceiling is bolted with the 2" side against the ceiling. Justification being that it will be stronger holding against gravity. Which makes sense, but I've never seen someone do it that way. It also insisted that everything should be through bolt. So the 2x4 to joist should be a long thru bolt in each one (3/8"). I'm a bit worried whether that will compromise the joists, having that big of a hole through it. ...

 

[CraigStu]

I general it's a good idea to run a bolt through the center of the joist or top truss 2x4. As a 2x4 is loaded, the whole thing wants to sag. The upper half will be put under compression and the lower half will be under extension or stretching. The center will be doing neither so that's where you want the hole. Another option is a plywood version of those steel plates that most trusses are assembled with. Some triangles made from high quality plywood and held in place w/ construction adhesive and good screws are very diy friendly.

 

[BurtEggley]

I might remove the top using a pulley system or a winch, with rated eye bolts and fender washers double nutted on the back side. I'd lay two 2 x 6 or 2 x 8 over three or four rafters, whatever the length of the top is plus one rafter on each side, so that the load is spread out. Then I would do like what I did for my CJ7 hardtop. Build a platform it can sit on, with casters under it so you can lower the top onto it and roll it out of the way. My dogs loved pretending they were traveling and would sit on the platform looking out the windows, thinking of all their adventures. Generally you won't have the top off for months at a time, so when it is not in use you can either hang it or lay it up sideways, because it will weight a lot less than the top. The weight is in the glass, not the fiberglass.

20 minute job to back the jeep in, pull the bolts, pull the screws and electrical connector, lift the top, drive the jeep out, lower the top onto the platform and roll it out of the way. I used a device that was steel tubing with a big T on the front and a small T on the back to spread the load out, and only had to attach my lift line to that device that was pre-balanced for the top. Literally 20 minutes from hardtop to bikini top and fabric half door. really nice in spring and fall when temps are great. Not something you will want to do in cold weather or 110F outside. Then that hardtop with the heat or AC comes in handy.