Homebrew Rear Hardtop Shell Lift

[Hdscreens]

Posted on the two 2dr lifter thread as well but I do wonder if a drywall lifter with a counter weight might work as well? There’s some inexpensive ones on Amazon.

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[choppersean]

Awesome re-purpose of a topside creeper! My son works on large (i.e. F350 and bigger) diesel pickups and work trucks that are often lifted and he has one at his shop because he uses it so much. They are really a brilliant tool. Looks like you can get some cheaper ones for new online for like $150 to $200.......then the cost of the modifications. Nice option, for sure.

 

[Danny's Bronco]

I will get some more pictures of the lift and details of what I did tomorrow.
Thank you for the kind words everyone.

A guy in the neighborhood across the street from our family farm has a blue one of those. LOVE that thing. Sounds like freedom!

Have a great day

 

[ScLeCo]

Ok.
1) Take the cushioned pad off the top of the creeper. Clean the surface of any glue residue. Weld/Bolt in support beam (circled in red) in the center of the roughly rectangular frame where the pad used to sit.

2) Weld/Bolt in additional flat support pieces to the top of the frame/support beam.
This is where the motorcycle jack will sit.

It's hard to see but there is another flat support piece under the front.

3) Weld/Bolt the motorcycle jack to those pieces, centered in the middle of the frame.

4)Weld/Bolt Clam Shell support arms to the top of the motorcycle jack.

5) Use self tapping screws and attach rubber pads to the support arms. (I glued them down with superglue to hold them in place then used a screw)

6) Paint the metal to prevent rust and hide your shit welding.

I put the top back on this morning and the screw type lift mechanism on the motorcycle jack means you can lower the top millimeter by millimeter when aligning the guide pins on the shell to body.

Over all I am super happy with how this functions. It's stable when moving the top around and it's easy to wheel around.
Because the creeper is designed to carry the weight of a large adult it is not even close to being overloaded with the weight of the top and motorcycle lift/steel support beams.

 

[HeHateMe]

And you sir... Win my internet for the day...

 

[Danny's Bronco]

Really great. And I can wheel it to the corner of my barn. Thanks

 

[indio22]

Ok.
1) Take the cushioned pad off the top of the creeper. Clean the surface of any glue residue. Weld/Bolt in support beam (circled in red) in the center of the roughly rectangular frame where the pad used to sit.

2) Weld/Bolt in additional flat support pieces to the top of the frame/support beam.
This is where the motorcycle jack will sit.

It's hard to see but there is another flat support piece under the front.

3) Weld/Bolt the motorcycle jack to those pieces, centered in the middle of the frame.

4)Weld/Bolt Clam Shell support arms to the top of the motorcycle jack.

5) Use self tapping screws and attach rubber pads to the support arms. (I glued them down with superglue to hold them in place then used a screw)

6) Paint the metal to prevent rust and hide your shit welding.

I put the top back on this morning and the screw type lift mechanism on the motorcycle jack means you can lower the top millimeter by millimeter when aligning the guide pins on the shell to body.

Over all I am super happy with how this functions. It's stable when moving the top around and it's easy to wheel around.
Because the creeper is designed to carry the weight of a large adult it is not even close to being overloaded with the weight of the top and motorcycle lift/steel support beams.

I was thinking about doing the garage hoist thing, but your approach would be much more flexible. Can be used for removing the top in the driveway or wherever, well done thanks for sharing.

 

[Raptor Guy]

I love my Top Lift Pro but this is slick!

 

[TCB-1]

**slow clap getting increasingly faster**

I really dig the ingenuity! Bet it's a heck of a lot cheaper to fab than those 1000-1300 units with thin wall tubing.

 

[TCB-1]

Plus... I'm sitting here on my computer with Solidworks and the Harbor Freight website open. I might give a design a whirl this weekend with yours as a good, real world template

Would you happen to have the floor to the surface of the top you are lifting at (approx)?

 

[Moto26]

Nice work! Don’t worry about the welds not looking pretty, they look plenty strong enough.

One thing to consider… If you make it to where the scissor jack assembly could be bolted on instead of welded, you could still use the topside creeper as intended if you ever need to…

 

[ScLeCo]

Plus... I'm sitting here on my computer with Solidworks and the Harbor Freight website open. I might give a design a whirl this weekend with yours as a good, real world template

Would you happen to have the floor to the surface of the top you are lifting at (approx)?

I have it at 70" right now but the creeper is adjustable it could be 15" lower or 6" higher.
The motorcycle lift has about 12" of adjustment.

Nice work! Don’t worry about the welds not looking pretty, they look plenty strong enough.

One thing to consider… If you make it to where the scissor jack assembly could be bolted on instead of welded, you could still use the topside creeper as intended if you ever need to…

Absolutely.
I wish I had been smart enough to think of that before welding and throwing away the cushion.

 

[Maharba]

And here I was contemplating how I would go about building my own hardtop lift.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[BroncoBoy22]

Which model topside creeper did you use?

 

[ScLeCo]

Which model topside creeper did you use?

I don't know. It's an old one I had from 2016 when I had a lifted Ram 1500.
I would buy the cheapest one I could find.
It looks like this one though.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3147307381...VWLlRyFSxEfG+/djNI/jkkXA==|tkp:Bk9SR-SyoNe6Yg

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