How To: Remove Your Hardtop by Yourself
It’s reality, but some of you are alone at the moment. Whether your significant-other has left for the weekend, or you smell like old motor grease and can’t quite attract a mate, you don’t have anyone to help you. But what if you want to remove your hardtop from your Jeep? You can’t be expected to do so without either someone’s help or breaking the heck out of it, now can you?
Well, Sgt. P, one of our forum members, just might have the perfect project to help you out when you’re all alone. Here’s his step-by-step directions for removing the Jeep hardtop:
Here’s an easy way to get the Hard Top off by yourself. This is for those of us without garages or carports for hoists and pulleys…
A couple of assumptions:
1. You don’t have a bad back.
2. You can lift 100 lbs over your head.
3. Doing this wrong can lead to bad things (dropped top, scratched paint, bad back or knees, etc.)
With that out of the way…
First I built a table the same height as the top of the tailgate using 4×4 legs, 2×12 tabletops, and 2×4 cross braces.
I went 6″ longer/wider than the top in any direction. Also the U-shape allows plenty of room to manipulate the top:I added a caster to the rear of the back leg, about an inch off the ground.
This makes it easy to tilt the table back and roll around.I painted the top and edges with a Plastic Coating paint. Weather protection and a little protection against rubbing…
Backed up the Jeep to the table:
I got in the back of the Jeep and facing the rear. I get on my knees and find the balance point of the top with my hands spread as far as possible without losing lifting strength.
Practice the lift, this is where the scratches or dropping could happen.
I lift and move the top toward the table a few inches at a time:
Watch the “posts” as you move to the rear. That part of the top is wider than the rear, so scratching and/or losing the balance of the top is possible.When more of the Hardtop is on the table than on the Jeep, I “climb” into the middle of the U-shaped table and lift to the final resting spot. Climbing in is easy due to the wide areas between cross braces.
When done the top should have 6″ on all sides.
This will also make it easy to clean the interior of the top, etc…
Wood logic: 2×4’s are not 2″x4″, now for some measurements…
The U-Shaped “table top” is 2×12’s (1.5″x 11.25″) :
(2) sides – 48″ long
(1) back – 48.5″ long (probably could have done another 48″, but that’s how it worked out)
back measurement = 71″ across the “bottom of the U” (11.25″ + 48.5″ + 11.25″)
(4) legs – 44.5″ tall (this dependes on your tailgate height!) 44.5+1.5″top=46″tall
The legs are “centered” on the top. Approx 4″ (3.87″exact) from the edges.
The 2×4 braces lengths are dependant on your leg placement. And the angled pieces can be just about any length as long as they are cut to a 45 degree…Most importantly, Gunner approves!
