Ok, I know people have done outside hoists before but I needed one now that my JK doesn't fit into my garage. I also wanted it to not be an eyesore for the neighbors, and one that didn't require a ton of space. Here's what I came up with:
Edit: I'll be adding a couple pics later, becuase I apparently forgot to take some. lol

Here's my parts list:

1)440lb Electric Hoist from Harbor Freight ITEM 40765-3VGA Got it on sale for $69.99.

2)Support Arm for Electric Hoist (also harbor freight) ITEM 46980-5VGA $34.99

3) 2 bags of concrete about $6 bucks at Home Depot

4) 10ft pole, 1.5" diameter $32 Home Depot

5) Coupler for 2" to 1.5" pipe $5

6) 2ft scrap piece of 2" pole from new home construction around corner. Free ( I used this because upon measuring a 10ft pole wasn't going to cut it for the height of my jeep and just a 10ft pole).


Installation

1) Dig hole. I used a post hole digger to get a nice sized hole 2.5ft deep. Sorry no pic of this, but frankly if you don't know what a hole in the ground looks like stop reading now and go back to coloring.

2) Attach coupler to 2ft section of pole.

3) Mix concrete and pour some into the hole, but not much. Just enough so that you can sink the 2ft section of pole into it.

4) Put 2ft section of pole into the hole, center it and then pour in the rest of the concrete. You should end up with everything but about an inch of the pole and the coupler covered in cement.
Allow to dry for about 24hrs.


5) Attach support arm brackets to pole following instructions that come with it.

6) Attach pole to coupler. This step was a pain. The threads at least on the pole I had, required a bit of sanding to get them to attach completely into the coupler. Without sanding it went halfway down easily (as shown in first pic above), but I wanted it to go all the way in for added stability and safety.


7) The hardest parts are now done and you're in the home stretch. Hopefully you've follwed the instructions for the Support Arm and attached your winch to it. In which case you'll get out a small ladder and carry it up to the brackets and install. Don't forget the cotter pins! (I'll get a pic of this, it's one of the pics I forgot to take)

8) Now all you need to do is take your favorite Tbar type top remover, put it onto your Jeep and slowly back under the hoist. I've got the Lange one and I only use it because I paid for it before reading how to build my own on this site. It's not very good and required modification and it was over priced.

9) Attach hook to eye bolt on hoist and stand behind top. Simply press the button on the remote and in 2 seconds your top is dangling there. Since I used a pipe and not a solid piece of metal it definitely wobbled. If you're able to find a 12ft pole and just sink that into the concrete it probably wouldn't, but I wanted to be able to take the pole down when I wasn't using it, so all that remained was the coupler sticking out of the gravel.


Pretty simple. Not the cheapest way to go, but it works really well. Start to finish it takes about ten mins to get the top off. When I'm not using it I actually unscrew the pole and lay it in front of the fence. Then when I want to take the top off I just:
1) Pick up pole and twist into coupler 2 mins.
2) Go inside and bring out small step ladder and support arm with winch and attach to pole 2 mins.
3) Plug winch into extension cord. 2 seconds?
4) Attach Tbar to jeep 1 min.
5) Back under hoist 2 mins. (I like to get it lined up just right to minimize any extra swinging/pull on the pole.
6) Press button and lift top off 3 seconds.
7) Move jeep forward and lower top to ground. 1 min.

Notes: Yes the pole flexes, but I gave it the scientific test to make sure it would hold the top. I grabbed the hook and swung around like an idiot making tarzan noises. The photos my girlfriend took of this have all been deleted and won't be shown here. Sorry. lol

I plan to build a top cart similar to the Woods one, to cart the top out of the drive and into the garage. I just haven't gotten that far yet, so I just flipped it up against the fence, so I can still pull the jeep in.

 

That is an awesome build-up. Congrats on great project!

 

Thanks. I really liked pulling the jeep into the little garage and using the hoist that was mounted to the ceiling, but this is actually way faster.

Whether you install a hoist in the garage, or outside, if you can spend the extra bucks on an electric one, do it. It's really nice to just press the button and be done. In my garage I had a hand crank one and it took a good bit of effort to crank it up there, and with this one, you can actually stand right there and steady the top with one hand as you press the button with the other.

 

Be real careful there is no strength were those pipes tread together. Nice setup though.

 

Def electric man. well once I get a house lol. Just moved into college ahah but its never bad to have those things to look forward 2!

 

Well, I sure wouldn't want to keep my top suspended for a long while, but it's in the air all of about a minute, and i figure if that thing can hold a 250lb male, swinging around like a monkey for a good minute without twisting out, bending, etc. the 100lb top should be good for that period as well.

Ideally I wanted to slide the one pipe into the other, but the fit wasn't quite right. I may still explore this avenue though by grinding out the threads on the coupler, and sinking the main pole into the pipe that's in the ground 1ft deep. That's about all I can spare and still remove the top.

 

Here is an idea for an easy strengthening idea. Take a piece of pipe that will slide into the upper pole a few feet and cut it longer so it will slide into both the bottom and the top. It won't be as strong as something that fits both sides smoothly and evenly but if the threads were to let go it won't drop the top just tip a bit.

 

It looks like the pipe is bent really good with the weight of the top on it. I wouldn't want my $1800 top hanging there for long.

I would consider using a piece of square steel or I beam. That would be much stronger that round pipe.

 

Well, it held me for about 2 mins. lol But in general I agree, I'm most likely going to grind out the threads, fill the pipe thats in the ground with cement leaving just 1 foot, then slide the pipe into that. Drill a hole through the coupler and the pipe and slide a pin through both. And with the Harbor Freight support arm, the brackets require a 1.5" round pipe.

I figure with 1ft of the pipe inside another pipe and a pin locking them together, plus a tight fit with the ground out coupler there won't be any risk of anything coming apart.