Ok, so the Harken hoist just got delivered and i went to install it but i have a problem that some of you might have run into ....so any help would be great ! ! ! my ceiling joists run opposite of what the directions say ( the mounting boards will be in the same direction as the the joists instead of opposite of the joists ), so i was wondering if any of you have modified it to work or went on ahead and installed it like the directions say on a single beam or modded it to mount across several beams ? anything will help at this point ( it's 104 in the garage with the fan on )

 

Yes, my set up was the same as yours. I attached both of my mounting boards to one joist each. Four bolts per board and it has worked perfect. I weigh 200 lbs and hung from each rope to test them. No issues. It was a pain to get that board straight across but I got it done. Took about three hours but I was not rushing.

 

my floor joists run the same way and i just installed the boards on one joist each as well, 4 bolts per board. the problem i ran into was that it seemed like my floor joists werent perfectly straight so i had to actually angle the front board slightly but eveything has held up great thus far and the tops been suspended for about 5 months now. if you wanna make it easier though you could buy 2 2x4's and mount them perpendicular to the joists then mount the main mounting boards to those.

 

Thanks Guys ! ! ! ! ! just finished the install and it took about 3 to 31/2 hours to complete all the centering and double/triple measuring took a toll but it was worth it. my wife even helped until my friend got off work and was able to help out as well but its finished and while we were doing the install the fed-ex guy showed up with some big rockhard labeled boxes looks like a rear bumper install will be happening this weekend ......i appreciate all the input because i was almost at my wits end

 

I'm really happy with mine. It's a great system at a great price.


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Glad it went ok.You will love the hoist. I have it down to about ten minutes to take the top on and off. That includes the Freedom panels. Make sure you put up pics of the new bumper also.

Really happy with mine also. So easy I might not get a soft top now. I have a cover to put over it if it rains and I am out and about.

 

the hardest part of the install was figuring out how to tie those damn knots from those pictures in the directions ....soft top should be here in a few days and of course no rain for weeks with temps in the triple digits...now that i have everything installed the weather man said it will rain all weekend

 

The point of putting in the boards is so you can set your distances between the pulleys properly. If your joists run in the direction that they show to run the boards then you should mount them the opposite way to set that distance set right. It's a little hard to explain what I'm talking about. Basically the point of the boards is to make it possible to mount the pulleys so that they pull perfectly vertical on the top. Which ever way you have to turn them to accomplish this is the way they should be mounted.

 

Just a quick tip: Before hoisting, open up your doors. (if they're on) If you're JK is a little too far back, the roof will sway forward and scratch the hell out of your window frames.

Learn from my mistakes.

Beyond my stupid issues, the Harken Hoister is an awesome product!

 

Thanks for the info guys