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Top Removal and storage - dumb idea?

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 5:47 am
by XLR8
So i don't have enough height in my garage to store my Bronco and would like to remove the top once and awhile. I had an idea to buy one of these car tents/temp garages and to build a lift system with it's frame.
https://www.shelterlogic.com/shop/autoshelter

I know these things are pretty weak in general but has anyone done this? Is there a better idea? I'd like not only to have a way to lift it off but to also cover the Bronco in case on rain with out the top on. I'm in Dallas and we get some pretty good rain, and often.

Wife won't let me build a real carport until she gets a new kitchen, and that ain't happening anytime soon.

alternatively i can find some type of portable lift and then get a soft top. I can't lift it off by myself since its going to have a cage in it soon and can't be "walked" off.

Re: Top Removal and storage - dumb idea?

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 3:19 pm
by ChaseTruck754
If that carport tent is anything like the others I've dealt with (harbor freight & similar) you'd have to really beef the thing up to swing the shell from it. That being said, you can probably replace a few of the tubes with .120" wall stuff and hang a chain hoist from it & make it work.

I think it would most definitely work if you made the 4 rear vertical poles from thicker tubing and welded in some of the cross tubes out of the same stuff & hung the shell from all that. You could then also back the bronco in the tent & have the shell hanging over it & get both out of the weather (which I know can be nuts - my dad is in Azle).

Based on what I have heard about the weather I'd suggest pouring a concrete pad for under the thing & doing some sort of tie down system to keep that thing from blowing away. The pad could then be used for the carport later on down the line once that kitchen is done...

Re: Top Removal and storage - dumb idea?

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 6:43 pm
by 300
Not that it will help you much, but my father in law built a fixture that fits on the end of his engine hoist to lift the metal top off his EB. He can do it completely by himself. He doesn't have the full cage, just the main hoop, so the lift doesn't interfere.

Re: Top Removal and storage - dumb idea?

Posted: Tue May 28, 2019 8:04 am
by XLR8
Yeah i had come across that idea recently. I'd need to figure out how to counterbalance but otherwise a great idea.