Hardtop hoist

[john_p]

Looked around for a few and £300 or so seems the going rate!

Bit much, especially since it's still not guaranteed to stay attached to the garage ceiling at that price as I'd have to install it

So, any cheaper alternatives? Or should I attempt a DIY?

It's an M3 convertible so steel hardtop, about 70kg I think

[bad_roo]

This will work out cheaper.

[Parrot of Doom]

Just install a pulley with a ratchet, and use rope.

[R TOY]

bad_roo said:

This will work out cheaper.

I had one of those, after 4 weeks of heaving and straining, streching every muscle in my body i still couldnt get the bloody box open..

[Andy Mac]

I took the hardtop off the Frontera the other day, just to see how it all works. My god it was heavy! Can't wait to get the softop fitted! Be much easier on my armies!

[madbadger]

I made a hoist for my mazda hard top.

I used about five meters of webbing (inch wide tape like seatbelt material. You can get it from outdoor / climbing shops for about 50p/m ) and a pulley, which I attached to a beam in the garage with a sling and a caribina.

Seemed to do the job fine and wasn't £300.

[Andy Mac]

I didn't spend 300 either. instead I struggled and stumbled as I underetimated what it would weigh!

[randtis]

Does the £300 refer to the hoist available from BMW? Got one of these for a 330 hardtop which I imagine is pretty much the same and its a great piece of kit. It's well designed and engineered and wasn't hard to install. Got a length of timber and attached it lengthways (parallel with car) to the roof joists and then hung the pulleys off this with the mechanism to the side. Only took about an hour to fit and the hardtop will happily stay there all summer out of the way!

Cheers