Topsy Lift thread

[STLYoungblood]

This may not be the correct place to ask, but in every picture I have seen in this thread, the Racor is mounted so the center beam runs parallel with the Jeep. In my garage the rafters run parallel with my Jeep, so if I mounted directly to the rafters my center beam would be perpendicular to the Jeep. Is there any reason that I can not / should not do this?

I don't know if that would matter. If you're using the topsy lift though, the hooks connect to the sides of the rack that have the actual bars and not just the wire rack, so you'd need to position that correctly. You could always run a couple 2x's and lag into that though

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[slimgrady18]

I don't know if that would matter. If you're using the topsy lift though, the hooks connect to the sides of the rack that have the actual bars and not just the wire rack, so you'd need to position that correctly. You could always run a couple 2x's and lag into that though

I'll run some 2x's if necessary, just trying not to make extra work for myself. Thanks for the response.

 

[Movingday]

Isn’t the platform a 4x4 square? So you should be able to orient it however needed regardless of how you install the hoist

 

[JLUSoCal]

Isn’t the platform a 4x4 square? So you should be able to orient it however needed regardless of how you install the hoist

The only downside I have with rafters that are perpendicular to the garage door (same as you needed to mount so "gearing mechanism that lifts the platform" is in the front or could be back of the jeep). The problem with that is I can't lift it off the jeep as easy as if the gearbox was on the side. When I first installed the Racor I didn't have the Topsy so it was a manual lift of the hard top drag to below the racor to lift. Now I might do a 180 turn of the lift to put the gearbox back by the tail glass, we'll see. As noted the platform works either way as the attachments to the cable are "square" so that's not a problem. Ultimately I didn't have room on the side where I park the Jeep so it sits above the hood of my Camry.

My original setup before the topsy was to pull the rack and use 2x6 wood under the back of the hard top and superstrut for the front. Both of those "platforms" were connected to the cables using the existing eye bolts. The wood I just drilled into the 2x6 that stuck out 6" on either side. The superstrut I bought some 90 degree angle pieces with holes on both sides to thread the cable through the superstrut and attached about a foot in to the 90 degree angle. That helped so I did NOT need to adjust the cable lengths when I went from platform with softtop on it OR hardtop no platform attached to the platforms that supported under the top. I didn't have room to open the back glass because of a header beam about 6" from the back of the rack and with the garage door up I literally have a few inches of room before the door would hit the top of my 8' rafters. If that all makes sense. But since I bought the topsy (not available when I masterminded above) and looking to swap where the gearbox sits.

 

[Shots]

Excellent. A ball park estimate is close enough. I just wanted to start dialing it in from somewhere close to the balance point, and that should do it. Thanks.

 

[JLUSoCal]

Red vs. Yellow - gearbox safety latch....

I bought my Racor from a liquidator warehouse in LA. My lift has a yellow safety latch and I think I've seen red in most of the pictures. Is there any difference and did they improve the red gearboxes OR is it just they started painting red? I think the weak link is the cable holder being made of plastic but not sure if the gearboxes changed?

 

[Shooting or Jeeping]

Isn’t the platform a 4x4 square? So you should be able to orient it however needed regardless of how you install the hoist

I’ve seen both ways, so you should be fine. Just be sure that you realize the back is not the same as the front in terms of removing the top. Having the support beam across the back allows you to slide the straps to compensate for this a little easier. But if you run it the other way, you just need to make sure that you attach the straps to the corners of the support to get the best stability.

 

[Shooting or Jeeping]

Red vs. Yellow - gearbox safety latch....

I bought my Racor from a liquidator warehouse in LA. My lift has a yellow safety latch and I think I've seen red in most of the pictures. Is there any difference and did they improve the red gearboxes OR is it just they started painting red? I think the weak link is the cable holder being made of plastic but not sure if the gearboxes changed?

I can’t speak for the color difference, but I can tell you that Topsy is starting to make a replacement for the plastic cable holder. Check out their site. Simple fix.

 

[Movingday]

Put my racor together last night, plan on install this weekend. Any advice for doing it by myself?

 

[Movingday]

I can’t speak for the color difference, but I can tell you that Topsy is starting to make a replacement for the plastic cable holder. Check out their site. Simple fix.

I don’t see anything new on their site?

 

[mdelzer]

This may not be the correct place to ask, but in every picture I have seen in this thread, the Racor is mounted so the center beam runs parallel with the Jeep. In my garage the rafters run parallel with my Jeep, so if I mounted directly to the rafters my center beam would be perpendicular to the Jeep. Is there any reason that I can not / should not do this?

Doesn't matter. I put mine on the side so that I have easier access to crank it up and down.

Ok, I was alone, so the measurements from front to back and front side to side aren't perfect, but they're pretty close:

Hinge Bracket to Bracket: 34 3/8 ish
Front Top Side to Side: 59"
Front to back: 95"

Hope that helps!

95" seems long, if you are going off of the points where the racor lifts, since the lift is 4x4 square. I would recommend if you are doing a custom hidden lift that you go with lift points as close to the C pillar of the top as possible because it should be more ridged.

 

[STLYoungblood]

Oh shit, you're right, I measured to the freedom panels! I'll remeasure in a bit.

 

[STLYoungblood]

Updated:

Hinge Bracket to Bracket: 34 3/8 ish
Front Top Side to Side: 59"
Front to back: 66"

Now, as far as where the straps come out on the sides, you get some play there. The racor platform is about 4x4, so 48-50" is probably a safe bet. I'm going to yank the top off today, so I'll be able to measure exact if you like.

 

[ajester1272]

Updated:

Hinge Bracket to Bracket: 34 3/8 ish
Front Top Side to Side: 59"
Front to back: 66"

Now, as far as where the straps come out on the sides, you get some play there. The racor platform is about 4x4, so 48-50" is probably a safe bet. I'm going to yank the top off today, so I'll be able to measure exact if you like.

Thank you so much - if you can confirm when you take your top off, great! If not, no biggie. Definitely gives me a good point to start.

 

[STLYoungblood]

Thank you so much - if you can confirm when you take your top off, great! If not, no biggie. Definitely gives me a good point to start.

It’s about 50” spacing since the Topsy brackets stick off back

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