Roof Rack or Entire Roof Hoist, Thunderbirds Style. Also Good for Roof Tent Storage.

The problem

I love having a sturdy roof rack on my Land Rover, furniture, hay bales, brave friends, beds and more have been transported on it with ease. It's been a mobile platform for trimming trees, tying hammocks to and picking apples from.

But it adds weight and drag, it also makes it awkward getting into low locations so I'd like to be able to take it on and off easily. Being so heavy and high, it's just about possible for 2 tall strong people to lift it off, but it's hard work and then it has to be stored somewhere too.

The original idea

It'd be so much easier to drive into my garage, hoist the roof rack up to the ceiling and drive out again.

With a pair of cheap bicycle lift kits and a handful of nuts and bolts I added a pulley system to my garage in order to do this. Drive in, loosen the rack and lift it to the rafters. It stay there out of the way until needed again. If I had a roof tent then it'd work for that too.

Evolution of the idea

Later I upgraded this system using a pair of electric winches, steel cable and steel pulleys - it's now capable of lifting off the entire top half of my Land Rover complete with roof rack for summer topless driving. It takes about 45 min for me to do the conversion with this setup, from driving in with a roof to driving out without one.

This Instructable will cover how to make the basic version, and also the extra bits required for a heavier version with winches rather than pulling ropes by hand.

For those who are interested in the vehicle, it's a 1969 Series IIa short wheel base. I'm aware there are rag-tops, truck cabs, half tilts, bikini tops and many easier options for having a convertible Land Rover. I've tried most of them, but like my hard-top or no-top setup the most.

Please note I'm not going to state any load ratings or actual weights here. I've done this and am comfortable with the loads I'm lifting, the strength of the components and the strength of my garage beams. (They may look bowed in some photos but it's just the camera lens/angle.)

Do your own assessments of your components, structure and load, stay safe.

Base version

1. 2 cycle lift kits - available cheaply online, including Amazon if you really must use them.
2. Approx 30 M6 40mm bolts* with nylock nuts and washers. Toolstation is ideal

Suggested upgrades

1. Nice rope, 5mm or 6mm rope will be easier to handle and stronger than the cord that comes with the cycle lift kits
2. Good mounting screws, to replace the likely instant-strip ones in the cycle lift kits

Additions to upgrade to a heavier version

1. 2 winches, electric or manual
2. 2 winch cables - length will depend on your ceiling height
3. Winch mounting brackets & fixings
4. 2 cable clamps for terminating
5. 10 metal pulleys (Or turn your own)

* Technically 'set screws' - for the pedants.

The cycle lift kit comes with hooks or claws designed to hold a bike frame - if you aren't lifting anything heavy then these may suit your application perfectly, or require some light bending.

I'd still recommend drilling out the rivets and replacing them with M6 bolts and nylock nuts for safety.

Additions to upgrade to a heavier version:

With the cycle lift kit I got, the individual hooks are far stronger than the Y section of metal that joins them to the pulley housing - deleting that Y section and bolting a hook directly to the pulley housing is a simple way to make the whole assembly far stronger. See the badly annotated image for which bits to remove.

You may need to bend the end of the hook to do this - clamp it in a sturdy vice and hammer it to a 90 degree bend, then bolt it directly to the pulley housing.

Rivet replacements

The lift kits are likely to come with tubular rivets rather than solid axles on the pulleys and joints. If you are lifting something really light then that's probably fine. But for anything more than the designed weight I'd recommend drilling out all rivets (See the badly annotated image for the rivets to replace) and putting bolts though. M6's work perfectly for this, and using nylock nuts you can tighten them nicely so the pulley still spins freely.

Hacksaw them to length and file the ends so they don't catch on anything later.

This step means that even if a plastic pulley wheel splits, the bolt will support the cable and prevent the load from dropping, whereas a tubular rivet may give way and let the cable escape.

The threads on the bolts will slowly wear away at the plastic pulleys - I'm not worried about this as it'll take thousands of rotations to affect performance. But if you are worried then consider using true bolts, with an unthreaded section the pulley can run on, or a metal sleeve. But at that point you may as well upgrade to metal pulleys (see heavier version notes below) and not worry about them.

Pulley orientation - the default with these kits seems to be mounting on the underside of a beam. This is fine but if you want more height, and can mount to the side of a beam then you can change the orientation of the pulleys by bolting through from the sides of the housings rather than on top. I think my kits had the holes in place to do this alteration already, but if yours doesn't then centre-punch and drill 6mm holes where necessary. See photo of my 'side beam' mounting. Be aware this will put a twisting load on the beam, so be sure your beams are sturdy enough if you do this.

Removing the 'auto lock' latching mechanism - again this is your judgement call - I didn't trust it to hold the weights I was lifting so removed it and relied on tying off the loose rope end for safety.

Additions to upgrade to a heavier version:

If you are upgrading to a steel cable, replace all the plastic pulleys at this point. Steel or alloy pulleys are available online, but if you are lucky enough to have access to a metal lathe then it's a fun project turning a set of pulleys. They really don't have to be precise, this isn't a high speed or high load application. Just a deep groove and a width of a couple of mm narrower than your pulley housings.

Assemble with plenty of grease.

And definitely remove that auto-lock feature if you are using steel cables.

This will be very dependent on your structure so I won't go into much detail here - but mount the 2 plates of the pulley system a suitable width apart for what you are wanting to lift.

Then thread your cable through the pulleys as per the photo - it'll be fixed to the beam at one end and dangling loose at the other (the winch end in the photo).

Your loose end will be what you pull to raise the load, and will need a hook or lashing somewhere strong to tie it off when under load. The cycle lift kit comes with a lashing point for this.

Repeat on another beam with your second cycle lift kit - if possible have both loose ends on the same side so you don't have to walk under your load between them when going up/down.

Additions to upgrade to a heavier version:

Mount your winches first - you want a straight line pull from the drum to the first pulley. You'll probably get away with a couple of degrees off, but too much and it'll be trying to slip off the pulley under load.

Once your steel cable is threaded through, terminate it with an appropriate sized clamp to make a loop and bolt to the pulley mounting plate. Doing this AFTER threading it through all the pulleys is important.

With everything firmly fixed in place, try lifting your desired load gently - with a helper nearby for the first lift. It's easy to get into difficulty if a hook slips while lifting and you can't quickly let go of the rope to adjust it.

You have a lot of mechanical advantage with this pulley system - but that comes with a lot of potential for high speed rope burn if you loosen your grip on the hoist rope.

Lift one end off the ground, tie the hoist rope off safely, then lift the other end and repeat, going back and forth between the two ropes. Keeping your load level is important to prevent uneven loading of the pulleys and the risk of hooks slipping at odd angles.

You may need to make some manual adjustments to the level of your load by lifting up a low corner by hand.

Keep going back and forth until your load is as high as you want it, then securely tie both hoisting ropes.

Obvious safety point - don't walk underneath your suspended load unless you are fully confident it's secure and safe. For long term suspension, consider an additional safety strap around your load and the beams.

For anything that is left suspended at head impacting height, consider hanging high visibility cloth from each corner down to the ground - I've more than once banged my head on the suspended Land Rover roof by walking through the garage while looking down at something.

Additions to upgrade to a heavier version:

This is where you can enjoy your upgrade - no hand pulling on ropes, just lift each end in turn, keeping it level. If you are using manual winches then be sure to securely lock them once your load is up.

You may still need to make manual adjustments on the way up/down by lifting a low corner.

If like me you are lifting the top off a 'manual' convertible, it's time to check the weather forecast, put on your driving goggles and go for a drive.

The top half of your vehicle will be there waiting for you in the garage when you want it back on in the Autumn.

I've got this to a point it works perfectly for what I need it to do. However if I were to move house and do it again I would be tempted to try other some other options:

Hand winches - I got a really good deal on my pair of electric winches in 2018, but they are expensive in 2025, a pair of cheap "boat trailer" style hand winches would probably work fine.

Longer control cables on 2 electric winches - so I can stand in the middle and operate both rather than walking back and forth

A single winch - with pulleys directing 4 cables onto the same drum for equal lifting force on all 4 corners.

A higher garage - I only have about 20cm to play with using this current setup - I can still park it under the suspended roof, but it's a bit tricky to line up and not bash the suspended sides with the rear seats.