Hard top mounting

[curtsellers]

I’m one of those guys that takes the hard top on and off for winter/summer – makes me feel like I have 2 different broncos! I’m about to put it on for the winter and I thought I'd share a little thing I rigged up to make things go quicker.

A while back I made quarter panels that I mounted speakers to. They look great but it made taking the top on/off a huge pain since I can’t access the nuts under the bedrail. I'd seen some guys put in some threaded lugs in the bedrail but they didn’t seem very strong and some people said they fell out.

So, last spring when I had everything apart I welded washers and nuts together and then epoxied them to the underside of the bedrail. I would have welded them to the bedrail too but the heat would have ruined the paint.
I cut an access hole at the back of each quarter panel so I can get to the bolts that hold the rear posts in. I mounted some washers along the back and put magnets on the little doors so they don’t fall off. All in all it looks kinda slick and its super easy to bolt that top down now.

I also got a cheap electric winch from harbor freight and mounted it to the rafters so I can hoist the top up and drive under or drive away. It's now mostly a 1 man job but does take a second person to help guide the top around a bit

Here's a few pics:

[crawlin68]

Re: Hard top mounting

That is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

[onpier55]

Re: Hard top mounting

Awesome. I’ll be using this idea. Thanks

[904Bronco]

Re: Hard top mounting

My idea was a little different, but there are many ways to do this... Nicely done.

[70 Steed]

Re: Hard top mounting

My idea was a little different, but there are many ways to do this... Nicely done.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]33239[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]33240[/ATTACH]

This is what I've seen others do that don't want to use nutserts.

[curtsellers]

Re: Hard top mounting

Nice! That was my original though as well (to do a single long bar). I think it's structurally a better way to go. I wasn't confident I would get each nut in the exact place so I opted for the individual assemblies. Downside to my design is the individual bolts can fall off. And, unfortunately 1 of them did. Luckily its the 1st one after the access hole so I can reattach without taking everything apart. I think I didn't grind enough of the paint off the underside of the bed rail to get a good bond.
Best thing is to weld them right to the bed rail but you can only do that if you are going to paint later or don't care about the paint bubbling.