DIY OEM soft top bows (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Pin_Head
- Start date
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Finally got it on!
Used prebent elbows 55 and 35 and a 1 inch hanger that fit the corner holes in the tub with a little oblonging
Used some prefab metal tabs and split the pipe and burned them in the center and attached the other on the inside edge of the pillars
The top was a tight (to tight) fit, so we cut three inches out of the spreader bars and welded in some 3/4 all thread with two jam nuts. This adjustment allows for easy fitting and stretching of the canvas
Thanks pinhead I've still never seen a set of bars in person but still managed to get this mounted up. Over all I'm about six hundred dollars in parts, steel and canvas. It took awhile to acquire all the hard top pieces and hardware
- Thread starter
- #47
Congratulations. It looks great.
The thing I learned is that you have to like doing this kind of stuff because you sure won't make any money doing it. I only made the font half and I figure I had about 30 hours in it. This works out to about $15 - 20 an hour. If you didn't have to buy materials, that would be a "living wage".
The thing I learned is that you have to like doing this kind of stuff because you sure won't make any money doing it. I only made the font half and I figure I had about 30 hours in it. This works out to about $15 - 20 an hour. If you didn't have to buy materials, that would be a "living wage".
26 degrees? Really? I guess I'm going to have to measure it. I was thinking it was almost 45 degrees...
I got a partial set of bows from @whitey45 for a good price. The stand-in for the rearmost bow looks to have been from an fj45 canvas top or something. It was 1-3/4" wider and the down tubes were much longer. At the bottom, the tubes were flattened with just one hole drilled. There were also a bunch of not-well-placed snaps riveted and screwed into it. I've got the bends done to match the original and the 1-3/4" extra cut out of the top-center. It's about ready to get welded up. Pics later.
When I'm done I'm going to have a full set of bows that I'll post up for sale, with some parts original, some parts Paki repro that I got from @SouthBostonFJ40 a while back and the rear bow that I'm working on. It will include the windshield channel and a full set of six brackets.
Really great thread pin...thanks for sharing! I have a K-Line top but really love the look of the OEM style top!!!!!!!!!!
This should be a sticky.
A couple pics:
This is the extra wide bow I got with my latest set, compared to the rear bow installed on my 40 with the canvas pulled back.
These are the lower pieces I'm working on. Ron Diaz from Custom Cruisers FJ40 in Gilroy bent them for me. The bender couldn't make the two bends so close together so we made them as close as we could and I removed a section in between and welded them back together.
This is the extra wide bow I got with my latest set, compared to the rear bow installed on my 40 with the canvas pulled back.
These are the lower pieces I'm working on. Ron Diaz from Custom Cruisers FJ40 in Gilroy bent them for me. The bender couldn't make the two bends so close together so we made them as close as we could and I removed a section in between and welded them back together.
What are the rivets and spot welds for?
I ask because don't recall seeing that in the diy so am curious if this is for a different style top?
I ask because don't recall seeing that in the diy so am curious if this is for a different style top?
I got the bows from Whitey as an incomplete set, missing the rear-most bow. The set came with this one bow that was not correct for a '40, but surely Toyota OEM to something. It was 1-3/4" wider and very tall. Maybe it was for a troopy or the bed of an fj45? It was also riddled with snaps, some riveted, some screwed into holes drilled into the bow.
I took out all the snaps and welded up the holes.
Question: How does one create the curvature in this Center Bow without kinking?
Picture below shows it is 6" in center dropping 2" on ends.
Picture below shows it is 6" in center dropping 2" on ends.
- Thread starter
- #60
What I did is lay out marks every 4 inches from the center point and then press them with my shop press a little bit two at a time from the center and then measure how much I bent it. Then I calculated how much I would have to bend all of them to make a smooth bend. This worked out to be about a quarter stroke of my hydraulic ram every 4 inches.
