Pop Top 80

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ab1985

ab1985

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Threads
20
Messages
683
Location
Nashville
I've been building my 80 a little bit at a time. Progress is slow at the moment because we just moved and I don't have a proper garage. I'm starting this thread in hopes of getting motivated. I started documenting things over at Expedition Portal, but I figure it's time to dive head first into The Mud. :) Feel free to send PM's telling me to get off my @ss.

I started with a stock 40th with 110k on the clock in the spring of 2012. We went camping a few times at Red River Gorge and hit GSMNP. At the time I was repurposing gear from my 4Runner. Very quickly I began day dreaming on ideas about the future of the cruiser. :)

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This is a copy/paste from Expo explaining what happened next:

Although my wife is coming around to the idea of family camping, I don't think she will ever be as enthusiastic as I am. My daughter, on the other hand, loves it. So I need to set up my vehicle to accommodate all four of us when we're together, but realistically the most use it will see will be me or myself and my daughter (fingers crossed about the younger one). I purchased a RTT after our GSMNP trip, but after having multiple units damaged in shipment I scrapped that idea. We thought about buying a tow behind camper, but I don't have a place to store a trailer and I didn't like the idea of being confined to KOA campgrounds. When I saw CampTeq was offering a discount on the first five units it sold in 2013 I called Eric and placed my order.

Fast forward a few weeks. I'm driving from Prospect, KY to Aspen, CO on 4/28 where CampTeq will perform the surgery - yes, the roof must go. Eric offers a few options. You can mount the tent on top of your 80 series while leaving the entire roof intact. You can also do a mini cut (think rear sunroof), a half cut (just aft of the main cross support after the front sunroof), or a full cut. I opted for the half cut to take advantage of the interior space and gain standing room. This will allow us to leave most of the structural support from the roof while removing the sunroof glass to save weight.

I decided to take some time for myself while I am out that way. Last week, on a flyer, I sent in a reservation request for two nights on the White Rim Trail. By day's end I was confirmed for Airport and Potato Bottom! So I'll be heading to Canyonlands National Park for a few days for some testing after the install in Aspen. I'll probably stop in at Cruise Moab on my way out later that week. So now I need to do a few basic things to get the truck road trip worthy.
 
I made the drive from Louisville to Salina on day 1. As I was hanging out in a KOA that night I thought, "Man, it would be great if I had a copilot." I called my father the next morning and offered to fly him to Denver to meet up. Score! After a long ride we met up, "camped" in a hotel, then made our way to Aspen the following morning.

I was going to take pictures and document progress at a later date, but right as we got started I checked my messages and noticed a note from LandCruiserPhil ribbing me on updates (he, too, was anxiously awaiting a CampTeq top). Here we go - I decided for the next few hours I would post real time as Eric at CampTeq installed my pop top. What a fun day :)
 
Can't wait to see the pop top! Please, please post tons of photo's. We left the world of westfalia for many reasons that the land cruiser addresses but the pop top functionality I'll always appreciate. I'm going to look up the company right now. Thanks for posting
 
Tigli said:
Can't wait to see the pop top! Please, please post tons of photo's. We left the world of westfalia for many reasons that the land cruiser addresses but the pop top functionality I'll always appreciate. I'm going to look up the company right now. Thanks for posting
Click to expand...

I'm glad this is helpful. If you can't wait click the link in my sig. Otherwise, I'll get everything up in this thread. If you search the web for "CampTeq" you should come up with a few hits for the others running this top. It's a very cool piece of gear. :beer:
 
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