Smash-or-Trash - - Rollup Windows On Hardtop ??

[Skydog]

if i make one in the futur , i will keep the corner glass and make the side panel removable , so you can switch from hard panel to soft one , maybe a hinge on the side pannel so it can open up as a lid

the yellow lines on the pic is the cutting line for the side panel
this is someting i will do with a rusty used top

View attachment 1600142

Those tops are sooooo hard to find... I'd hate to see you cut yours up.

 

[coonassjohn]

I'm mulling the idea of setting myself up to fabricate these, as an entrepreneurial business. The more I think about it, the more I really like this idea of mine. So many of us here have hardtops, which seems to be the vast majority of us. And this idea of mine would permit us to switch back & fourth at low cost and low hassle - permitting us the "almost" full benefit of an OEM type soft top - though with our hard top still in place.

I have other ideas in my head as well; one of which is a tail gate which negates the need for OEM barn doors or the solid metal, non-movable replacement panel. Regardless, the OEM barn doors and/or solid metal, non-movable replacement panel would work seamlessly with my roll-up windows for hardtop concept.

I'm thinking about it...

Looks nice, good idea, I'd purchase one. If it unusual and DIFFERENT, go for it!

 

[Skydog]

Looks nice, good idea, I'd purchase one. If it unusual and DIFFERENT, go for it!

Thanks in kind for the uplift through your words. Much appreciated.

... A beautiful New Year to you & your family !! ... And Motor-On !!

~Skydog

 

[Splangy]

Ugly as hell and barely functional. Don’t do it!

 

[jim land]

Those tops are sooooo hard to find... I'd hate to see you cut yours up.

don't worry i already have some part left from a top i've chop in the past for a custom 45 style top , plus a complete very rusty one

i hope you don't mind the hijack in your thread , i'm just throwing some ideas that are related to yours

 

[jim land]

this is the part that would be removable in my plan

 

[Skydog]

this is the part that would be removable in my plan

View attachment 1601085

View attachment 1601086

Understood.

Perhaps you could conjure a tong & groove alignment on each side, on the inside, that the removable piece aligns back flush & square, and with a rubber seal, weather tight to the rest of the remaining-in-place top's side. And perhaps on the inside you could draw-tight the removable section with the remaining-in-place top's side with fasteners along the likes used underneath extendable dining room tables, where table leafs are added-in, and the table rejoined.

But what I'm not understanding is that you're a guru with wood & custom designing with wood. Why not create an authentic "Woody" concept, and remove the sheet metal of the hard top side all together ? ... With time and patience, and proper technique, you could curve-bend 1/2-in oak veneered plywood to the exact same 90-deg curved shape of the rear portion of the hard top side. You then properly cut out of the curved plywood the corner window opening for the curved corner window glass - and insert that via framing it in. And on the sides, you cut out a rectangular window with curved corners - and frame-in tempered glass there as well. And then, you create the rectangular side opening you are already envisioning, with use of hinges and locking fasteners - per your concept with the OEM sheet metal (but now with wood). And as an example top on an FJ40, your blue one, you stain the oak veneered plywood anywhere from a tan to a burnt umber brown, to marry with the blue and flow with the white cap. And then you varnish it (either glossy or satin) that it become fully weather proof. And your interior will now be more warm than it would have been with the sheet metal. ... How COOL would that be ... Having a "Custom Woody" FJ40 top !!

 

[TCEd]

I've always had problems with roll up plastic windows on boats. Moisture and hot sunlight seem to burn the plastic.

 

[myquestoyota]

I have wrestled with the concept as well and I sold my soft top because of security. I hated the idea of an a****** with a box knife stealing my stuff so I left no recovery gear or tools when I had the soft top. I love the idea of a removable, lockable option. Keep it up guys, I'm liking the discussion.

 

[jim land]

it not worse than a FST

 

[Skydog]

I've always had problems with roll up plastic windows on boats. Moisture and hot sunlight seem to burn the plastic.

This is good advice, because I do not know. I've not ever had a vehicle with soft top made roll up windows. I can see what you speak of as being realistic in an extreme environment : out on the ocean, down in the Caribben or SW Pacific, etc. Or perhaps frozen in place up there in Canada, where the guys up there drink soooo much beer - - But is this a common experience with other "Jeep-type" soft top owners - not on a boat but on a car/motor-vehicle ??

 

[Skydog]

I have wrestled with the concept as well and I sold my soft top because of security. I hated the idea of an a****** with a box knife stealing my stuff so I left no recovery gear or tools when I had the soft top. I love the idea of a removable, lockable option. Keep it up guys, I'm liking the discussion.

And I too have seen this first-hand. ... One example would be an old, former next door neighbor to me had a Honda convertible type sports car that someone had once slashed into. The neighbor drove around for two years (prior to moving away) with clear box tape pasted onto the face of the clear vinyl of his rear window. Looked Soooo Incredibly Ugly !! ... Made his car look permanently "vulnerable looking."

But I must ask : Is this a common, on-going *FEAR* from the rest of us here, who have an OEM styled soft top or perhaps one of the Best Top soft tops ?? .... Regardless, consider me at me at my end : I frequently tote around bags and bags of camera equipment. - - But I tell ya, if someone (with any level of experience & intelligence) really wants to break into an 40-series hard top, especially its ambulance doors - they could technically do so in a heartbeat... No ???

 

[Skydog]

it not worse than a FST

Not clear. Are you implying theft and slashing into the top with a knife to that of my concept - that it would be at most similar or "not any worse than a FST" ?

 

[Splangy]

God god. SOR sells sliding side windows so you don’t have to do goofy stuff like this.

 

[Skydog]

Ugly as hell and barely functional. Don’t do it!

I don't mind your saying this. I'm seeking such constructive comments. ... Is merely an idea in the head. And I bring it to this forum to gather such feedback. Thanks !

 

[Skydog]

God god. SOR sells sliding side windows so you don’t have to do goofy stuff like this.

What I'm proposing is not the same. My proposal would open up for use 100% of the window opening space. And would create the OEM hard top (without destroying it) to look & function along the lines of an OEM soft top (roll up clear vinyl windows on three or two sides).

 

[jim land]

Not clear. Are you implying theft and slashing into the top with a knife to that of my concept - that it would be at most similar or "not any worse than a FST" ?

i was talking about sun destroying the plastic comments, i roll the rear window on my kayline fastrack top since 2003 with no problem , but it sure not the same for someone in Arizona ,california or other hot places

 

[Skydog]

i was talking about sun destroying the plastic comments, i roll the rear window on my kayline fastrack top since 2003 with no problem , but it sure not the same for someone in Arizona ,california or other hot places

So, this might chalk-up an attractiveness to a solid metal, OEM hardtop (like you wish to create a removable panel for). But think of it, we've seen LOTS & LOTS of the 40's in Columbia, South America having soft tops. In Australia too. And there's lots of soft top Land Rovers in South Africa. How have they managed since the 1960's ?? Er I mean since prior to that ??

Regarding that all-wood side concept I mentioned to you above : If you did something like that, you could then router-in (say 1/4-in into a 1/2-in oak veneer plywood) the name of your company And stain the routered letters darker. Something like : "Jim Land Custom Log Homes" ... I'd think potential customers, seeing that, would think that's pretty cool !! ... Ohhhh, and you'd stain the wood of the sides of the hardtop the same color of stain typically used on your log homes...

 

[jim land]

i found this old thread : Using hard top bikini style

 

[Skydog]

i found this old thread : Using hard top bikini style

Jim : you dug-up a gold mine on that one !!

The image below, seen in the 'old thread' you had linked us to, is an image I've long had on my own computer. I simply couldn't find it earlier in this current thread of ours, although I was looking for it :

Someone within the 'old thread' stated : "Golf Kart? anyone?" when referring to the image immediately above. But if we think about it, a golf cart is a highly desired, utility-type, open-aired vehicle; that when it becomes raining or cold, a curtain is literally strapped on - and life for the user carries on.

More than one person, in the 'old thread,' seemed to be really digging this rig (immediately above). Incidentally, the way I'm planning mine, with the Aircraft Green paint, the result will be similar, but merely a different hue of OD. I can't see how it won't look overly cool, for what I intend mine to be : a really, really nicely made-to-perfection trail rig (perhaps along the lines of the tan one of @jim land ).

I suppose one could say this concept (with just the fiberglass cap) is really no different than Marshall's bimini top (which to me, really does look good) :

But with either (fiberglass or fabric), one could easily & quickly remove the upper top and go completely topless. It wouldn't be difficult. With the fabric, one could do this out in the field, and fold-up the top and place it into a container.

Not so with with the fiberglass cap route. But with the fiberglass cap, one could continue to have mounted compartments or lights or whatnot attached to the underside of the rigid top, that they would not which to remove. Plus, the fact of insulation properties from the sun & its UV heat. The cap is naturally white, and one can further insulate its underside. Its appearance is also of course uniquely different than what we'd see on a common Jeep. Therefore, the fiberglass cap remains attractive, both utility-wise & aesthetic-wise, to many of us.

And then, if it rains on us, while out in the field, we simply install (or roll-down) the packed-with-us curtains, as exemplified in the image immediately below (as extracted from the 'old thread.') :

This may look tacky to some of us here, but to others here, it doesn't. The reason being, at least to me, a 40-series Land Cruiser (like that of a golf cart mentioned above), as classic as it has become, is really nothing less than a pure UTILITY device. A 'utility device' being defined as "modifying it (or not modifying it...if one knowingly wishes to near-term resell) to however it suits one's needs BEST." Just like a farming tractor. And we've definitely seen that with golf carts; where, we now see ATV type golf carts, called "Gators" or "Big Reds," etc. And on them, just like a golf cart, one simply straps a 'curtain' around it when the weather becomes undesirable or inclement.

My concept of the roll-up window hard top is much like that presented in the image immediately above, but merely retains the two OEM hardtop sides, providing a greater sense of overall rigidity to the fiberglass cap.

~Marc