I did this on my 1974 and my 1969. Worked great, tops fit fine.
Sorry, Another Real Steel Soft Top Bow Question
- Thread starter Seamus
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- #22
After talking with gr8ful we figured I have early doors that were bent to fit later hard top sides. I am going to either bend the frames straight and or get a top half of the old style doors or fst doors if I can find a pair. I am leaving the top the way it is so the new top that is made for this setup fits.
HelloKitty65
SILVER Star
Weighing in on a sort of related topic of using hard doors on a 1964 FJ40 with Real Steel soft top bows. The length of my early stock hard top door bow is basically angle iron with some flourishes. Later OEM and Real Steel soft top door bows bevel the inside corner and this material really gets in the way of an early stock hard door. I don't know if an early stock soft top door bow fixes this issue.
Red bow is a stock 1964-65 hard top.
Green bow is a '65 or later OEM soft top door bow?
Shiny metal: Real Steel.
To keep early hard doors soft top compatible a door bow would need to be found or fabricated as described by @Pin_Head in this thread: Post in thread 'DIY OEM soft top bows' DIY OEM soft top bows - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/diy-oem-soft-top-bows.607074/post-7792457
Red bow is a stock 1964-65 hard top.
Green bow is a '65 or later OEM soft top door bow?
Shiny metal: Real Steel.
To keep early hard doors soft top compatible a door bow would need to be found or fabricated as described by @Pin_Head in this thread: Post in thread 'DIY OEM soft top bows' DIY OEM soft top bows - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/diy-oem-soft-top-bows.607074/post-7792457
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HelloKitty65
SILVER Star
I once started modifying later two piece hard top bows and as I recall the early hard doors fit, but that may have been while leaving the beveled piece out.
@red66toy , @Aravind Dileepan
@red66toy , @Aravind Dileepan
- Thread starter
- #25
Thanks so much for this, for now I took out the window tracks and just have the lower half of the doors on. I am still waiting on the fabric part of the soft top before I modify anything
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- #26
It looks like my hard top is unlike any of your examples, the saga continues...it is allegedly a 5/1969 hardtop, or so i was led to believe.
HelloKitty65
SILVER Star
Looks like a bit of both designs. If you remove the cover to the inside corner, does that make enough room for your hard door? A weatherstrip would need to be added like shown in the red bow.
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- #28
The weatherstrip is on my door, right now i have the window frame out and the real steel frame on the truck and it works, i just have no windows at the moment. I am still waiting for the top to come in. I’m not sure i follow what you mean by the cover to the inside corner.
Does the b pillar on your driver side OEM bow have the same interior light as the later hard top truck?
HelloKitty65
SILVER Star
@upperblack, no. Only interior lights in mine are Vader lights.
@Seamus, this piece is removable. It hides the bolts holding the piece to the fiberglass cap.
@Seamus, this piece is removable. It hides the bolts holding the piece to the fiberglass cap.
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- Thread starter
- #31
But it would be missing the piece to hold the soft top on, no?
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- #32
I think you have it backwards, my hardtop works fine, the soft top is new and the top of the door hits my real steel bow before the door closes but the hard top is fine. The hard top seems to be about 1.25-1.5” narrower at the top of the door than the hardtop
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HelloKitty65
SILVER Star
Think of the door bow as a rigid piece connecting the top of the windshield to the B pillar. It offers a few feet of flat for the fiberglass cap's weatherstripping to seal, and a place for a few bolts to help hold the cap down.
You don't see those bolts because they are hidden by the removable trim/beveled piece outlined in the picture above.
Removing this trim made space for my early hard doors. But our situations may be entirely different.
I just removed that beveled 'trim' as I'm calling it, from my Real Steel soft top door bow. It was tack welded in half a dozen spots. Now my hard doors close easily, fit like a glove, and I have the channel to hold my canvas. Got my cake and I'm eating it too.
PS: the B pillar fits great too, with no mods:
You don't see those bolts because they are hidden by the removable trim/beveled piece outlined in the picture above.
Removing this trim made space for my early hard doors. But our situations may be entirely different.
I just removed that beveled 'trim' as I'm calling it, from my Real Steel soft top door bow. It was tack welded in half a dozen spots. Now my hard doors close easily, fit like a glove, and I have the channel to hold my canvas. Got my cake and I'm eating it too.
PS: the B pillar fits great too, with no mods:
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Well done! Glad you got this figured out
- Thread starter
- #35
Ok, that makes sense now, ill look into it. Thank you for your pics and explanation.
231Designs
SILVER Star
Seamus -
I’m in the same boat with a 74 hard top with Early doors. Was told it was all original when I bought the 40 back in 98. Fast forward and I have a soft top from Julie and the real steel bows and I have the same issue you are describing. My hardtop opening at the top of the doors is about 1.25” narrower than the RST b pillars. My doors have a 5/8” slant inwards at the top of the door. I don’t think they were “bent” at some point as the design seems very intentional since they taper from the full width of the door at the window opening to just the frame on the upper half.
Did you solve your problem?
I’ve read the posts about cutting a relief in the B-pillar and angling them in and then rewelding. But since you describe the same problem that I have - I wonder what solution you found that works.
Thanks
Ryan
Put a straight edge on your hard top side and see it will have the same bend in right at the bottom of the side glass. Up thru the 73 model at least our soft top bows were made to fit the soft doors Toyota used on FST in the US. As far as hard doors fitting straight B pillar bow you need to go back ten years and find doors with the bug catcher vent window and a straight B pillar. Been running doors from a 79 FJ40 on my 68 FJ40 for over forty years. Hard tops without corrugated sides have a straight B pillar. Once they changed in 65 the B pillar has a bend.
Real Steele may show your bow set fits all years as described, however Mr. T shows two different part numbers for all pipe sections, year dependent as noted. Maybe due to angle of B pillar? Note, my old school microfiche only covers the period from 03/69 through 07/80 for the US market.
I’m in the same situation and will end up bending mine. Also when did you receive the soft top and how long did you have to wait if you don’t mind me asking?
I have the same DR top and RS bows with early doors (1974) and fits just like that. The doors close okay but some of the powder coat on the bow frame rubbed off.