Too true! Been walking crooked the past 2 weeks after moving an empty axle housing... there may have been some beer involved.
Why does everyone keep the hardtop on (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Ken Friedman
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Too true! Been walking crooked the past 2 weeks after moving an empty axle housing... there may have been some beer involved.
I'm at the point now I've got an engine on the stand and I have to use a reeeeeally long cheater to spin it!
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Rusto
SILVER Star
I'm worried mine would fall apart if I took it off.
Definitely taking the doors off when I get my 2021 Prius, maybe, sawzall bikini toppin' it.
Less than half of it.
All these weights seem high to me. I've taken the hardtop off by myself a few times, I don't reccomend it but it can be done in a pinch. My 1976 style top without hatch can't be more than 120 maybe 140 pounds. No way my fat, 50 year old butt could move much more than that.
What hoist did you have? Im in need.I took mine off every spring and put it back on every fall when I had a shop with a dedicated hoist system and could do it by myself. Like anything, it gets faster with practice. But I've moved, and at present don't have a good place to store the top when it's off, so I just take the hard doors off and run tube doors during the summer. It's toasty in the summer with the hard top and hard doors on.
Like others have already said, there are advantages and disadvantages to both off and on, depending on what the climate is like where you live. Personally, I think it is more fun to drive without the top, but I also get tired of the dust, wind noise, and not being able to wash it easily and eventually I'm glad to have the top on again, until the next summer.
1911
chupacabra
The Racor system that lots of folks use and is well-documented here in this forum. I'll see if I can find one of the threads for you.
Edited: Here you go: FJ40 Hardtop removal/ storage
POPO AGIE
SILVER Star
Every time I took my top off it would rain, and in Wyoming you need a parka at night to keep warm in the summer.
I took my 40 top off the day it was delivered 13 years ago and it hasn't seen daylight or been back on the 40 since then.
I had a hoist at the time and it was still a PIA to take off.
I had a hoist at the time and it was still a PIA to take off.
Rusto
SILVER Star
I'll be getting the top off of mine here in a few weeks. It needs some work, so I'll focus on the top this summer while I go topless for a few months. It'll be the first time I have it off, so who knows when it will make it back on.
77mustard40
SILVER Star
I’ve been rolling top off with a bikini and hard doors for years. Having the doors cuts down on the wind and weather, and the windows can always be rolled down for the full experience.
Hard top is easier to store in pieces unless you have a high enough garage- shop to hoist it out of the way
Hard top is easier to store in pieces unless you have a high enough garage- shop to hoist it out of the way
I bought my '74 FJ40 new in Dec '73. My cousin and I use to go "varmint hunting" in the north central Texas area.. It was legal to hunt "non-game" animals at night.. Needless it say, we also used a 100K Candle Power spotlight.. so it made sense to remove the fiberglass top... ONCE!! I HAD to use a 4" Snap-On Ratchet with a short 10mm socket to remove the 986 6mm Set Screws.. It took over an hour to remove ALL those damn screws!! After a number of hours hunting (and skinning the "critters") we put the top back on.. ONCE!! I fitted the four screw across the top of the windscreen, I fitted TWO screws above each door and I fitted four screws in the "corners" over the tub.. All this took a couple of hours. I've NEVER removed that top since!! I'll also note, due to the "direction" one HAS to refit the setscrews, I'd venture a guess that OVER half of the screws stripped-out their threads A Royal PITA to say the least!! It was ALL the two of us could do to lift-off the top.. Refitting it was a helluva lot worse!! I was six foot at the time, my cousin was about 5'9" or so and had to REALLY stretch to reach the lip of the top!
Chas
With Top = Iconic, Classic FJ
Without Top = "Hey Nice Jeep Dude"
Love my FJ40, but even to me they really do look like a Jeep without the top.
Without Top = "Hey Nice Jeep Dude"
Love my FJ40, but even to me they really do look like a Jeep without the top.
Pura Vida
What an absolute noob
In part because it was a copy paste of a jeep willys but we ignore that here
As a teenager I used to ride around in a buddy’s 'Cruiser with only a bikini top. At the time it seemed like a lot of fun. I didn’t mind the occasional effort to help him get the top on and off. I even had fun with the nearly pointless factory safety straps. I was always excited when he swung by to pick me up with whatever gear we needed for the day’s adventure.
But I’ll tell you straight; After a long day in the out-of-doors and no matter how great the waves, how fine the fishing, or how spectacular the slopes had been, the ride home was always a real bummer. Whatever energy we may have had left was beat right out of us as the low-angle setting sun burned our retinas and the wind whipped the chafed skin off our bones. The noise of traffic and breathing constant clouds of exhaust was tantamount to low-grade torture and asphyxia. I can assure you that nobody inside was smiling. At the end all I wanted to do was get out of that thing. Consequently I’ve never taken the top off the 40 I currently have.
That’s also why I love 55s. You can roll down all the windows including the tailgate glass and it’s like you’ve got a soft top. A minute and a half later you can be back inside a quiet (relatively) and secure hard top.
But I’ll tell you straight; After a long day in the out-of-doors and no matter how great the waves, how fine the fishing, or how spectacular the slopes had been, the ride home was always a real bummer. Whatever energy we may have had left was beat right out of us as the low-angle setting sun burned our retinas and the wind whipped the chafed skin off our bones. The noise of traffic and breathing constant clouds of exhaust was tantamount to low-grade torture and asphyxia. I can assure you that nobody inside was smiling. At the end all I wanted to do was get out of that thing. Consequently I’ve never taken the top off the 40 I currently have.
That’s also why I love 55s. You can roll down all the windows including the tailgate glass and it’s like you’ve got a soft top. A minute and a half later you can be back inside a quiet (relatively) and secure hard top.
My dad had a 1971 without the hard top. In Alabama.
Taking it out guaranteed you would get rained on.
If it was hot, you were hot.
It was cold, you were cold.
You know those rocks that leave a nice big 2 inch crack in your windshield, they hurt 100 times more if they hit you in the face.
Taking it out on the highway was… an experience.
It would be the perfect vehicle if I lived in Pacifica or Half Moon Bay and only took it out for low-speed drives to the grocery store.
Taking it out guaranteed you would get rained on.
If it was hot, you were hot.
It was cold, you were cold.
You know those rocks that leave a nice big 2 inch crack in your windshield, they hurt 100 times more if they hit you in the face.
Taking it out on the highway was… an experience.
It would be the perfect vehicle if I lived in Pacifica or Half Moon Bay and only took it out for low-speed drives to the grocery store.
