bronco hard top ???

[cvbfireman]

hey guys i am new to the forum had early broncos in my family for years currently have a 75x2, 73, 72...

just picked up my 72 about a month ago and have been making it cherry ever since.... i will get some pictures our collections on here

anyways my ????? i diamond plated the back side panels, now putting the hard top back on is kinda tricky... i live near the beach so during the summer i know i will barely have the top on...

the only thing i can think of is welding some nuts on the bottom of the holes so i can just pop the bolts in without having to get up under there

has anyone done anything else? maybe a little easier?

 

[br0nc0xrapt0r]

When I was a kid My dad had some special clamps to hold the top on our F250. I doubt that would be a pretty solution.

 

[thegreatjustino]

Google nutserts. Would be a lot easier than welding nuts from underneath - although probably more expensive for the kit.

 

[sprdv1]

Welcome to the site!!

 

[HGM]

I'm planning to weld mine, although I' gave the nutserts thought. Th main deciding factor for me was that I've yet to finish the body work and the wleded in nuts will look more finnished. If I hadnt intended to paint, the nutserts would be, by far, my prefered choice..

Welcome.. A suggestion, that so many forget to do for some reason, list your location on your avatar info. This way, someone close to you may be willing and/or able to lend you a hand or a tool if needed(like a nutsert tool).. Just a suggestion, makes things easier..

 

[jsnouffer]

Good write-up on the nutsert method here:

http://www.broncofix.com/viewtopic.php?t=261593

 

[00gyrhed]

Weld nuts

I used these. I always called them "captured nuts" but you need to scroll down to "easy-align nuts".

http://www.mcmaster.com/#weld-nuts/=bdecpi

There is a collar that you stick up through the hole in the bed to make the hole nice and rigid when you do not have anything in it. The nut is alos free to move arround a little if everthing isn't perfectly aligned. Its also nice that once the body work is done the finished holes look really nice with no rings around them. Sorry I do not have a pic of the finished hole but they do look like nice clean factory holes.

My intention was to swap the hard top and soft top out right before deer season and again as soon as the fruit trees budded. But the soft top is so much quieter annd warmer than I expected I may never do it.

 

[stock1970]

soft top

 

[JIMS74]

Instead of welding the nuts to the body, weld them on some steel flatbar. Make some1/8" x 1 1/4" backing strips with some kind of nut welded to them, and hold the backing strips in place with a couple flathead screws.That way you could remove them if ever needed.
Jim

 

[Rustytruck]

I used 1-1/2 X 1/4" hot rolled steel and made 2pieces each side and drilled and tapped that for the side bolts that way no wrenches underneath Just a short ratchet on top. This started because of the vapor recovery bottle on the drivers side with a roll bar over the cover that bolt was a real bitch. I was installing my top twice a year and all the wrench work got old. I used hot roll steel for the smooth radiused edges not to mar the body.