Doors vs Inserts? Glass tub

[RPM289]

Do glass inserts fit better than doors on a glass tub? Mine is terrible due to the glass body sagging over mounts and cage plates. (Too many jumps I guess from racing days) Door fit is terrible huge gap at wing glass and lower windshield, out 1/2 in lower rear corner and thinking of just going inserts and staying with them if I can make them look good. At least they will "give" some to line up better. Do you have to sand edges for gaps to fit or are they close to what doors are?





Thanks,

Mike

 

[rekoj71]

I had to sand mine to fit right but was going for a very lined up look and was painting them to match. I even added some fiberglass layers to mine to get them to hold right where I wanted them. You should be able to adjust the body mounts to be able to get the tub straighter, but as you said you can bend the glass inserts a bit to make them look better. I was working with the inserts with the steel backing plates though. Not sure if the one piece ones will bend as much as the older style ones like I have.

 

[jamesf7278]

I believe we have the same tub... older malotte? mine fit terrible at first for doors, I had to make supports under body at mount areas. I used 2x4 channel under the body at the mounts just behind front seats all the way across, and I used 1x2 channel under front floor mounts by feet, it took quite a bit of shimming to get everything lined up.
the glass inserts would be easier but probably still have to shim or put better supports under floor at body mounts. even with everything leveled I still had to add fiberglass to the door jamb area on the pass side to get gaps good, drivers side was ok.

older pic but you can see it can be done



this is what my tub looked like when I bought it from the wreckers. somebody just bonded in the inserts, probably easy but not the look I was going for.

 

[Rustytruck]

Door inserts I have seen and used do not fit as good as the original steel doors. In your case it would make your problem worse, if you just try and bolt them on. The fiberglass inserts can be fudged a little so it will look somewhat better by centering the insert in the opening and have a larger gap all around instead of the big gap on one end. Fiber glass inserts are easy to add fiberglass to make them bigger and fit the way you want. When I put my latest set of inserts on they were one piece design and I wanted a perfect fit so I added Duraglass filler to them. You to grind off the gelcoat where you want to add more fiberglass and sand an fit however you like it. Time intensive but not hard to do.

 

[RPM289]

I believe we have the same tub... older malotte? mine fit terrible at first for doors, I had to make supports under body at mount areas. I used 2x4 channel under the body at the mounts just behind front seats all the way across, and I used 1x2 channel under front floor mounts by feet, it took quite a bit of shimming to get everything lined up.
the glass inserts would be easier but probably still have to shim or put better supports under floor at body mounts. even with everything leveled I still had to add fiberglass to the door jamb area on the pass side to get gaps good, drivers side was ok.

older pic but you can see it can be done



this is what my tub looked like when I bought it from the wreckers. somebody just bonded in the inserts, probably easy but not the look I was going for.

WOW you have inspired me to keep working on mine! I have cage mounts under the tub that help support it but not movable I had to add a 3/8 spacer under the middle body mount to pick top of bed up to match the door on drivers side. Yours looks AWESOME is the fenders etc glass? I have a one pc glass nose on mine so that doesn't help alignment gaps either.

 

[RPM289]

I believe we have the same tub... older malotte? mine fit terrible at first for doors, I had to make supports under body at mount areas. I used 2x4 channel under the body at the mounts just behind front seats all the way across, and I used 1x2 channel under front floor mounts by feet, it took quite a bit of shimming to get everything lined up.
the glass inserts would be easier but probably still have to shim or put better supports under floor at body mounts. even with everything leveled I still had to add fiberglass to the door jamb area on the pass side to get gaps good, drivers side was ok.

older pic but you can see it can be done



this is what my tub looked like when I bought it from the wreckers. somebody just bonded in the inserts, probably easy but not the look I was going for.

WOW you have inspired me to keep working on mine! I have cage mounts under the tub that help support it but not movable I had to add a 3/8 spacer under the middle body mount to pick top of bed up to match the door on drivers side. Yours looks AWESOME is the fenders etc glass? I have a one pc glass nose on mine so that doesn't help alignment gaps either. BTW I see you rear wheel openings were off on yellow pic got warflares to fix mine also.

 

[jamesf7278]

Thank you! Mine is all steel doors, fenders, grille, hood and w/s frame. The one piece front is probably not helping your alignment issues. I would try align doors to jambs first then worry about your front end. and yes the rear wheel openings are horrible on the old mallotte tubs, my pass side was 1.5" more towards the front then the drivers side, looked silly lol

heres a pic from a few years ago, just started aligning doors, did door to jamb, then put on roof and front end and adjusted those to fit. I seem to remember it taking quite a few days to get it acceptable.



I almost kept it looking like that but the wife wanted bigger/ meaner. so warflares and 35" tires went on lol

here it is now: almost done painting roof and it will go back on I think.