Front Windshield/ hard top question

[Soell66]

So when I take my hard op off the front windshield drops towards the doors and my doors hit it when I open and close them. Does anyone else have this problem and if so what is the remedy?

Thanks

 

[langester]

There is nothing to support the windshield after you remove the top. If you do not have a cage or roll bar with supports to hold it up it will pull back to the door frames. You might be able to put some shims behind the dash knobs to keep it back from the window frames but without any support it will eventually come back to the same spot.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yep, they all do that. And when you're driving around topless the windshield is bouncing around most of the time too. Leaving the rubber weather strip on the frame does help to lessen the noise and problem, but like you said about the opening and closing of the doors, you're going to lose paint over that.
It's worse still if you use a soft top (sorry said hard top first), or worserer still, a bikini top. Both pull rearward on the frame even harder.

Most of us vendors offer at least a kit with short turnbuckle like arms and spherical rod ends ("Heim joints") that mount to a roll-cage and windshield frame bolt hole, to keep the frame forward. BC has, or at least used to have, a longer version that was meant to push forward on the frame from all the way back at a standard roll-bar.

You can make your own of some type as well of course, or you can put up with it. Not all are good options.

The reason this did not come up for some of us many years ago was that when the top came off, so did the doors. Always at the same time, so running wide open and no window frames to interfere with the windshield frame moving around.
And the early models also had removable door window frames. So even if you left the doors in place you did not have an interference issue.
Why a lot of us wanted to convert to the older doors back in the day.

Paul

 

[sprdv1]

Most of us vendors offer at least a kit with short turnbuckle like arms and spherical rod ends ("Heim joints") that mount to a roll-cage and windshield frame bolt hole, to keep the frame forward.

this is way to do it.. You want to have a cage anyway for protection so something to consider...

 

[abn373]

I got a piece of flat steel from the hardware store, cut two maybe 5 inch sections to reach the front of cage bar, made the windshield line up and drilled holes on each end for windshield and rollcage. A couple dollar fix and I keep it on all the time so the soft top, bikini top can be cinched as hard as I want and of course no top or doors work fine.
Not saying my fix is a racing cage, but still has to be much safer than having a windshield flopping around in a low speed crash.
If they had those turn buckle ones at the time I probably would have done that instead for adjustability.

 

[okie4570]

Assuming you have a 66' from your username, you can take those handy dash knobs, back them out and put a spacer between the windshield frame and the dash and then tighten those knobs again. This will keep the windshield forward still.

 

[SHX669]

When you get ready to put the top back on align the windshield frame with your doors BEFORE you tighten down all the bolts.