quick release Bronco top (hard top)

[backpain]

You might research how the old 55-57 Tbird tops we attached. I had a 55 when I was in high school, and remember there were two cam over type latches on the winshield and two at the rear window. The ones at the rear window twisted into holes in the rear deck and kept downward pressure on the seals. I'm thinking two on each bed rail would keep the top snug. I considered doing spomething similar when I had a hard top, but just went with the soft top.

Anyone evaluated late 90's/early 2000's Mercedes SL hard top attachment? I guess I could snoop around a friend's garage to take a look. . . .

 

[bax]

I think a male female locking slide would be good. I am sure they make an aluminum extrusion that will do that. So you mount one to the bed rails and one to the top. line them up and push the top on from the rear. Push it forward untill it meets the windshield frame. Bolt it up.. Perhaps one locking bolt in the rear. tada. slide on top.

 

[bmc69]

I think a male female locking slide would be good. I am sure they make an aluminum extrusion that will do that. So you mount one to the bed rails and one to the top. line them up and push the top on from the rear. Push it forward untill it meets the windshield frame. Bolt it up.. Perhaps one locking bolt in the rear. tada. slide on top.

Bingo. You pretty fart smeller, Roger. And there are plenty of 'off the shelf' extrusions out there that would fit the bill, I'll bet.

Wonder why I never thought of that? The only 'problem' would be the mounting on the top itself but a simple piece of angle could take care of that. The bed mounting would be cake.

 

[Scoop]

Bingo. You pretty fart smeller, Roger. And there are plenty of 'off the shelf' extrusions out there that would fit the bill, I'll bet.

Wonder why I never thought of that? The only 'problem' would be the mounting on the top itself but a simple piece of angle could take care of that. The bed mounting would be cake.

Need to mount the interlocking extrusion on a slight angle down so that when you slide the top forward into place it compresses the bed rail seal. A little tricky to get it just right, but a great idea for an easy off and on top.

Bax, if they just could extrude wood you would be all set to go into production! ;D

 

[Steve83]

Where would you put these extrusions? Between the bedrail & top? Now you have a gap between the top & w/s frame. Inboard of the bedrails? Now you have even less interior room, and interference with the cage, and not as much clamping force to hold the top down (since the extrusions are so far from the outer walls). And what happens when the Al oxidizes & locks together? Or gets a few crumbs of dirt/grit in it? Or gets even a tiny bend while off-roading? Or a big one from being set down a little too hard? Or wears & gets loose?

I still say the only good way to speed it up is to put fixed threads (welded nuts or threaded plates) in the body.

 

[bmc69]

Where would you put these extrusions? Between the bedrail & top? Now you have a gap between the top & w/s frame. Inboard of the bedrails? Now you have even less interior room, and interference with the cage, and not as much clamping force to hold the top down (since the extrusions are so far from the outer walls). And what happens when the Al oxidizes & locks together? Or gets a few crumbs of dirt/grit in it? Or wears & gets loose?

I still say the only good way to speed it up is to put fixed threads (welded nuts or threaded plates) in the body.

They would have to do inside..and yep, would take up at least 1/2" or more of space inside.

As for the rest of the extrusion issue you mentioned..piece of cake to engineer those issues out, or certainly all but the 'sand and grit' part. That last could indeed be problematic. But that is what my company does..design aluminum extrusion products for undersea applications.

I use aircraft panel nuts a lot on my EB builds (free stock)..and those easily provide the solution to yr last suggestion.

 

[Steve83]

So how much for ~20' of custom-engineered marine-grade Al extrusion shipped from MD to TN, or to CA? And how would that compare to the cost of welding in some nuts, or threading some steel plate? Whatever time you might save by having the slide-lock extrusions, you'd lose in its installation & the hassles of fixing it when it bends/warps/wears/collects dirt.

cordless impact + wobble socket + fixed threads = cheapest & most-durable Bronco top quick-release

 

[backpain]

Where would you put these extrusions? Between the bedrail & top? Now you have a gap between the top & w/s frame. Inboard of the bedrails? Now you have even less interior room, and interference with the cage, and not as much clamping force to hold the top down (since the extrusions are so far from the outer walls). And what happens when the Al oxidizes & locks together? Or gets a few crumbs of dirt/grit in it? Or gets even a tiny bend while off-roading? Or a big one from being set down a little too hard? Or wears & gets loose?

I still say the only good way to speed it up is to put fixed threads (welded nuts or threaded plates) in the body.

Could consider instead a key/receiver system whereby the male key on the underside of the top fit into the female cutout in the bed rail. Slide to lock in place in terms of vertical movement, use a few adequately sized bolts to prevent sliding movement and provide the last bit of compression for a good seal.

The female portion on the bed rail would simply be a cutout (reinforced) or a recess (cutout with a bottom on it). All the debris would fall to the bottom of the recess or into the bed.

There would be room in the joint for the top to lift a hair, but your attachment bolts would provide the last bit of compression.

Getting interesting, but laborious to fab . . . .

 

[bax]

My way is still better.

 

[bmc69]

So how much for ~20' of custom-engineered marine-grade Al extrusion shipped from MD to TN, or to CA? .

Surprisinly dirt cheap..as long as that 20' is part of a purty big mass buy. As a rough general rule, 1500# is about the industry minimum for a custom run..add in another 2 grand or so for the pair of extrusion dies.

Bax's idea is for what is called a 'product'. Hey Bax..I would go ahead and scratch Steve from the list of potential mass-buy customers..LMAO

 

[bax]

I used to work for a manufacturing company. (Circle Redmont) we would routinely design extrusions and get them made. It really is no big deal. Lots of neat stuff at that place

 

[backpain]

Agree it sounds nice. I'd still probably still want to cut slots in the bed rails and undermount the receiver side, so that the mounting height stayed the same and the bed rail was relatively flush (no male protrusion on top of the bed rail when the top was off; easier than shortening the side walls of the top). But then this means the extrusion could not cover the last 4-6" of the top because you would not want to slot the tail light cap at the end of the qtr panel. Would have to hold down the back corners with bolt or substitute.

Who wants to be "the money" (i.e.investor who fronts $$ and sits on inventory) and who wants to be "the brains" (the engineer and get-it done guy) on this one;D;D? Bueller? Bueller? Ah, no takers . . . . .

 

[Steve]

Those have almost no shear strength, which means the top can slide out of them under impact/rollover. It's fine for a pickup bed (no occupants), but not for a wagon-body vehicle with seating under the camper.

BS

Lots of us run around with soft tops, bikini tops or no tops, and you're worried about camper shell clamps breaking in a rollover? Really??? I think that's the least of your worries in a violent collision.

Edit: The engineer in me is reading this thread thinking "You guys are waaaay overthinking this."

 

[bax]

Agree it sounds nice. I'd still probably still want to cut slots in the bed rails and undermount the receiver side, so that the mounting height stayed the same and the bed rail was relatively flush (no male protrusion on top of the bed rail when the top was off; easier than shortening the side walls of the top). But then this means the extrusion could not cover the last 4-6" of the top because you would not want to slot the tail light cap at the end of the qtr panel. Would have to hold down the back corners with bolt or substitute.

Who wants to be "the money" (i.e.investor who fronts $$ and sits on inventory) and who wants to be "the brains" (the engineer and get-it done guy) on this one;D;D? Bueller? Bueller? Ah, no takers . . . . .

I could design it and get the extrusions made. But what good is it if you guys only buy 20 of them? Face it only 4 or you guys want one.

 

[backpain]

. . . Face it only 4 or you guys want one.

Agree.

Pro'lly land with bolt and plate simplicity. Keep air rachet handy. Maybe some creativity on the windshield mount to deal with the limited finger room. We'll see. . .

 

[backpain]

You might research how the old 55-57 Tbird tops we attached. I had a 55 when I was in high school, and remember there were two cam over type latches on the winshield and two at the rear window. The ones at the rear window twisted into holes in the rear deck and kept downward pressure on the seals. I'm thinking two on each bed rail would keep the top snug. I considered doing spomething similar when I had a hard top, but just went with the soft top.

I've had trouble spec'ing convertible top and hard top latch parts via the net the last few times I tried. Any good links, pictures, diagrams?

 

[bmc69]

BS


Edit: The engineer in me is reading this thread thinking "You guys are waaaay overthinking this."

LOL...I heered that! Reminds of the time I posted about my intention to build the roll cage for the flattie project out of anodized aluminum t-top and tower tubing. "Aluminum??..OMFG!!..you gonna diiiieeeee" was the typical response. But when I politely suggested that a complete family cage built with aluminum marine strutural tubing was 'probably' very much stronger than the factory family cage the truck was delviered with from the factory...all I heered then was crickets.

The hardtop on the '67 in the yard is held on with 4 3" c-clamps and two bolts in the windshield frame.