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'72 K5 - BYT - 1 ton swap

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not a huge update, but I finally decided to get rid of those rusting snap studs in my windshield frame and get the snap bar that Z made for me installed.

rusty holes left after removing the old snap studs:
windshield_frame_bar%20001.JPG


grind/weld/primer/paint. much better:
windshield_frame_bar%20012.JPG


because I have the stock sun visors I had to trim the bar a bit:
windshield_frame_bar%20010.JPG

the 3 holes on the end didn't line up for me either, but welding them up and redrilling them wasn't too hard.

all done and installed:
Snap_bar.jpg


overall I'm really happy with it. Since I still have the big triangle shaped door/top gasket installed I don't think it would have occurred to me to use those 3 bolts if I would have designed my own attachment bar so I'm glad I got this one from Z.

Thanks bro! :woot:

Now with the windshield frame cleaned up a bit (still haven't fixed that rust issue in the corner... :doah:) I can move onto another idea I wanna try with the hard top. :D
 
NorCal69 said:
Man, that turned out pretty nice. :waytogo:

I sure wish that I ended up with one from Z. :whistle: :D
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II wish the US postal service didn't suck so bad:doah:

Glad you were able to get that on there Ash! Sorry you had to re drill those holes. Quality control isn't quite up to snuff apparently!
 
Z71paramedic said:
Quality control isn't quite up to snuff apparently!
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I dunno. I've replaced my windshield frame as well so it's quite possible that there were just variations between our 2 rigs. It honestly was no big deal, so don't sweat it.

Just out of curiosity though, did you test fit them on your truck?

I sure wish that I ended up with one from Z.
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I must have missed when that happened. That sucks!
 
ashman said:
I dunno. I've replaced my windshield frame as well so it's quite possible that there were just variations between our 2 rigs. It honestly was no big deal, so don't sweat it.

Just out of curiosity though, did you test fit them on your truck?


I must have missed when that happened. That sucks!
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Yeah, I fitted all 5 I made to my truck. There must just be some variation between them. Glad you got it on there :thumb:
 
Z71paramedic said:
Yeah, I fitted all 5 I made to my truck. There must just be some variation between them. Glad you got it on there :thumb:
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I figured you did. Hopefully that just means small variations between trucks, not that I screwed something up when I put my windshield frame on. It would be interesting to hear from any of the other guys that put one on.
 
ashman said:
I figured you did. Hopefully that just means small variations between trucks, not that I screwed something up when I put my windshield frame on. It would be interesting to hear from any of the other guys that put one on.
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Or if I screwed mine up...
 
Another benefit of installing Z's bar is that I can reinstall the hard top without having to remove all of those snap studs. Of course installing the hard top is a pain in the ass all by itself, and I've gone more than a decade without it, so really it was just yard art at this point. But, once I saw what Zimmer did on the maiden, I decided to give that a try.

hard_top%20007.JPG


I love having a full vert, but the heat of the summer combined with a bald head (young, cool bald, not old sad bald, dammit!!) means that a lot of the time I need to have some sun protection. I can accomplish this same look basically with the soft top and the sides rolled up, but at freeway speeds the soft top vibrates a lot and it's noisy. I figured this might be a better option... maybe. It didn't take long to do, and if I decide I don't like it, it's just that much easier to get rid of whats left of the hard top anyway. :P

The only real fabricating I had to do, other than cutting up the hard top itself was building a bracket to hold the thing up. Since I had this nice bar there for use with the soft top, I figured why not use that. :)

The support bar isn't straight across, so I had to put an arc into the bracket.
hard_top%20001.JPG


Because I was bending this by hand I had to cut it into 3" sections. I rolled over the outside edge to make it less likely to injure, and to make a pocket for the bar to sit in.
hard_top%20003.JPG


Bracket all installed. I sprayed it down with a rubberizing coating as well.
hard_top%20006.JPG


I'm still deciding if I like the way it looks or not, and I won't know if it's more hassle than it's worth until I switch to the soft top and back a few times, but what the hell. :pimp:
 
I have to say, that was completely unexpected! An interesting idea for using the old top and making it a little less bulky. Can you remove it by yourself? Is there any chance it'll fly off on the freeway?
 
bp71k5 said:
I have to say, that was completely unexpected! An interesting idea for using the old top and making it a little less bulky. Can you remove it by yourself? Is there any chance it'll fly off on the freeway?
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I can move it around by myself, but it's still more of a pain that I had hoped. I'm thinking of putting a couple of handles on the inside that could double as oh-sh!t handles for the bench seat. I think that would help a lot.

As far as flying off goes, it's still attached to the windshield frame by all 4 factory bolts, so I can't see that happening, but I do think I should mount it to the top of my roll bar as well so it can't move around even on big bumps. I'll do that and fill in the holes created by cutting on the top if I decide I like it enough to keep it.
 
Nice work dude, that looks like it'll work pretty well. You could put some bars and lights up there and go on a safari now too. Not an option with the soft top :waytogo:
 
I really like what you did with the top man! Now that I have recently purchased 3 hard tops...I think I know what I'm doing with one of them :thumb:
 
And if its too heavy and your rear passengers usually have a full head of hair :rolleyes: you could always trim it a bit shorter to cover just the front seats and just mount it to the windshield/roll bar rather than that rear support..
 
cwalton said:
And if its too heavy and your rear passengers usually have a full head of hair :rolleyes: you could always trim it a bit shorter to cover just the front seats and just mount it to the windshield/roll bar rather than that rear support..
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That is a possibility too. Now that I've cut it up, everything is on the table. :D
 
Z71paramedic said:
Not an option with the soft top :waytogo:
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I've actually been messing around with some ideas to use the hard top mounts similar to the way you did for the snap bar to mount some lights that would sit kinda in front of the soft top, or right above the windshield frame. That way I could get some lights up there and still have the soft top on. :thumb:
 
Man the top looks good with the sides cut off...I call mine a safari top! I bolted it in place in back with a couple tabs welded to the cage.

Now I would like to make some canvas snap in sides that can roll up on nice days and drop down and snap on the top of the bedsides and tailgate for foul weather...need to find a custom tarp sew-er (sp???)

Black_top_up.jpg
 
sponsoredbydad said:
O-Crap:doah: I did not know that was not an option. Somebody should of stopped me.:haha::haha::haha::haha::whistle::whistle:
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oh snap! lol!

Now I would like to make some canvas snap in sides that can roll up on nice days and drop down and snap on the top of the bedsides and tailgate for foul weather...need to find a custom tarp sew-er (sp???)
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I've been thinking about that too, but I probably won't go that far with it.

The soft top I have I usually run in 'safari' mode with the sides rolled up. I'm actually planning on having a canvas shop cut the sides off of it and install zippers instead. The problem with rolling them up is that they get condensation and rain water in there and the windows get trashed. I wanna try having them zip off so that I can stow them in a bag or something and keep them nicer, longer.
 
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