'88 K5 - Running Down A Dream

[jimmyleetn]

I used to put the top on by myself but I didn't have a cage and it was on 31" tires.
It's not really too heavy to lift but it's bulky.
My 74 did have the locating pin, but my brother's 73 didn't

I've heard of people doing it by themselves with the full tops and half tops which really weigh about the same, but I still don't know how you would even go about doing it. Did you put it on your back like a turtle shell?

I wonder if they were still figuring out the assembly and what not of those hard tops in those early years. I know for a fact this is a 75 hard top because I had a friend pointed out the differences between 73 to 74 vs 75. The 75 is supposed to be stronger. From what I've seen in photos, 73 and 74 tops seem to have more cracks in them from pictures I've seen, but I wonder why some have guide pins and some don't. May have just been which factory and what they had laying around. I'm kind of glad it doesn't have them, I think it makes putting the top on more complicated because then you run the risk of puncturing those rubber seals on the bottom if you skid across them.

 

[folkenheath]

Since I have been watching this build I have a question...am I the only one who thinks of the song when I see this thread title?

I just imagine you listening to this while you build it...

 

[jimmyleetn]

Since I have been watching this build I have a question...am I the only one who thinks of the song when I see this thread title?

I just imagine you listening to this while you build it...

In my head all the time! That's where the name of this build came from. Big Tom Petty fan and a bunch of other classic rock. I got to see him live before he passed and back when you could afford concert tickets. The more I work on it, the more the lyrics from the chorus really fit.

 

[joshuak]

So today was wild. First thing I cleaned all the dust off that top, it hadn't been moved and probably 5 years. My buddy showed up, he's a big guy, like was going to be a D1 lineman till he got hurt. He looked me dead in the eyes and said I think we can both lift it up there. Somehow or another we got that top up there. My wrists are not what they used to be but we threw it up there and didn't tear anything up. We learned those little guide pins that blazers have on the back aren't used on those full tops. That was a fun little snag to figure out while juggling that giant thing. Also, while I was digging that top out of all the stuff and getting all the junk out from under it, I found a bunch of spots where termites were. The pest man showed up right as we got the top fitted and the Amazon man was right behind him LOL. Crazy day. Anyways, I do not think it is possible for the top to have fit anymore perfectly than it did. I measured it all over that windshield header and it was dead nuts. It was such a relief to fitted it and it had been that good. We took it off right before lunch and then I spent the rest of the day making a b pillar panel and cleaning a bunch of dirt out of the b pillar with a vacuum cleaner with a piece of heater hose I rigged up on the end of it. I'm hoping I can sneak into the shop tonight and start welding that piece in. You'll notice in one of the pictures rubber seals from PRP. Whoever made that seal that goes on the lip of the windshield header was either drunk or it was Friday after lunch because that thing is trash. I may jump ship and buy stuff for the top from Steel. Pretty disappointed since I had already bought every seal about 3 years ago and had them in a box ready to go.



View attachment 533138

Congratulations! That's gotta be a good feeling.

 

[imiceman44]

I've heard of people doing it by themselves with the full tops and half tops which really weigh about the same, but I still don't know how you would even go about doing it. Did you put it on your back like a turtle shell?

I wonder if they were still figuring out the assembly and what not of those hard tops in those early years. I know for a fact this is a 75 hard top because I had a friend pointed out the differences between 73 to 74 vs 75. The 75 is supposed to be stronger. From what I've seen in photos, 73 and 74 tops seem to have more cracks in them from pictures I've seen, but I wonder why some have guide pins and some don't. May have just been which factory and what they had laying around. I'm kind of glad it doesn't have them, I think it makes putting the top on more complicated because then you run the risk of puncturing those rubber seals on the bottom if you skid across them.

Yep on my back.
The only way to do it.
I did it and my brother too.
My brother's 73 cracked but not my 74.
His cracked when he landed on the back bumper on a rock and the bedsidrs decided to open out.
We had to pull it together and then we put an angle iron to tie the sides together and we made it the spare tire holder.
It made the sides stiffer