caulking the top to seal it???

[lawdawg79]

My top leaks as many do, I know i can buy mew seals, but I wont ever be taking the top off. Has anyone just silicone caulked the top on to seal it up? I keep thinking about this but dont know if it would be any better or worse.

 

[diesel4me]

Where is it leaking?--around the roof and doors,or along the bed sides?..

After I tired of having my 72 K5's top leaking at the windshield and door area,and dripping water on me when it rained,I used some 3M "strip-caulk" butyl rubber stuff that comes in strips ,wrapped in a wax paper type film in a box...(Body shops call it "dum-dum" and use it around tail lamp housings,etc)..
It sticks well when applied to a dry surface and can be removed later on without a big hassle if desired..

I still had some water blowing in while driving at highway speeds,I found some silver "roof tape" at a home center that had butyl rubber on the back side and I used that to cover where the roof and windshield frame and it stopped the water from getting in..its not easy to get off once the sun bakes it on though..

 

[lawdawg79]

It appears to be leaking on the sides where the top meets the cab but im not sure, it gets water in the passenger footwells. Im really thinking about masking off a joint in each side of the joint on the roof, behind the cab and along the top of the bed. Then using some black 100% silicone caulk and making one long monolithic seal. If it doesnt work I can always peel it out and buy the seals. Ive thought if I buy and install new seals I might silicone caulk both sides of the seals to seal it all up. Like I said, I dont have any interest in removing the top.

 

[diesel4me]

I used black RTV in the caulking gun tube to patch up some of the seals on the top where the door met them,and some areas on the door weatherstripping that had frozen and got tore out some--it bonded very well..

I put wax paper between the door and rubber so I could close the door and let it cure overnight,it made a nice seal ,yet kept the door from being glued tight to the rubber..

I found my steel windshield frame had some rot around the windshield on the inside behind the sun visors too,I had to use the roof tape and some butyl rubber windsheild install goof to seal that area up too--I think thats where most of the water was coming from..