homemade tonnoe cover

[blazerpro79]

ok being the redneck i am i am gonna build me a good ol tonnoe cover.

heres my idea... 3/4 plywood, 2x4s under it for support... covered in waterproof tarp (wrapped and stapled under it) padding, and then a type of vinyl covering... i would drill the wood and use the factory shell holes... i would also use some type of rubber around the edges where it meets the body for waterproofing (which is unneccessary now that i think of it... the shell didnt have that). then a strip of velcrow on the tailgate to hold the back of cover to the tailgate to the cover... as for the back window... a wood frame (2x4) with the same protection as the cover, and some plasteen for the window. i could make it easily under $100, and would work as well as the $600-1000 ones found online...

any thoughts, suggestions, or comments?

i KNOW most of you have thought of this and probably some of you have made it... let me know and post a pic or two... thanks.....

-mark

 

[blazerpro79]

anyone??

 

[txfiremank5]

I think, for the look, it would probably be fine. But, for function .. well, it won't be as easly removed for going topless. I guess to go topless it's easy enough to take off (lighter than the hardtop) but it would not be something you could take with you in the event of rain.

Idea:

Find an old hardtop, and break out the and rig something based off your idea from that. Leave just a little of the old hardtop material to snap to, and see what you can come up with.

I'm going to do something like that for my soft top. I had a soft top on my old blazer, and let the front part that holds the top to the cab, go with it when I sold it (it was riveted on). I kept the soft top,and later gave it to a relative, who now wants to give it back. So, I came up with this idea since I'll have the scissor support, but not cab mount support. Here is a pic of what I plan to do. I think you could probably rig something up with the same method. You could trim off more since you'll want yours a bit flatter.

Anyway, it's an idea.

 

[blazerpro79]

thats a really good idea.. ha now you got me thinking of where i can find a top for cheap or free.

 

[pvfjr]

Seems like there's usually someone around here giving one away. Half top or full top, some people just give up on them and go permanently topless.

 

[blazerpro79]

yeah but ive never seen anyone on here anywhere near my area... and shipping on a hard top is horrendous.

 

[txfiremank5]

Yeah, I catually came up with the idea after my wifes cousin offered the soft top back to us (after never using it), and then saw someone near me who is giving away a hardtop.

With my method, I'll have to trim the softtop down some, since it was orig designed to meet the sheetmetal in all directions. The only place I plan for it to touch the metal now, will be on the tailgate, and I plan to find a truck gate in a junkyard somewhere, and paint to match since it should not take much paint.

I just wish the softtop had tinted windows instead of clear. Hmm... wonder if I could pre-trim, and then apply some tint? May be worth a try.

I'm still not sure how much I'll run the softtop, but hey, it will be nice to have the option.

 

[blazerpro79]

haha well i was JUST about to start on making this, and started asking around for hard tops.. and suddenly a guy offered me a free cage he had on the side of his house he was gonna toss.... i guess this wont work now... oh well the cage is much better and safer.