CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
How many of you still have your hard top?
- Thread starter CK5
- Start date
Not me. Haven't had the hard top while I've owned it. For all the nightmares PO's seem to cause, mine at least had the sense to put an STC soft top on it.
ekajkrats
1/2 ton status
Still have it, stored on the side of my house. If there was garage/shop space where it could be rigged on a pulley system, it might have gone on once or twice in the last few years.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2000
- Posts
- 9,132
- Reaction score
- 7,101
at one time I had 2 of them, none for the last 10 years, just 2 soft tops. One full and one Bimini. But then with the way the cage was done the hardtop wouldn't fit anyway.
I have part of one, does that count? 
I stored mine for over 10 years before deciding to cut it up and see if it would work to use it like zimm does on the maiden. It worked ok, but it was still way to heavy to deal with by myself so it's been sitting since I took it off. Like @ekajkrats said, if I could have rigged up a system to hang it from the ceiling of the garage I may have used a hard top more but without that, it's just too much of a pain in the ass to take on and off.
I stored mine for over 10 years before deciding to cut it up and see if it would work to use it like zimm does on the maiden. It worked ok, but it was still way to heavy to deal with by myself so it's been sitting since I took it off. Like @ekajkrats said, if I could have rigged up a system to hang it from the ceiling of the garage I may have used a hard top more but without that, it's just too much of a pain in the ass to take on and off.Same here. I have 2 soft tops as well. The full one doesn't seal well, but it's enough to keep it warm enough to drive in the winter if I want. The Bimini top is what is on it 99% of the time if there is a top on it at all.
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
You are well on your way along the continuum of what i like to call "1st Gen Hardtop Disenchantment"
I think every new 1st Gen owner goes through the same progression..... you get a truck with a fiberglass top (probably double-wall), then dream about replacing it with a nice single-wall version so that the bolts are easier to deal with on the bedrail, and you can have cool interior dome lights.
Then there's the reality that there's about $500 worth of seals that need replacing to make it seal worth a damn (and usually not even then.....there's a good reason why the front cab corners are always rotten in these trucks!).
Maybe you get that far and get the top working right (and don't have to locate a blown-out hatch replacement (rarer than hen's teeth)....so now you've got a great convertible truck that's......actually completely closed-in. ...... and noisy to drive.....and hot and stuffy in the summer since the back glass doesn't roll down like it does on the later trucks.
So, then the decision is to store the top in the summer to really maximize the enjoyment of the open-top truck. Maybe build a "Greg72 Pulleys From Hell" setup in your garage and store that 350Lb monster as high as you can and hope it doesn't fall and kill somebody in the meantime.
Eventually, the thought of driving with that stupid hardtop installed becomes so offensive that you decide to buy a soft top instead so that you can easily swap between weather protection and sunshine..... the hardtop sits in the rafters (or out behind the garage) collecting spiders and other critters, because you're convinced that keeping the truck "original" will add value someday. Eventually, after about 5 years on CK5 and other internet sites you realize that it's pretty darned easy to find a hardtop if you want one because everyone else is getting sick of storing theirs also.....
You try to sell your top (hopefully it's a single-wall) and find that nobody is interested even if it's almost free... one day, in a fit of frustration you finally take out the Sawzall with a demolition blade and cut the top into small chunks that will fit in the garbage pail and throw it away a little bit each week until you are finally free of the albatross once and for all.....
Disclaimer: This is all speculation, and not based on any direct personal experience.
-G
For the record, that's exactly what I did with my 90 hard top.one day, in a fit of frustration you finally take out the Sawzall with a demolition blade and cut the top into small chunks that will fit in the garbage pail and throw it away a little bit each week until you are finally free of the albatross once and for all.....
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Had 2 tops, have zero now.
I guess I have 2nd Generation Fiberglass Hardtop Disenchantment
So.Oregon K5'r
Registered Member
I'm going to purchase this rack from a craigslist seller today. It was made to be used for toppers 8' long so I will have to cut it down for the blazers hard top. I have only had the top off to replace the weather stripping. Like you all said it's too heavy to remove without lots of help. When I lived in Belgrade Montana, I had a couple of pulley's hanging from the rafters in the garage, it made it a snap to remove and install. The house I bought here in Oregon doesn't allow the room for it in the garage. So this is my $100.00 fix. What do you guys think of this ingenuity that someone built?
hu
Last edited:
I can't see the photo
So.Oregon K5'r
Registered Member
Last edited:
So.Oregon K5'r
Registered Member
can you see the pics this time Chief?
yes, and that is a very neat idea....would get it out of the garage....hmmmm...
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Yep, the rack is one stage of the process. I predict it'll end up in the scrap steel yard eventually, about 6 months after the top is gone. 
Never understood the fascination with soft tops. They look crappy, if you get over 45 they sound like God himself is gargling you, they don't keep heat in, they don't keep the cold air out, they never fit quite right, and you've got a mess of metal spaghetti trying to keep it up.
Put it this way, to me, the only value in a soft top is how much I can sell it for.
Put it this way, to me, the only value in a soft top is how much I can sell it for.
Unless it raining, I don't see the value either....
I bought a convertible because of the infinite headroom and I intend to enjoy it every chance I get.
-G
The way I see it the only plus point for a soft top is they're easier to take off than a hard top.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Maybe the later model hard tops are better, but my soft top was actually quieter than the hard top as long as it didn't get flapping in the wind on my cage bar. That part was annoying. The hard top had this drone almost as bad as flowmasters. That...and it had an ant colony hiding inside it.
