I am having an issue with trying to find out what year hard top I have on my 79. It has the stock holes for the ambulance doors, but the driver's door will not close. The passenger door closes fine though. More specificly, I need to find out why the damn thing wont sit flush on the tub. It seems like the windshield is too tall or something.

There is about 1" of the hard top rod still showing in the front, yet the rear matches up just fine.

I just picked it up last week and havent removed the hard top to clean it up and repaint it. Is there a way for me to tell what year hard top I may have? I would like to be able to run it with the top and doors on come winter time.

Thanks!

(PS I searched.)

warped body ? was any major bodywork/ resto done on the truck ?

There is quite a bit of play in the hinges, loosen the bolts and try to adjust it as necessary to make it fit. Also if you can get some pics because I don't quite follow exactly what you are saying as far as fit. Sounds like you might even be missing some of the pieces that fit between the windshield frame and the hard top sides and goes over the doors.

The body looks straight, although the hood doesnt really look like it is symmetrical when closed. It seems like the guy before me had attemted some kind of resto, but stopped waay short of it.

I will take some pics this weekend and try to loosen all the bolts and re set the door. The driver's is really screwed up. When I brought it home, there was a bungee cord holding the door shut and I had to crawl in through the passenger side. Nothing looks bent though and this is why I am having a hard time trying to figure it out.

Thanks!

on my 78 i had the sides from a 79 fiber glass from 77 one rear door was 78 the other 76 and the frt doors were 75 2 blues 2 reds green and mustard :D it took some adjustin but i got it all to fit great the bolts that hold the frt wind screen could be to tight also that pulls the screen back to far and it does not line up right... but post some pics so we can see it

ok i saw the pics in the post pic of your pig thread.... by the way a pig is only a fj55. ..... anyway lookis like the drivers wind screen bolt is too loose it "stand" up too straight on that side the gasket might be wrong or somethin nice 40 btw


:beer: cheers joel

I would check a couple of things. On the front of the hardtop, above the windshield, there is a "bracket" type peice that runs the full width of the hardtop and slides down along the front of the windshield across the top. Make sense? That peice is roughly the height you describe that it is not fitting. There are two holes in that peice that bolt to the front of the windshield. Make sure you are not getting hung up on that.

Secondly. The posts that go down into the B pillar on the tub could be your problem. There is a set screw (bolt) on the inside of the tob on the backside of the B pillar. Sometimes that set screw is adjusted to tight and the hardtop post will hit it and it won't go down all the way. Loosen that set screw.

A trick I have found is to get it to about the point you've got it now and then push up on the back of the hardtop, along the top of the opening for the ambulance doors. This will lift the rear of the hardtop up and level it out and so if it's binding by being at an angle, this should fix it.


Adjust the striker for you door latches. They might need to be adjusted out a little to allow the door to latch closed. Like they said before, you can loosen your hinge bolts on the door and make adjustments as well.



Good luck.

yeah what Adam said. I was thinking about that stuff as well, but was far too lazy to type it all. :D
there's also a square bracing support inside of the door pillar, with a hole just the size of the H/T leg. If they don't line up sharply, the leg will get hung onto this support and you won go all the way in...

...and your last pic on the pig thread shows that the passenger's side pillar is not all the way down.

doesn't it look like the windshield should be pushed further back ? hard to tell, but it kinda seems to me... ? so would happen what Adams point #1 explains...

Thanks guys. Im going to pull the top off tomorrow AM while I am working on the body to see what is really going on under there.


Originally posted by kling-on
.... by the way a pig is only a fj55. .....
Yeah, I know, but I was going after the sub title under the "Land Cruiser Talk" and figured that everyone here called all Cruisers Iron Pigs for some reason.

Who am I to judge? :D

Im gonna take the pics down. That was dumb to ASSume something like that.

Thanks for the help and the compliment. It is going to take a lot of work, but the potential is there. I will post some pics tomorrow AM when I start working on the body panels.

Originally posted by Pinion
Thanks guys. Im going to pull the top off tomorrow AM while I am working on the body to see what is really going on under there.



Yeah, I know, but I was going after the sub title under the "Land Cruiser Talk" and figured that everyone here called all Cruisers Iron Pigs for some reason.

Who am I to judge? :D

Im gonna take the pics down. That was dumb to ASSume something like that.

Thanks for the help and the compliment. It is going to take a lot of work, but the potential is there. I will post some pics tomorrow AM when I start working on the body panels.


wasn't sayin to remove them just letin ya know before you get :rainbow: or maby a bunch of :flipoff2: :flipoff2: .... you know just tryin to help :D

Absolutely!

Thanks for pointing it out....didnt want to step on my own d!ck on the first day, but hey it happens.

Rob

I'm not sure if someone mentioned this but sometimes a replaced striker plate bolt can be too long and not allow the top to go all the way down. btdt

My earlier model has a clamp down channel for the soft top that runs along the top of the windshield frame, if you have something like that you removed it for the hard top hopefully.

Also ditto what Proffitt said about those door striker bolts--had a problem with those fawkers once.

I think I found the problem today. The body mounts are shot and I think that the tub has folded in on itself in the middle right behind where the hinges are for the driver's door.

I knew I would need a new tub, just didnt think it would be this soon. Oh well, looks like I will have to run it with the top off until I get a new one. :rolleyes:

PORTA-POWER :D

woohoo !! what did I win ? :D

If you have a hard top from a cruiser that had the winsheld wipers on the botom of the frame and a winsheld frame with the wipers at the top the bracket would hit the wipers. You may need to notch that.