building a hard top

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ssnovafied
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building a hard top

Post by ssnovafied »

hi,newbie here,has anybody built or fabed up a hard top? which would be better sheet metal or aluminum. i seen a top that was fiberglas over the canvas top.it looked good painted green.any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you
John Mc
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Re: building a hard top

Post by John Mc »

I could swear someone on here posted photos of a top they were fabricating. It' possible that it was on the Steel Soldiers site, however.
1951 M37 "Brutus" w/Winch and 251 engine
NAM VET
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Re: building a hard top

Post by NAM VET »

when I bought my truck about 5 years ago, it came out of Nebraska, and had fiberglass over the supporters, which I cut off with a sawmill and then did a little repair and since then a fabric top. I had been lined with shag carpet! hal
Cal_Gary
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Re: building a hard top

Post by Cal_Gary »

I think I'd grab a CCKW top, or a repro M37 top from Vintage Power Wagons. CCKW tops will fit the M37; the repro tops are expensive but save you a lot of labor.

I use the canvas top myself.
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ssnovafied
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Re: building a hard top

Post by ssnovafied »

hi thanks for the replys.i looked at the fiberglass tops but the price and shipping is crazy. a canvas top is close to 500 now plus shipping.so if can make one between 600 and 1000 i'll do that as no shipping involved.
JimC
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Re: building a hard top

Post by JimC »

Old post, but I built a 12ga steel top back around 1965 using a fabric top frame and a Duece sliding rear window.
Took 3 days. I'll be doing it again for my XM-708 and will most likely use 16ga this time.
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JimC
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Re: building a hard top

Post by JimC »

When I built the hard top for the 37, I made the soft top frame integral to the hard top, welding the sheet metal to it. I think this time I may treat the frame more like an endoskeleton, fitting the sheet metal on it like a glove so that it can be removed and swapped out with the canvas top and vice versa.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
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