• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

Softtop rail mis aligned.

HmmwvTim

Active member
114
95
28
Location
IL
I was trying to get my doors and top on and it seemed impossible. This truck came with the top rails and the rear curtain along with the camper tarp. I have a new camo 4man top that I want to get on.
I was wondering if the soldiers goofed on this in the field or am I doing something wrong? It seems that the passenger side rail sits below the doors and comparing it with the driverside, looks like it is about an inch or more lower. The driverside is already tight as it is against the doors but the passenger side is impossible.

Does someone have a photo of where the holes should be on both sides? If these holes are incorrect, any idea on how to get these properly tig’d?
Thanks for your help.

8A75450D-7169-4D60-B47A-8E77E775F04A.jpeg13D75427-2348-4969-A3E9-7511587798E1.jpegDC6B471F-80FC-41CB-BE18-556C39FE3BF8.jpegF99598FF-2A5F-43E0-99C7-BA1BC159CF48.jpeg
 

juanprado

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
5,606
2,899
113
Location
Metairie/La (N'awlins)
what model truck do you have as that will determine if it was armored and what pillars are on it.

Those holes look very large and typically where the rails connect is a rivet nut with a machine screw unless those holes are where the rivet nuts used to be?
 

HmmwvTim

Active member
114
95
28
Location
IL
Not sure if this helps you. Looks like you are missing the inserts completely
Not missing. I pulled them out. It was a pain because they were crumbling but with some vice grips, I was able to get them out.

If you ever take those rails off, can you measure from the middle of the top turnbuckle rivet to the center of the well nut For both sides.

as for measuring the b pillar, i have no way of knowing outside of eyeballing it from the turnbuckle. Perhaps measuring it from the bottom of the b pillar (body split line) to the center of the wellnut.
 
Last edited:

HmmwvTim

Active member
114
95
28
Location
IL
what model truck do you have as that will determine if it was armored and what pillars are on it.

Those holes look very large and typically where the rails connect is a rivet nut with a machine screw unless those holes are where the rivet nuts used to be?
Never been armored plates. (No holes) and it came with the rails fully installed. M1165.
i originally noticed that softdoors did not close on that side so I assumed that the passenger didnt close. I figured they just needed bending. When I got hard doors, i noticed how off they were. I unhooked the rails, put the doors on and let the rails rest. The driverside is ok (a little tight) the passenger side was over an inch too low for the doors. Thats when I measured the images from both sides and from different points such as the mirrors, turnbuckles and hardroof mount bracket.

the holes look big because I pilled out the rubberized wellnuts.
 

osteo16

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
585
585
93
Location
Evansville, IN
Actually I had missing wellnuts and ones replaced with rivnuts.. I used oversized rivnuts on mine where the big wellnuts were missing.. Center of hole is still center of hole no matter how you fill it. I think i might have had to go up a screw size and just drilled out my siderails an 1/8 or so bigger.. FWIW... Who knows what they did to fix these in the field.. I thought about doing a bunch of hole filling and re drilling, but for my limited door use and soft doors I opted not to.. YMMV... Id send you measurments, but you wouldnt like them 😂
 

HmmwvTim

Active member
114
95
28
Location
IL
Actually I had missing wellnuts and ones replaced with rivnuts.. I used oversized rivnuts on mine where the big wellnuts were missing.. Center of hole is still center of hole no matter how you fill it. I think i might have had to go up a screw size and just drilled out my siderails an 1/8 or so bigger.. FWIW... Who knows what they did to fix these in the field.. I thought about doing a bunch of hole filling and re drilling, but for my limited door use and soft doors I opted not to.. YMMV... Id send you measurments, but you wouldnt like them 😂
wellnuts are pretty common in that size. My problem is ensuring I get the optimal spot to drill and how to tig the current holes. I know hmmwv aluminum is a tad different. I wonder if the window frame is the same. Also if any welder shop has the skills to do it or is it something special?

If they did install it in the field, i wonder if they just never put doors on it. soft doors wouldnt close unless they bent the heck out of the window frame. This could go back to, “was it originally an unarmored hard top?” Otherwise the factory would have stuck these rails on.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks