Soft Top Field Expedient Emergency Repair???

[SCSG-G4]

If the top is there, but it's no longer attached at the front > Pop rivets - a whole bunch of the 1/8 diameter long aluminum ones, along with aluminum washers. About one every two inches all the way across the front. Helps to have a small drill and some locking grip pliers to hold things while you are working. Start in the middle and work your way out to the sides. And, if you don't have the black plastic insert, stop by Lowes or Home Depot and get a 12' piece of bottom siding channel and clip it to length. Takes a couple of hours to do in the cold.

 

[kf4hoq]

Go buy Duct Tape, you can do alot with it.

That's one of the beauties of a fabric covered aircraft....it fixes easily with the handyman's secret weapon!!

 

[Tow4]

Duct tape fixes everything.

With that said; if I could get a new top for a reasonable price that wasn't to far out of my way, I would do it.

 

[deuceman51]

Most of us have learned the hard way or have a lot of experience in recovery. Don't take it personal, we are trying to give you good advice and hate to see people go recover and drive things that they have no idea about. An example of this was the guy who asked how to turn on the headlights on his truck and how does he start it? He obviously hasn't read the manual, and has no idea about military vehicles, for the sake of public safety, he probably shouldn't be recovering and driving a 13,000lb hulk of iron down the road with no idea how to operate it. With no top on your truck in wintertime, granted I live in the midwest in extreme cold, I would postpone your recovery until you have the right stuff to get the job done safely. GL will grant you extensions and it sounds like one week will give you time to get everything ready. Just my $.02 from a full time military mechanic with over 50 vehicles in his fleet.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Another consideration for you even if you get a nice new felxible top or (horrors) try to install a used one. Weather!! These tops are not flexible in cold weather and are a royal pain to install at 50 degrees much less 10 degrees. Plan on wearing enough clothes to compensate for no top in the event you can't get it on. Silicone grease may be necessary to get the plastic in the tracks. Don't bang on the plastic strips, they will break in the cold.

 

[oddshot]

Silicone grease may be necessary to get the plastic in the tracks. Don't bang on the plastic strips, they will break in the cold.

The top don't have the plastic strip ... that's what started this thread.

anyoldways

Silicone grease???

Do you mean good ol' NSN 6850-00-880-7616, Silicone Compound, MIL-S 8660C?


I got a full case of that stuff ... its a little out of date (94) ... I snagged it when I was stationed at Philly Navy Yard.

I wonder if there's a market for tubes of it ...

oddshot

 

[oddshot]

If the top is there, but it's no longer attached at the front > Pop rivets - a whole bunch of the 1/8 diameter long aluminum ones, along with aluminum washers. About one every two inches all the way across the front. Helps to have a small drill and some locking grip pliers to hold things while you are working. Start in the middle and work your way out to the sides. And, if you don't have the black plastic insert, stop by Lowes or Home Depot and get a 12' piece of bottom siding channel and clip it to length. Takes a couple of hours to do in the cold.

YOU, Sir, are an ANGEL! No wonder you're a four star general!!!

A straight up answer to a simple, direct question.

No onions, lettuce, or pickle ... you gave me EXACTLY what I asked for.



THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.


If I ever meet you ... I'll buy the first beer ... or maybe give you a FREE tube of Silicone Grease!



oddshot

 

[davidkroberts]

Honestly I would beg borrow or otherwise aquire a soft top. A deuce has the magical ability of sucking the heat out of you in cold weather and cooking you alive in warm weather. I would take the trip to clintogf's house and get a new top. I would also get some gorilla tape and seal the windshield gaps and the openings in the floorboards. It is going to be a miserable ride if you dont. The grease type doesnt matter but in cold weather it gets brittle and will break. the easiest way to mount it is upside down on the hood while it is fed through the channel and then flipped to the back. That will help with not straining the plastic rail.

 

[sail-bum]

Do you have the winter cover for the grill? I am in Buford, not sure how far away you are. I can loan you a top and grill cover for the trip, if you can not get one in time. I have soft tops on my deuces, and an extra winter grill cover. I am from the north, and I hate to see someone freeze. I am always willing to lend a hand to anyone whom has served our country.

 

[wreckerman893]

One issue to consider, other than freezing your buns off, is that without heat you will have visibility problems.

Take a caulking gun and a couple of tubes of silicone caulk to seal around the windows.
Even if you patch the top if the gaskets around the windows leak you will have issues....especially if you hit rain.

I have driven many a deuce in the rain with cold water steaming in on me. It sucks like a Hoover.

No matter how much protective clothing you have on if it gets soaking wet you are going to hate living.

I would plan my trip by the weather forcast and avoid rain like the plague.

You might want to cosider the cost of fuel too......it is bumping $3.30 a gallon here so I know it is higher up that way.

I would put it on Uship and see if you can find a Hotshot rig looking for a back haul......you might get a bargain on shipping.

Just my dos centavos for what it is worth.

 

[gimpyrobb]

YOU, Sir, are an ANGEL! No wonder you're a four star general!!!

A straight up answer to a simple, direct question.

No onions, lettuce, or pickle ... you gave me EXACTLY what I asked for.



THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.


If I ever meet you ... I'll buy the first beer ... or maybe give you a FREE tube of Silicone Grease!



oddshot

NONO! Why destroy a perfectly good windshield frame? Your best bet if you "can't" get a new top is to grab a ratchet strap and go from windshield hinge to windshield hinge. Might want to grab some wood chunks to put in there along the middle of the windshield so as to keep pressure all along the top.

 

[jaxsof]

WM, Here I thought I was the only one having the fun with deuces in crap weather. Gotta love Navy Guys who thing nothing can be worse than standing watch on the N. Atl. Really, not much is, but a deuce, with a leaking top, at 40mph, and really cold on top of it, well, thats one thing that does. ..., And Tuesday night, well its gonna rain/sleet/snow most of his way home

 

[Recovry4x4]

Another consideration for you even if you get a nice new felxible top or (horrors) try to install a used one. Weather!! These tops are not flexible in cold weather and are a royal pain to install at 50 degrees much less 10 degrees. Plan on wearing enough clothes to compensate for no top in the event you can't get it on. Silicone grease may be necessary to get the plastic in the tracks. Don't bang on the plastic strips, they will break in the cold.

The top don't have the plastic strip ... that's what started this thread.

anyoldways

Silicone grease???

Do you mean good ol' NSN 6850-00-880-7616, Silicone Compound, MIL-S 8660C?


I got a full case of that stuff ... its a little out of date (94) ... I snagged it when I was stationed at Philly Navy Yard.

I wonder if there's a market for tubes of it ...

oddshot

You only quoted part of my response and appears only read part of it. I've highlighted it in red. I'm not sure if what you have is silicone grease or not so I'll have to yield to you on the use of it.

You can pop rivet it to the frame but plan on buying a new frame once you are done. You can try to ratchet strap deal, I've done it before and put a 1x2 piece of wood on it to assist in clamping. It didn't work too well but kept me dryer than no top. Another option would be to take a piece of rope and fold the lip of the top over it and goop it down with contact cement or shoe goo. Not sure what size rope it would take, Cranetruck makes his bikini tops in this fashion. Trying not to beat a dead horse here but unless you are leaving tomorrow, you have plenty of time to get a top. If clintogf puts a top in UPS one day, it gets delivered the next day considering how close you are. Heck, had you acted today you could have had the top tomorrow!

Trying to help without causing you grief or sending you down 100 miles of bad road here.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Gimpy,
I'll have to get pics of what I did and post them. In warmer weather the use of pliobond will also work, but ti takes far too long to set up when the temp is below 50 F. Worse thing about my fix is the only bottom piece I could find is white. So, there's a white line between the windows and the vinyl roof. A little green paint and it's hardly noticeable!

Kenny,
I pop rivet the top to the bottom vinyl siding, which sticks up above the metal channel. No metal is harmed (other than the pop rivets) in this method.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

I am not saying temp repairs won't work but they never have for me. Having endured the flaping top scenerio to the point I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in it pulling the dirt in behind me, take the majority advice and get a new top.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Mike, I did that with screws coming back from Aberdeen in 2005. The problem for the original poster is he doesn't even have the plastic piece, just a vinyl top.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I am not saying temp repairs won't work but they never have for me. Having endured the flaping top scenerio to the point I wanted to dig a hole and crawl in it pulling the dirt in behind me, take the majority advice and get a new top.

I can't tell you how many temp repairs have become semi-permanent in my truck, like the wire ties holding the pyro on the steering column!

 

[jwaller]

I have run a 2x2 over top of the separated area then run a 1" strap across that to hold it down. worked awesome for about 9months till I swapped it out.

 

[colelkhunter]

last deuce I picked up the top went to crap driving down the interstate. I had to hold it down with my left hand. Held it from blowing off till the next exit, in december, butt cold. Secured the corner to the windshield frame with a self tapping screw on the side. Still bubbled up, but stayed on for the 40 miles remaining in the trip. Not reccomended and cold as Heall

 

[cbvet]

A good snowmobile suit & helmet with face shield is all you really need.