Tropical Roof Removal

[1971Series88]

Wondering if anyone has removed a Trop top, is it easy/difficult??? What should I be wary of...any gotchyas?

Looking for some lessons learned before I embark on it...some of the screws in mine are totally rusted through so will probably require drilling out. I want to remove it for painting the roof and the trop top.

Cheers

[o2batsea]

There are about half a gazillion rivets holding the top in place. My method for removing them is to take a sharp wood chisel and knock the tops off. Way faster than drilling and cleaner.
With the rivets out, you can undo the standoff bolts. It is far easier if the whole roof assembly is off the truck and upside down on sawbucks. Otherwise you may find you need a second worker inside holding while you turn the bolt. These were rusted too much on mine, so I just ground off the heads.
There are three longitudinal spacers that are riveted to the coachroof.
I replaced the bolts with stainless, and the rubber washers came from Mcmaster-carr. Do not lose track of the standoffs.
If you are doing the alpine window rubber, get yourself the Lisle locking strip tool.

[1971Series88]

Thanks Bill!

Why can't you just remove the standoff bolts? Leave the rivets and top on? I looked (not hard enough) and the standoff bolts are what I thought held it in place. The standoff bolts are what need to be replaced as well - some are so rusted they are actually extremely thin!

I don't want to remove the whole top as it is for painting not repairing/resto that I am doing this - so I guess I will employ some free labor (my son) to help out.

[o2batsea]

Well, your question seemed to be how to remove the sunsheet from the top, not how to get the standoff bolts out. If you leave the rivets, the sunsheet will not come off, if that is what you want.
One thing I will mention is that the rivets may likely be fatigued and already broken off. I would spend a little time on a ladder looking the whole thing over.

[I Leak Oil]

Remove the 4 bolts at each corner. Remove the bolts along the windshield frame. One one either side of the rear door. Unplug the dome light. Get a couple friends to help lift it off and reward them for their help with a nice cold beer. Enjoy your topless rover.

[1971Series88]

got ya...thanks pal.

[siii8873]

there is also a tab mid way along the top sides of the tub. Get a few helping hands, these trop tops are quite a bit heavier than a standard roof.
What exactly are you trying to remove, entire top with sides, entire top minus the sides, or just sun sheet?

[1971Series88]

So I am painting the whole truck, and I need to remove the sun sheet from the roof so I can paint the underside of the sunsheet, and the top of the roof. That is all.

And while doing so I assume I will have to replace all the hardware...like Bill said - the stand off bolts

[stomper]

To remove the entire sun sheet, you have to remove all 200 rivets that hold it onto the roof as Bill said in the first response. I think most people avoid doing this by taping off the sun sheet and spraying the paint up under the sun sheet as far as feasibly possible. If you are going to paint it, the more panels you take apart the better your paint job will be, so removing the entire top, and the side panels is advisable.

What type of paint job are you planning here, a $4,000 resto paint job, a roller paint job in the yard, spray cans..... there are a lot of different ways of doing it, and I'm trying to gauge the quality of the job and level of prep you are hoping to achieve.

[o2batsea]

What he said. I also would say that painting the entire undersides of the sunsheet is a wasted effort (coachroof ditto if it has a headliner). Firstly, it will never be seen. Second, that side doesn't really need protection. If you just paint a foot or so all the way around the underside I think you will find that more than enough. Maybe even go as far as the first channel on each side.

On mine I went and removed the aluminum coachroof from the perimeter frame. I had the frame re galvanized, and the coachroof resprayed completely. There are about 270 rivets around the perimeter. I used aluminum rivets as the semi tubular steel rivets are NLA. Fortunately I purchased a pneumatic rivet squeezer. That made all the difference. You pretty much have to have two people on this...one to operate the riveter and one to line up the holes with a punch. I used thickened epoxy as the monkey snot replacement. If I were to do it again, I would probably go with 5200. That stuff is super messy and you'll get it all over everything doing this job. It does clean up pretty easy tho and it is an unbreakable bond that has a good amount of flex.

[1971Series88]

Thanks guys...it isn't going to be a $4K "concourse" paint job...I have a lot of "paint issues" - the paint on it reminds me of the paint I had on my M416 trailer...it is VERY thick (paint roller prob) and very flaky...

I have a buddy with a paint booth, I just want to prep as much as possible - to get as good a job as possible...heck if it turns out like a $4K job - awesome...

I think I will go with your advice then, and leave the top alone...every standoff bolt on it would need to be cut-off - they are all too rusted. Save that for another day I think.