Chopping the top! need advice!!!

**youngjeeper** · 10-26-2003, 08:54 PM

if i recall right the rustys roll bar is an in-cab roll bar..getting rid of your cab (ie chopping top) takes purpose away from an in-cab bar. this is how my choptop is done...doors taken off,tailgate off, take out all glass, then there will basiaclly columns that you cut at each end, and also cut right before the windshield. you'll end up with a bunch of holes tht need to be covered. im putting bondo in mine. if you dont know how to weld, or design a cage, dont try. as it could save your life one day and crappy welds could break. just find a good fabricator that has built cages before, take your design to them, and there ya go! prolly cost between $2000-4000 for the full cage.

**David Allen Racing** · 10-27-2003, 02:26 AM

Originally posted by new2fsjeeps:
Im chopping the top on my 82 Cherokee. I want to put a roll bar in it. Should I get a custom bar made or buy the rusty's bar. If I go custom, what materials should I use? Have a guy to weld it up. Also, for those who have done it, what do you suggest? aka, how do I do it. Got a new Sawzall for my b-day last week and I'm itching to use it. Its my favorite toy! Thanks everyone!
Marc

I used the sawzall to remove the major portions of mine when we did it years ago. We cut it into one big chunk and then came back to do the final close up trimming, getting it with in an inch. Then the final trimming with a grinder. When you cut the sides, you end up with a gap between the inner body and outer. A piece of 1x1 square steel tubing fits perfectly in the gap and helps add some rigidity to the sides.
This also makes a nice clean edge that can be finished off to look factory installed. [img]smile.gif[/img] If you plan on ever having some kind of soft top made for it, I would sugjest leaving the B pilars and a bit of the top structures that tie it into the windshield frame. This helps keep the windshield frame from flexing and it also makes for a place for the top to attach. Plus it will leave something for your door to seal against. As far as a cage goes, have one custom built to your specs so that you can get what you want in it. Remember that being topless means that you should have the cage mounted to the frame in some manner. DO NOT JUST WELD IT TO THE FLOOR BOARDS. Look for an off-road fab near ya, or a race car builder, either one can get a cage built for ya. A good builder should be able to do it for you for under $1000 for just the cage. Good luck and enjoy driving you FSJ topless

Dave

**SAustinwag** · 10-27-2003, 03:13 AM

awesome pics too... Don't use crappy tubing either. Use roll cage tubing and not water pipe..

**Smiles** · 10-27-2003, 03:27 AM

Take it off slowly and make sure to think about what you want in the end. If you get too sawzall happy too quick you may cut something off that you may wish you hadn't. Any way you do it you'll love being topless.

**David Allen Racing** · 10-27-2003, 04:39 AM

Originally posted by SAustinwag:
awesome pics too... Don't use crappy tubing either. Use roll cage tubing and not water pipe..

If you have to cut the treads off the ends, it doesn't belong on your Jeep anywhere!

Dave

**youngjeeper** · 10-27-2003, 08:08 AM

has anyone else noticed the new popularity of choptop rigs?

**Rockwagon** · 10-27-2003, 08:13 AM

If you have to cut the treads off the ends, it doesn't belong on your Jeep anywhere!

Dave

NOW YOU TELL ME!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

**blt2krl** · 10-27-2003, 10:21 AM

Originally posted by youngjeeper:
has anyone else noticed the new popularity of choptop rigs?

No what do you mean...

**Desert Beast** · 10-27-2003, 11:36 AM

Originally posted by youngjeeper:
has anyone else noticed the new popularity of choptop rigs?

man i thought i was the first.

.
i made a line w/ an angle grinder (something to go off of) then just bust out the sawzall. i didnt have to be too careful as my whole rood was coming off. i used 2" .120 wall tube. not to expensive i paid $25/20' and i have about 100 or so feet. still gotta put more on too.

**David Allen Racing** · 10-28-2003, 01:06 AM

Originally posted by youngjeeper:
has anyone else noticed the new popularity of choptop rigs?

If anyone has one older than fall of 98' I would like to know. When I did mine back then we still had the old mailing list and it was quite the topic back then as everyone was interested to see how it turned out.

Dave

**trickc** · 10-28-2003, 02:11 AM

I don't own it anymore but I had a choptop 79 cherokee chief I did about '96 or so, it was metallic brown in color and I used a cut down cj bar for protection and seat belt mounts. It was back when ifsja still had the sunday night chat. I also had made part of the roof into a removable hard top like a extra cab section. I may still have a pic or 2 at home.

It wasn't near as pretty as yours though.

I've always liked the job you did on yours with the snap on top.

[ October 28, 2003, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: trickc ]

**testuser** · 10-28-2003, 04:04 AM

It was back when ifsja still had the sunday night chat.

Yup...that was fun...I think it was called anexa chat or something.

Anyhow...David's was the first I remember seeing off-hand...and I've always admired it!!

**trickc** · 10-28-2003, 05:21 AM

Yup the anexa something or other chat room. I was on the old fsj-list thingy for about 2 years before I found the board here. I quit about the time there was that big stink and the list split and some folks went to new list. I left for a weekend and came back and had like 200 e-mails in my in box from that. LOL

**robselina** · 10-28-2003, 01:02 PM

Well, chopping the top is really the easy part. You've got the sawzall and that's really all you need for the destruction part

When it comes to making it drivable again, that's another story. At the very least you'll need some cab bracing to stop the vehicle from rattling to bits. I started out with horizontal bracing behind the front seats on hte B pillars and accross the tailgate. This proved impractical and insufficient. I did a couple of diagonal braces in the same locations and removed my initial bracing, it's working great. Next step is to stop water from entering the pillars you just cut in half. A little bit of sheet metal welded in place does the trick. You really do need a welder, or access to a welder to do this job though. Between the cage and the body work, I'd say it's well worth picking on up. As far as roll cage/bars, you're going to have to make something from scratch or get it made from scratch. Popular opinion on the board when I started my cage was 2" HREW tube with a .120" wall. This is what I used, except the bracing is largely made of .95" wall material. I'm still not done at this point but there's enough there that I don't feel like I'm in a death trap. There are a couple of additional things you need to consider though:
- soft top of some sort? You will want to keep the rain off your head from time to time...
- what do you do with the interior? If you leave the stock interior, it will mold, hold water and rustaway the body. I gutted anything soft and put some bedliner down on the interior body.

Last, do consider your intended use for the vehicle. I drove 1000 miles (round trip) in my chop top on a wheelin' trip last weekend. It snowed on my way back. I was driving in 32 degree weather at 55mph, which probably made it more like -10degrees...LOL. I wish I had had my hard top and working heater then! Heck, I would have settled for some ski pants, I was frozen....

Anyway, they say a pic is worth a thousand words so here's my chop top:

Chopping the top! need advice!!!

Chopping the top! need advice!!!

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