You know the Jeep work is gettin' serious when the pants come off!
Another Scrambler Purchase/Road Trip - UPDATE- BODY ON FRAME AGAIN
- Thread starter spankrjs
- Start date
You know the Jeep work is gettin' serious when the pants come off!
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Temperature was close to 60 today after lunch, won't drop below 50 until tomorrow night. So, good enough weather to put a second coat of white on the inside of the top, and touch up the black around the edges/door openings.
I have a few spots around the door openings that are going to need a bit of white touch up, but I'm going to consider the paint work complete. I need to fabricate some bottom gaskets and repair one bolt attachment location (passenger side outer location, threaded metal insert has been missing since I obtained this top).
In the meantime I need to finish my front glass gasket and surround gasket goop jobs, adhere the front of the cowl seal to the face of the windshield frame, install the hardtop, install the rear glass and seal (and goop), then swap out the hard door applique decals.
Going to do some bush hogging/yard clearing and clean up across the street to make a little cash this week during the day light hours, will piddle with this one at night. Need to set a deadline to finish this project because it is starting to drag out, so I'm gonna say if I finish the windshield seal goop jobs, hard top touch up paint, cowl seal install, and get the top on by the end of this week good enough. Still leaves me the door sticker and top rear glass to install the following week.
That's it for now!
I have a few spots around the door openings that are going to need a bit of white touch up, but I'm going to consider the paint work complete. I need to fabricate some bottom gaskets and repair one bolt attachment location (passenger side outer location, threaded metal insert has been missing since I obtained this top).
In the meantime I need to finish my front glass gasket and surround gasket goop jobs, adhere the front of the cowl seal to the face of the windshield frame, install the hardtop, install the rear glass and seal (and goop), then swap out the hard door applique decals.
Going to do some bush hogging/yard clearing and clean up across the street to make a little cash this week during the day light hours, will piddle with this one at night. Need to set a deadline to finish this project because it is starting to drag out, so I'm gonna say if I finish the windshield seal goop jobs, hard top touch up paint, cowl seal install, and get the top on by the end of this week good enough. Still leaves me the door sticker and top rear glass to install the following week.
That's it for now!
Last edited:
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
I need to use this Jeep tomorrow for some yard work down the road, so I needed to seal up the windshield rubber to frame this morning so it would get 24 hours cure time.
I used this stuff, two tubes.
Says it sticks to rubber and metal.
Not sure if I would recommend this product or not. It worked, but it was a PIA squeezing the stuff out of those little tubes!! The second tube split so I was only able to get about 2/3 of its contents out. Finished up the last bit with some Permatex Ultra Black gasket sealant. Truth be known the gasket sealant is probably the same as the correct sealant. Next time a caulk tube and gun would be better. The pictured goop is just as thick as RTV so a PIA to squeeze out.
Gooped up!
The stuff did lay down smooth, I only used my finger to tool it, worked great.
Now you see why I used all the tape and paper, especially when the 2nd tumble split. And gloves!!
In this picture I tooled the goop with my finger on the horizontal run. The bit at the radius/corner has not been smoothed out yet.
That paper came in handy when the tube split!!
What a damn mess!!!
The tape was a wise move. I removed it while the silicone was still wet so it left a nice clean edge.
Glad that's finished!
To be fair to the goop, it was cold, around 40 degrees. Maybe I should have warmed the tubes up? It did work but was a PIA.
I believe I will use the clear goop on the back glass and seal. It is clear, thinner, and flows better. Should be an easier to apply product. We will see.
After gooping this front seal, and barely avoiding a catastrophe and/or a big mess, I think I will double side tape the cowl seal to the exterior face of the windshield frame. That might be a less stressful exercise!
That's it for now!!
I used this stuff, two tubes.
Says it sticks to rubber and metal.
Not sure if I would recommend this product or not. It worked, but it was a PIA squeezing the stuff out of those little tubes!! The second tube split so I was only able to get about 2/3 of its contents out. Finished up the last bit with some Permatex Ultra Black gasket sealant. Truth be known the gasket sealant is probably the same as the correct sealant. Next time a caulk tube and gun would be better. The pictured goop is just as thick as RTV so a PIA to squeeze out.
Gooped up!
The stuff did lay down smooth, I only used my finger to tool it, worked great.
Now you see why I used all the tape and paper, especially when the 2nd tumble split. And gloves!!
In this picture I tooled the goop with my finger on the horizontal run. The bit at the radius/corner has not been smoothed out yet.
That paper came in handy when the tube split!!
What a damn mess!!!
The tape was a wise move. I removed it while the silicone was still wet so it left a nice clean edge.
Glad that's finished!
To be fair to the goop, it was cold, around 40 degrees. Maybe I should have warmed the tubes up? It did work but was a PIA.
I believe I will use the clear goop on the back glass and seal. It is clear, thinner, and flows better. Should be an easier to apply product. We will see.
After gooping this front seal, and barely avoiding a catastrophe and/or a big mess, I think I will double side tape the cowl seal to the exterior face of the windshield frame. That might be a less stressful exercise!
That's it for now!!
- City
- Molalla
- State
- Or
And that is why I like to have a CJ windshield replaced with a YJ windshield. Rubber is already sealed to the glass and it gets sealed onto the frame.
Nice job with the CJ rubber.
Nice job with the CJ rubber.
Belizeit
CJ-8 Member
- City
- River Ridge
- State
- La
YJ windshield in a CJ original frame ?
- City
- Molalla
- State
- Or
Opening is the same. Probably the same for TJ also. Uses a separate rubber that you see from the inside.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Got some work completed on the hard top and cowl seal today.
I bought a CJ7 seal kit off Amazon, mainly just for the front lip seal. The corner seals will not work on this top. Never had a leak at the front corners.
I used this goop to glue the seals to the hard top.
I had been running a cheap piece of foam rod at the front lip. It did not seal well at all. The new seal is rubber and had a larger OD, hope it seals better.
I ran a bead of goop down the seal channel in the top.
This goop does not want to separate from the tube, you have to be careful when you get to the end of your goop run, kind of go back over the goop and tear the goop from the tube with a small rag.
You are supposed to put a bead on the top and seal, both surfaces, like contact cement. No way I was going to risk getting yellow goop all over my pretty white paint!!! Just the goop on the top seemed to work fine.
I laid the seal into the goop, finger pressure to get it to grab, especially at the corners where the top ramps up. Worked fine. A little excees goop came out but I'm not too worried about that.
I let the tube seal extend past the end of the top on both sides, went back later and trimmed it like so.
For the bottom of the hardtop to top of the body tub seal I also used a CJ7 hardtop seal kit. Not sure where I purchased it from I've had these seals for about 10 years, or longer!!
Two flat seals and a little metal tube to make the bolt holes through the rubber gaskets.
The width of the seals are perfect for the Scrambler 1/2 top.
I bought a CJ7 seal kit off Amazon, mainly just for the front lip seal. The corner seals will not work on this top. Never had a leak at the front corners.
I used this goop to glue the seals to the hard top.
I had been running a cheap piece of foam rod at the front lip. It did not seal well at all. The new seal is rubber and had a larger OD, hope it seals better.
I ran a bead of goop down the seal channel in the top.
This goop does not want to separate from the tube, you have to be careful when you get to the end of your goop run, kind of go back over the goop and tear the goop from the tube with a small rag.
You are supposed to put a bead on the top and seal, both surfaces, like contact cement. No way I was going to risk getting yellow goop all over my pretty white paint!!! Just the goop on the top seemed to work fine.
I laid the seal into the goop, finger pressure to get it to grab, especially at the corners where the top ramps up. Worked fine. A little excees goop came out but I'm not too worried about that.
I let the tube seal extend past the end of the top on both sides, went back later and trimmed it like so.
For the bottom of the hardtop to top of the body tub seal I also used a CJ7 hardtop seal kit. Not sure where I purchased it from I've had these seals for about 10 years, or longer!!
Two flat seals and a little metal tube to make the bolt holes through the rubber gaskets.
The width of the seals are perfect for the Scrambler 1/2 top.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
There are four locations in the hard top where bolts secure the top to the bulkhead. On this top, when I first obtained it, 3 of the 4 nut inserts were intact. The nut insert on the outer passenger side was completely missing. I ran around with just 3 of the 4 bolts for years with no issues. Just one of those things I never got around to messing with. Before the most recent Hot Springs trip the driver side outer corner nut insert stripped out. These nut inserts are originally 5/16" course thread.
On the driver side outer corner I retapped the stripped nut insert out to 3/8" course thread. I use an Allen headed bolt because the head is wide enough to completely go over the bulkhead hole. A 3/8" washer will not fit up inside the top bulkhead flange.
The two center nut inserts are intact and functional, so two 5/16" bolts work fine at both of these locations.
And the passenger side outer nut insert location, empty.
I am going to use a well nut here.
A well nut is a rubber tube with a metal nut at the bottom of the tube. When you install a bolt and start to tighten it, this draws the nut upward and causes the tube to bulge outward. So, the outward bulge on the inside of the hard top cavity keeps the well nut from pulling through. I use smaller well nuts on my green Scramblers hardtop, front end where the metal strip attaches. They work fine there, gonna give one a shot here.
I drilled the fiberglass hole out to a hair below 1/2".
And stick the well nut in the hole.
Only issue with well nuts:
The well nut has a rubber flange that sticks out a hair. I'm not too worried about this due to the fact that there is a thick rubber seal that goes over the top of this flange and will compress around it when the bolts are tightened down.
Well nuts are obviously not a structural type solution for problems. But in this application better then nothing!!
This size well nut uses a 1/4" course thread bolt. So, unfortunately for my OCD, my hard top to bulkhead attachment locations use three different size bolts: 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8"!!!
On the driver side outer corner I retapped the stripped nut insert out to 3/8" course thread. I use an Allen headed bolt because the head is wide enough to completely go over the bulkhead hole. A 3/8" washer will not fit up inside the top bulkhead flange.
The two center nut inserts are intact and functional, so two 5/16" bolts work fine at both of these locations.
And the passenger side outer nut insert location, empty.
I am going to use a well nut here.
A well nut is a rubber tube with a metal nut at the bottom of the tube. When you install a bolt and start to tighten it, this draws the nut upward and causes the tube to bulge outward. So, the outward bulge on the inside of the hard top cavity keeps the well nut from pulling through. I use smaller well nuts on my green Scramblers hardtop, front end where the metal strip attaches. They work fine there, gonna give one a shot here.
I drilled the fiberglass hole out to a hair below 1/2".
And stick the well nut in the hole.
Only issue with well nuts:
The well nut has a rubber flange that sticks out a hair. I'm not too worried about this due to the fact that there is a thick rubber seal that goes over the top of this flange and will compress around it when the bolts are tightened down.
Well nuts are obviously not a structural type solution for problems. But in this application better then nothing!!
This size well nut uses a 1/4" course thread bolt. So, unfortunately for my OCD, my hard top to bulkhead attachment locations use three different size bolts: 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8"!!!
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
With the well nut installed and the other three nut inserts tapped out to remove paint, time to install the top to body seals.
These seals have double sided tape on one side, BUT since they are so old they don't stick too well. So, I used more of the 3M yellow goop on these seals. Some goop on the top, goop on the seal, stick down in place.
Since either seal is not long enough to go all the way across I started at the center of the top and worked outward. So I have four pieces of rubber to seal the bottom.
I started at the center and worked outward like so.
I glued the seal to the flat portion and upward ramp first. Once the goop dries here I will goop it down on the side.
I used an exact knife to cut out the first hole, used the pipe to trim it, worked OK.
For the next two holes I used the pipe only, hit it with a hammer, worked much better.
On the hole over the well nut I used a small pick to poke a center hole through the rubber seal into the center of the well nut. I then used a drill, carefully, and worked up through different size bits up to 3/8" to make a bolt hole here. I did not want to use the punch and potentially damage the well nut rubber flange. Worked out well.
Went back and glued down/trimmed the outer ends of the rear seals.
Made/trimmed/glued down the two sides seals.
These seals have double sided tape on one side, BUT since they are so old they don't stick too well. So, I used more of the 3M yellow goop on these seals. Some goop on the top, goop on the seal, stick down in place.
Since either seal is not long enough to go all the way across I started at the center of the top and worked outward. So I have four pieces of rubber to seal the bottom.
I started at the center and worked outward like so.
I glued the seal to the flat portion and upward ramp first. Once the goop dries here I will goop it down on the side.
I used an exact knife to cut out the first hole, used the pipe to trim it, worked OK.
For the next two holes I used the pipe only, hit it with a hammer, worked much better.
On the hole over the well nut I used a small pick to poke a center hole through the rubber seal into the center of the well nut. I then used a drill, carefully, and worked up through different size bits up to 3/8" to make a bolt hole here. I did not want to use the punch and potentially damage the well nut rubber flange. Worked out well.
Went back and glued down/trimmed the outer ends of the rear seals.
Made/trimmed/glued down the two sides seals.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
And finished with these seals.
In a perfect world this would be one continuous long seal. Good luck finding one! This will be way better then the crappy foam I had half ass stuck back here before. This isn't really a water leak spot, more of a noise isolator gasket. But I would assume water could get in here and leak inside, so you need something here.
At the front of the hard top the metal strip was originally pop riveted to the fiberglass. Well these don't last forever, and the holes get all egged out. For the past few years I just jammed some plastic drywall sleave anchors inside the holes. Kind of worked but butch. My green Scrambler had this same problem so I used well nuts instead of pop rivets. The well nuts work perfect on that Scrambler so no use reinventing the wheel here.
Drilled all five of the egged out holes to size.
Pushed the well nuts inside the holes.
Installed the metal strip, tightened down the little machine screws into the well nuts, done.
I really like the rubber well nuts along this front edge. There is always going to be some movement at the windshield frame to hard top interface. These rubber well nuts allow for movement better then the rigid pop rivets. The rubber will flex and not damage the fiberglass where as the aluminum pop rivets slowly wallow out the round holes in the fiberglass top. It might take a few trips and a few tightening sessions but once everything works into place the well nuts do a great job securing the metal strip to the fiberglass top.
In a perfect world this would be one continuous long seal. Good luck finding one! This will be way better then the crappy foam I had half ass stuck back here before. This isn't really a water leak spot, more of a noise isolator gasket. But I would assume water could get in here and leak inside, so you need something here.
At the front of the hard top the metal strip was originally pop riveted to the fiberglass. Well these don't last forever, and the holes get all egged out. For the past few years I just jammed some plastic drywall sleave anchors inside the holes. Kind of worked but butch. My green Scrambler had this same problem so I used well nuts instead of pop rivets. The well nuts work perfect on that Scrambler so no use reinventing the wheel here.
Drilled all five of the egged out holes to size.
Pushed the well nuts inside the holes.
Installed the metal strip, tightened down the little machine screws into the well nuts, done.
I really like the rubber well nuts along this front edge. There is always going to be some movement at the windshield frame to hard top interface. These rubber well nuts allow for movement better then the rigid pop rivets. The rubber will flex and not damage the fiberglass where as the aluminum pop rivets slowly wallow out the round holes in the fiberglass top. It might take a few trips and a few tightening sessions but once everything works into place the well nuts do a great job securing the metal strip to the fiberglass top.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Back to the cowl seal.
Using blue tape to mark the top edge of the cowl seal.
Pulling the front edge of the seal down, all the crap I blew out from around the glass seal fell down here!!
Quick measurement, looks like 1/2" should be just shy of the top edge of the seal.
I decided to use double sided tape to seal the rubber gasket to the windshield frame, figured this would be less messy then goop.
I folded the windshield frame down and removed the cowl seal. This enabled me to clean the seal and windshield frame. It also allowed me to stick the tape to the bottom edge of the windshield frame easy.
Before I removed the seal, with it still in its correct place, I drilled new holes in the bottom of the windshield frame to secure the cowl seal. The holes I originally drilled into this windshield frame for the originally installed Crown seal did not line up with the holes in the new seal. You can see how they are all uniformly off.
The new correct holes for this seal are lower and inward compared to the original seal holes.
Carefully stuck the tape down to the exterior face of the the windshield frame.
I got a hair high in the middle but still below the top of the seal lip. The tape sticks to metal great. Two people would not be a bad idea here.
And complete.
Using blue tape to mark the top edge of the cowl seal.
Pulling the front edge of the seal down, all the crap I blew out from around the glass seal fell down here!!
Quick measurement, looks like 1/2" should be just shy of the top edge of the seal.
I decided to use double sided tape to seal the rubber gasket to the windshield frame, figured this would be less messy then goop.
I folded the windshield frame down and removed the cowl seal. This enabled me to clean the seal and windshield frame. It also allowed me to stick the tape to the bottom edge of the windshield frame easy.
Before I removed the seal, with it still in its correct place, I drilled new holes in the bottom of the windshield frame to secure the cowl seal. The holes I originally drilled into this windshield frame for the originally installed Crown seal did not line up with the holes in the new seal. You can see how they are all uniformly off.
The new correct holes for this seal are lower and inward compared to the original seal holes.
Carefully stuck the tape down to the exterior face of the the windshield frame.
I got a hair high in the middle but still below the top of the seal lip. The tape sticks to metal great. Two people would not be a bad idea here.
And complete.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Not that fast.
So, I had to spend some time getting the cowl seal back into place. The addition of the previously missing lower screws helped some. I did not snug these screws down tight, I wanted to be able to pull on the seal without tearing it. Sort of like "hold on loosely but don't let go".
I got the seal into place, tightened up the windshield frame bolts. Starting on the driver side I removed the film from the outer face of the tape, about 4 inches at a time, and pushed the seal on to the tape.
This worked great for the first third of the seal. After that, the seal did not want to stick to the tape at all.
So, I ended up using more 3M goop and glued the seal to the tape. I used blue painters tape to hold it tight, I hope.
I'll check on this later. Not going to blame the tape, probably my fault. IIRC I sprayed some silicone lube on the cowl seal to get it into place, originally. I don't think I got it all off the seal. So, tape does not stick to silicone spray.
Hopefully the goop holds.
Only other issue, and hard to get a picture, reflection looks like tape sticking out but it's not:
The tape stops a hair shy of the top of the seal which is what I wanted. The tape is also a hair thick. So, you have a little 1/16" x 1/16" gap from the top of tape to top of seal. So, a little water could sit here. You could goop this, I reckon, or ignore it.
That's it for now.
So, I had to spend some time getting the cowl seal back into place. The addition of the previously missing lower screws helped some. I did not snug these screws down tight, I wanted to be able to pull on the seal without tearing it. Sort of like "hold on loosely but don't let go".
I got the seal into place, tightened up the windshield frame bolts. Starting on the driver side I removed the film from the outer face of the tape, about 4 inches at a time, and pushed the seal on to the tape.
This worked great for the first third of the seal. After that, the seal did not want to stick to the tape at all.
So, I ended up using more 3M goop and glued the seal to the tape. I used blue painters tape to hold it tight, I hope.
I'll check on this later. Not going to blame the tape, probably my fault. IIRC I sprayed some silicone lube on the cowl seal to get it into place, originally. I don't think I got it all off the seal. So, tape does not stick to silicone spray.
Hopefully the goop holds.
Only other issue, and hard to get a picture, reflection looks like tape sticking out but it's not:
The tape stops a hair shy of the top of the seal which is what I wanted. The tape is also a hair thick. So, you have a little 1/16" x 1/16" gap from the top of tape to top of seal. So, a little water could sit here. You could goop this, I reckon, or ignore it.
That's it for now.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Went back into the garage, not happy with the cowl seal to windshield frame seal at all. I was able to remove all of the double sided tape and 3M goop from the cowl seal and windshield frame without damage to either part.
I also removed all of the screws from the bottom of the cowl seal, except the two ends screws, again.
Will try again in a day or two, with a few changes:
1) no screws in bottom of cowl seal
2) thinner double sided tape
3) will leave the windshield frame loose so that I can get the top of the cowl seal lip straight and even all the way across the windshield frame, then bolt windshield frame down
That's it for now.
I also removed all of the screws from the bottom of the cowl seal, except the two ends screws, again.
Will try again in a day or two, with a few changes:
1) no screws in bottom of cowl seal
2) thinner double sided tape
3) will leave the windshield frame loose so that I can get the top of the cowl seal lip straight and even all the way across the windshield frame, then bolt windshield frame down
That's it for now.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Warm enough in the garage today to install the cowl seal double sided tape. Shouldn't dip much below this temperature over the next two days.
Also purchased a heat gun to help me warm things up. Harbor Freight Christmas special deal, worked well.
This is the gap I want between the top of the cowl seal and the bottom edge of the raised rib on the face of the windshield frame.
I was going to try to use a spacer straight edge, in this case a piece of aluminum angle, to keep the top of the tape perfectly spaced below the rib.
In the end I just free handed the tape install. Too hard to hold the spacer and work the tape at the same time.
I worked slow, got the tape down straight this time.
I preheated the cowl before installing the tape. Just warm, not hot. Rolled the tape down with a socket. It stuck down great. In the picture above, you can actually see where the tape sunk down into the spot weld divot.
After installing the tape I reinstalled the cowl seal. Took about 30 minutes to get the cowl seal exactly how I wanted it. After that, slowly peeled off the backing film from the tape, about 4" at a time, and stuck the face of the cowl seal down as I went.
I rolled the seal down on the tape with a socket. I also used the heat gun and warmed the seal/tape up for about 20 minutes. The seal stuck down to the rubber great this time.
I ran the tape almost to the top of the seal. Pretty happy with this.
I waited 2 hours, then folded the windshield back into its full upright position, installed the bolts, worked the inner face of the seal back straight, and then firmly tightened up the windshield frame to cowl bolts. Pretty happy with the interior view.
Pretty happy with the 3M tape this time around. A few pointers that I learned the hard way.
1) make sure the temperature is above 60, preferably over 65, like the instructions note
2) a heat gun is a useful tool
3) install the tape as straight as possible
4) work the seal to the tape a little bit at a time
5) clean the metal and rubber with 91% Isopropyl alcohol
Glad that ordeal is over. After about two hours that tape seems stuck. The instructions mention 72 hours for 100% cure.
Also purchased a heat gun to help me warm things up. Harbor Freight Christmas special deal, worked well.
This is the gap I want between the top of the cowl seal and the bottom edge of the raised rib on the face of the windshield frame.
I was going to try to use a spacer straight edge, in this case a piece of aluminum angle, to keep the top of the tape perfectly spaced below the rib.
In the end I just free handed the tape install. Too hard to hold the spacer and work the tape at the same time.
I worked slow, got the tape down straight this time.
I preheated the cowl before installing the tape. Just warm, not hot. Rolled the tape down with a socket. It stuck down great. In the picture above, you can actually see where the tape sunk down into the spot weld divot.
After installing the tape I reinstalled the cowl seal. Took about 30 minutes to get the cowl seal exactly how I wanted it. After that, slowly peeled off the backing film from the tape, about 4" at a time, and stuck the face of the cowl seal down as I went.
I rolled the seal down on the tape with a socket. I also used the heat gun and warmed the seal/tape up for about 20 minutes. The seal stuck down to the rubber great this time.
I ran the tape almost to the top of the seal. Pretty happy with this.
I waited 2 hours, then folded the windshield back into its full upright position, installed the bolts, worked the inner face of the seal back straight, and then firmly tightened up the windshield frame to cowl bolts. Pretty happy with the interior view.
Pretty happy with the 3M tape this time around. A few pointers that I learned the hard way.
1) make sure the temperature is above 60, preferably over 65, like the instructions note
2) a heat gun is a useful tool
3) install the tape as straight as possible
4) work the seal to the tape a little bit at a time
5) clean the metal and rubber with 91% Isopropyl alcohol
Glad that ordeal is over. After about two hours that tape seems stuck. The instructions mention 72 hours for 100% cure.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Went ahead and removed the nutmeg colored door applique decals. They peeled off fairly easy.
Only a little bit left around the lock cylinders.
Will have to remove the lock cylinder and upper piece of weatherstripping from each door to install the new black applique stickers. I am going to wait until I reinstall the hardtop (rain delayed for now) and the tops rear seal and glass before I take anything else apart.
That's it for now.
Only a little bit left around the lock cylinders.
Will have to remove the lock cylinder and upper piece of weatherstripping from each door to install the new black applique stickers. I am going to wait until I reinstall the hardtop (rain delayed for now) and the tops rear seal and glass before I take anything else apart.
That's it for now.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Installed the hardtop today, not too much drama, but two minor issues.
One, I ended up trimming the front tube seal like so on each side.
Two, passenger side, where top sits down on windshield frame, previous tree impacts had bent the metal windshield frame.
You can see where the bent metal scraped paint off the inside of the hard top.
A little hammer and punch work got it to a workable shape.
This works, just not pretty.
Pretty driver side, for reference, that has not hit a tree, yet.
Used a ratchet strap over the top to make compressing the new front seal easier. Not a lot of pressure, just some, just enough to get the sheet metal screws started into the windshield frame.
All the screws installed along the front, all four bolts in the back, good to go.
I like the high gloss white inside. Not as happy with the gloss black exterior.
For now it will due. Might try to de-gloss it or paint it a flatter black in the future.
The seals I used under the hard top are a hair too thick IMO. The top should be setting a hair lower on the top of the doors.
I am NOT going to raise the doors, they sit perfect everywhere else.
Going to let it go for now, check for leaks. Might need to take the top back off and use a thinner seal. Will give it some time and see if the seal compresses, but I doubt it.
One, I ended up trimming the front tube seal like so on each side.
Two, passenger side, where top sits down on windshield frame, previous tree impacts had bent the metal windshield frame.
You can see where the bent metal scraped paint off the inside of the hard top.
A little hammer and punch work got it to a workable shape.
This works, just not pretty.
Pretty driver side, for reference, that has not hit a tree, yet.
Used a ratchet strap over the top to make compressing the new front seal easier. Not a lot of pressure, just some, just enough to get the sheet metal screws started into the windshield frame.
All the screws installed along the front, all four bolts in the back, good to go.
I like the high gloss white inside. Not as happy with the gloss black exterior.
For now it will due. Might try to de-gloss it or paint it a flatter black in the future.
The seals I used under the hard top are a hair too thick IMO. The top should be setting a hair lower on the top of the doors.
I am NOT going to raise the doors, they sit perfect everywhere else.
Going to let it go for now, check for leaks. Might need to take the top back off and use a thinner seal. Will give it some time and see if the seal compresses, but I doubt it.
- City
- Biloxi
- State
- MS
Need to reinstall the glass, which is a PIA from what I remember.
Me and a buddy reinstalled this glass into the hardtop when it was repainted the nutmeg color. We did this the night before the Moab National, so it has been a few years since I attempted this operation!!!
The seal has an inside and outside. For reference, my green Scrambler below:
You can clearly see the horizontal split in the seal, this goes to the exterior.
Same thing on the black 1986 CJ-7, just harder to see!!
Side glass seal:
Rear hatch seal:
More on this split in a bit.
I spent about an hour cleaning the glass, mainly getting old sealant residue off the perimeter. Weapons of choice, not pictured was the razor scraper.
No sealant or gunk left but you can still tell where the seal rode on the glass, it is like a ghost stain. No residue or anything to scrape off, just a ghost.
This should be legible from the outside, driver side bottom corner. Well, that's how it is on my green Scrambler.
I did not goop the glass to the inside of the seal, just messing around.
Back to the exterior seal split. This is actually a "lock". Once the glass was in the seal I went around, using my fingers, and separated this "lock".
When me and my buddy installed the glass/seal years ago it was a bitch. I don't remember unlocking this exterior seal "lock", maybe that makes it easier?? I know we fought the install for hours. I think, IIRC, we put the seal on the top then fought the glass in, can't remember. I also know I never gooped the glass to the rubber or the rubber to the fiberglass so there was some minor leaks.
Me and a buddy reinstalled this glass into the hardtop when it was repainted the nutmeg color. We did this the night before the Moab National, so it has been a few years since I attempted this operation!!!
The seal has an inside and outside. For reference, my green Scrambler below:
You can clearly see the horizontal split in the seal, this goes to the exterior.
Same thing on the black 1986 CJ-7, just harder to see!!
Side glass seal:
Rear hatch seal:
More on this split in a bit.
I spent about an hour cleaning the glass, mainly getting old sealant residue off the perimeter. Weapons of choice, not pictured was the razor scraper.
No sealant or gunk left but you can still tell where the seal rode on the glass, it is like a ghost stain. No residue or anything to scrape off, just a ghost.
This should be legible from the outside, driver side bottom corner. Well, that's how it is on my green Scrambler.
I did not goop the glass to the inside of the seal, just messing around.
Back to the exterior seal split. This is actually a "lock". Once the glass was in the seal I went around, using my fingers, and separated this "lock".
When me and my buddy installed the glass/seal years ago it was a bitch. I don't remember unlocking this exterior seal "lock", maybe that makes it easier?? I know we fought the install for hours. I think, IIRC, we put the seal on the top then fought the glass in, can't remember. I also know I never gooped the glass to the rubber or the rubber to the fiberglass so there was some minor leaks.
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