The soft top is done (ish). It's serviceable, anyway. This is good, because we have been sleeping in the truck for the last couple of nights while camping with some friends in Mammoth Lakes. The wind here has been considerable, but the canvas seems to shed it well. Having everything buttoned up tight has been good. The only air leaks that I've noticed are along the back "window" panel, but I imagine that once I attach the velcro, that will be a non-issue. The door seals are actually letting in more cold air than the junctions of cloth and metal along the soft top.

The drive over the Sierras from Oakhurst to Mammoth Lakes was fairly uneventful (because my friend and I drove at night after we got off work), other than noticeable loss of power above about 8500'. The metal cage for the soft top is pretty stout, but even loaded down and with the truck gasping for air, we were cruising at about 50 on the level spots. That is about as fast as I would take those chunks of road anyway, so I'm not too unhappy with it. I did find a couple of small vacuum hose leaks once we got here, so I will be interested in seeing if there is any improvement on the way home next week.

There is a guy camping near us with a nice little long travel expedition-style Tacoma with a roof top tent. A RTT on top of this might be overkill, but it might also be just the ticket as the baby gets older and can't be stuffed onto the front passenger seat in her baby tent / isolation dome contraption.

The build is far from done (roof rack assembly, detail work, fine tuning, and paint are still pending), so there will be more pics shortly.

MC

 

Glad it's working out well MC! I can't wait to go camping....

 

What kind of machine did you use to sew the tarps, and what did you use to bend the schedule 80?

Nice work....

 

Freakin sweeet!!! Nice buildup!!

 

The pipe was bent with a Harbor Freight hydraulic bender. The sewing machine was the best Kenmore that I could afford for our one-year anniversary. I spent under $300.00 on it. It is due for service, but has handled far worse material than this. I make my own dog toys with it out of used fire hose.

Malt- I'm still hoping to get up there with you guys for one night at least. I'm getting back on Thursday, and I leave again for a work thing on Monday (the 28th).

 

Ah.....I might have to stick with whatever I can bend with a conduit bender, then. I don't have access to a hydraulic unit, but my wife does have a honker Singer sewing machine.

Thanks for the info. Again......nice job.

 

Thanks!

I seriously don't think that Sch 80 is needed. If you aren't going to make a roof rack or mount anything to the system, then something like .092 1" tubing should be fine. With that thin of a wall, though, you will probably dimple the inside of your bends. Perhaps 1/4" wall would work. That should be workable with a conduit bender.

Someone else on here (I think the link is earlier in the thread) actually made one with conduit and without a welder. Somewhere in between is probably sufficient.

If I was going to make one that wasn't load-bearing, I would try to make it like the softtop, where it collapses down like a convertible.

 

Yeah, I'd like mine to be able to support a roof rack for 200lbs max. Atleast, a couple of kayaks/canoes or a few sticks of lumber.....that sort of thing. That schedule 80 looks like you could carry another Yota out of the hole...haha.

I'll check out that link.

 

The only link I saw was for Marty4rnr's build, and he welded it up. Hmm...

 

Well I know the guy that builds them racks and he wanted to protect the little back seat passenger more then anything else.....I am going to be building a rack with a fold over tent for my 86 pickup as soon as someone gets there sewing skills a little better...hint hint....

 

Well it's about freaking time you signed up! Welcome to the madhouse! We need to get your build thread going. Too much cool stuff has been done already.

 

Thook- check this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-top-d-180767/

 

excellent work! and super budget conscious, good job!

i am also building some soft tops right now. i actually just purchased enough materials to make 3 black tops. if they come out nice, i will make more, in tan, maybe light grey or red special orders.

i am using my Can Back as a template. So my cover will be almost exactly like it, except for a few improvements I will add based on my experience with my top. But I plan to make a lighter duty frame that requires no welding.

Ultimately my goal is to make the top a kit which can assemble/disassemble by the end-user, fits the OEM topper mounting holes, and is $500 or less. so far i have assembled almost all of the materials. if you wish to discuss anything, PM me anytime.

good luck finishing that project!
Tj

 

Excellent! One of the priorities for me was building it strong enough to eventually support a basket / rack. My welder friend raised the bar and made it strong enough to carry a tank of manatees on their way home from a shrimp convention.

The top was the cheapest part. I will be adding velcro to the perimeter eventually. I also need to come up with a easily detachable anchor point on the corners to help me with stretching the canvas on cold nights. I made it tight, so that it wouldn't sag and billow in the wind in the heat, but when the temp gets down to the low 50's, it tends to be a pain to get the corner snaps done. The high-end twist-snaps would be one option, but I liked the fact that "real" snaps don't leave any open hole for water to get through.

 

Well where would you like me to start...with the motor or the drive train?
And which one?......

 

I just think you need to start a build thread for the pickup for now. When we dig into the runner we can start that as a separate thread.

 

It is raining pretty well tonight, and on the way home from town, I noted that there was a bit of leakage between the canvas and the cab. It wasn't a lot, just what little seemed to pool there, and was only enough to occasionally drip. Tomorrow, I will be taking a piece of 3" firehose and attaching it such that the front is flush with the top of the cab and it overlaps the canvas. I will be attaching it with some sort of permanent fixture (screws?) as well as copious amounts of silicone. I think that will solve 90% of my problem. After this storm, I will likely be spraying some sort of additional waterproofing onto the canvas.

 

heyy i know this is a little old, but did u find a way to roll the sides up?

i was thinking if u put snaps on the top on the outside and small straps on the top inside, so when u rolled the sides up the straps would go around the sides and snape to the top.

 

bumping this to figure out what snap fasteners you used. i have found 2 different types of male fasteners (screw and rivet) screw type keeps breaking off and the rivet styles post is to short through the steel bracket im mounting it to. any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

The screw type suck. I used rivit type, but affixed them with machine screws.