For those of you guys that have a soft top for your Bronco, I have a question for you.
I'm going to try to make my own soft top for mine, but I can't figure out for the life of me how it gets attached, and have a water tight seal.
Can one of you describe what you have? Or a close up picture would be even better.

Thanks a bunch!

 

some are on tracks that are bolted into the existing bolt holed from the hard top. the second way is to drill holes in the body and have the top snapped into that. those are the only 2 ways i know of, you could probly be creative and think of some more.

 

NH,

Perhaps not the best answer to your question but if you are going to make your own, you are pursuing something similar to what I started out to do. This is what I ended up with https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...0&albumid=6510 . I cut the hole in it just inside the "seams" where the sections of fibreglass that make up the top are joined together. There is a cloth top section that snaps around the perimeter of the opening. The material is heavy nylon-reinforced vinyl like the material used to make carnival tents. I followed up by taking the glass windows and gaskets out and making clear vinyl windows that snap into the window frames as well. This way you can still have to open road feel and not lose your high mount stoplight, rear seatbelts, and the peace of mind that there is a steel cage inside that fiberglass shell. Heck you don't even lose your rear dome light and you don't have to drill any new holes in your baby. Living in the Mississippi/Missouri/Meramec river valley, thunderstroms crop up in minutes in the spring and summer. So putting the top section and windows (the windows roll up too) back in is very quick compared to putting the whole top back on. You can keep your interior trim and reinstall it too. And if you really want to remove the top completely (just cause it looks too cool with no top), the modified top weighs about 75lbs. less than a regular top. Just another of my silly ideas that I have pursued. If it sounds like something you would be interested in, let me know. I have all the specs on the prototype.

 

My top from STC has rails that you mount on the body where the top came off, then you mount all your snaps into the rails you installed. Works well but you do have to put some holes in her.

 

How do they do it on the baby jeeps? (CJ/TJ/YJ) I know they zip, but what does the other side of the zipper attach to?

 

the zipper, they have rails and zip out windows(glass) . iots pretty well put together!

 

All good suggestions.
Greystreak, I remember seeing that modified top one time here, on your thread. It came out pretty nice. And it's always an option. I'll keep you in mind if my soft top doesn't work out.
The reason I'm going with a soft top, is because yes, I want to go topless....but I'm also getting a rollbar manufactured so I can attach the seat belts to.
I never thought about looking at a Jeep's soft top. That's a good idea. Guess I'll be lurking around some in the coming weeks.
So much to do, so little time!
I need to get my digital camera up and running, to take some pics of my Bronco for the gallery. I also just finished making a new spare tire cover. Came out really nice. I used marine grade vinyl that looks like real diamond plate.

Thanks for all your input guys!

 

There's a couple jeeps in the school parking lot, I'll see if I can get some pics today (who cares if they think I'm gonna steal it )

 

Sounds like a nice looking cover, my old one is shot so I'll have to come up with a alternative. The old one looks nice but can't stay on, so I'm gonna try and turn it into a foot stool.

 

cut it at the seams and make a template to cut new fabric from. that would be a great help for the people making their own tops.

 

Had another thought today. Though the ones with nicer rides probably wouldn't see too kindly, someone may get an idea from it...
After looking at jeeps of people I don't know, I'm going to go to some sources I do know in Arlington this week...
But I thought: what if you welded (or otherwise attached) a small steel/aluminum pipe, about 3-4" long with an inner diameter somewhere in the 1/4-1/2" range, at 4 points (one pair for the flat bit, one pair for the angle), then just make a simple one-piece cover with loops on each side for steel/wooden dowels... Caps for the pipe would be nice, just to be sure the dowels don't blow out, but they shouldn't if the cover is pulled tight... Since the pipe would be mounted to the outside, the water couldn't get in...

I don't know, just my thought... I don't know how to attach buttons to the body, so I don't know if this would be easier or not.