Choppin the top

[jlasala]

I am in the process of stripping down my 82 K5 2 wheel drive to have the top cut off. I think it looks awesome and never had any intention of putting the cover back on.

any experience w/ this?

[Berg]

I've done it to an 85 before I bought my first 75. I Had to replace the rocker panels and drivers side floorpan so in the process I braced the inner rockers with box tube to make sure the door opening wouldn't change. The floor bracing is the most important thing that most people overlook on these chops. The second part they overlook is after you cut the doors down, you need to make a brace to connect the outer door skin to the inner structure. If you don't, the door will start to come apart over time and will get cracks near the handle. After I cut down my 85 I cut up a bed cover from a pickup to cover things up like a little bikini top the jeep guys run around with. It was pretty cool but the longer I owned the truck-the more body panels got cut off and it turned into a firewall with 2 seats and some tube around things.

[jlasala]

thanks for the heads up.

we are going to cut her up tomorrow and see how it turns out. it is certainly a work in process we will see what happens.

[Berg]

So how did it come out? do you have any pictures?

[jlasala]

Well.... We have to replace the rocker panels before we can cut the top off, and they were a little more rusted than we thought. So I need to go get some 1/2 half square tubing to reinforce with. Hopefully we will get that done this weekend, weather permitting. I was pretty disappointed not getting it done last weekend, but we will!
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[jlasala]

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[Berg]

Yeah you have to add structure to it before you take any of it away. You'd be surprised how fast everything will shift around. You should also check your front cab mounts under the floor pans and make sure they are solid and tied into the rockers. If it sags at all your doors will never line up right. It also appears you are running the same seats I plan on swapping into my 75. Not to hijack your thread but how was it putting them in? any issues? Good luck with the cutting. Remember it is always easier to cut and then trim excess than it is to have to go back and add metal to it. When I chopped my header panel I left about 2" extra in case i cut a little off. I also made it so the old half-cab could go back on. I welded in filler panels along the leading edges where I cut and then put bolts in from the back side and tack welded them so I could just line up the holes. I welded washers in on the backside and was able to fit on and cut the inner skin back to get in with a ratcheting wrench. If you use flange nuts they fit right in the end of the wrench and stay put pretty well. I only used 4 5/16 bolts that stuck out about 3/4" after the roof was pulled. If I did it again I'd probably add another 1/4" to the studs. At the B-post I welded nuts on the back side of the patch I made for the top of the quarter panel and cut all the material out of the way to be able to get a bolt inside without shredding my skin. THERE IS A LOT OF METAL IN THE B-POST!!! I also highly recommend adding a roll bar for the fact that nothing else supports the Quarter panels after the chop. They wiggled around a little when flexing and slamming the doors so I added a hoop from an early truck and had to extend the tube ends to fit down to the new style floor drop. The factory just welded on little tabs and bolted them right to the quarters.

[frog210]

This aint mine, hopefully the owner dosent get mad but
it belongs to a member here