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WHAMMYBAR66 · 10-28-2009, 07:38 PM

Next up, getting the hatch on... as exhaust fumes were about to KILL ME on the way to work..

The hatch was cracked like most of them, right down through the hinge mounts. MAN THAT GLASS IS HEAVY !! I have seen some really great repairs on here, working with fiberglass and really doing it up right. Well, I had no time for that.. and to be honest- when Spring gets here, the top is coming off baby !! So first we made new mounting plates for the hatch.

Then we fit them to the hatch. Our hope was to spread out the stress over more area..

Here they are both bolted in..

We wanted to eliminate the twisting effect between the hinges so we connected them with some aluminum diamond plate.

and here it is on the truck..

There are lots of ways to skin a cat and this was just my way of getting a top on to keep in some frickin heat !! I think that this hinge reinforcement would work great on any hatch, plus when I check the rearview mirror I see some nice diamond plate lookin back at me !!
I hope this post will help some of you with your hatch problems or at least give you a place to start !

10-28-2009, 07:38 PM	#2
WHAMMYBAR66 Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Location: LEE'S SUMMIT, MO Posts: 99	continued - episode 2 hatch repair Next up, getting the hatch on... as exhaust fumes were about to KILL ME on the way to work.. The hatch was cracked like most of them, right down through the hinge mounts. MAN THAT GLASS IS HEAVY !! I have seen some really great repairs on here, working with fiberglass and really doing it up right. Well, I had no time for that.. and to be honest- when Spring gets here, the top is coming off baby !! So first we made new mounting plates for the hatch. Then we fit them to the hatch. Our hope was to spread out the stress over more area.. Here they are both bolted in.. We wanted to eliminate the twisting effect between the hinges so we connected them with some aluminum diamond plate. and here it is on the truck.. There are lots of ways to skin a cat and this was just my way of getting a top on to keep in some frickin heat !! I think that this hinge reinforcement would work great on any hatch, plus when I check the rearview mirror I see some nice diamond plate lookin back at me !! I hope this post will help some of you with your hatch problems or at least give you a place to start !