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OK so I am sure I am not the only one to scratch my head looking at the side doors on a helmet top, what in the world were they thinking?? you would have to be 8-9 feet tall to comfortably access the full area of the boxes.
So this weekend I decided to do something about it, the first thing I noticed was the boxes actually consists of two major components, the box and the door/frame.
So I thought no problem, remove the frame and invert it, well no that will not work, the flange where the door frame attaches to the truck is wider on top that the bottom.
So that is not going to work, so a quick look revealed the inside of the door frame was indeed symmetrical so the answer became to simply drill out the rivets and flip the door, much easier now that the frame was on my saw horses, so I just get everything lined up, make sure to measure the exact center of the frame (side to side) and drill the middle rivet hole there.
OK so far I just get all the rivets in and the wife strolls by and in her I just noticed something you did not voice (42yearsBTW) "what's that going to do to your camo pattern",, CRUD she is right the front of the door is green the rear black.
But a quick walk around the truck and the passenger side was also green on front and black on the rear so that answer was to flip and rotate the doors, is not perfect but not too bad ether.
It needs some touch up work anyway.
Add some gas cylinders and Voila..
You will also need to cut/remove the old chain tabs.
Do not use rivets from the local hardware store, use aluminum rivets with steel mandrels...
If you are careful you can cut the weatherstripping away with a razor knife then use adhesive to put it back in.
Also flip the door handles so they are oriented correctly.
This will require you to "tweak" the rods to the bolts, do not tweak them where the rods thread into the bolts as they can be easily broken.
AND reverse the bolts connecting the handle to the rods or the exposed threads will scalp someone.
I did the passenger side without removing the frame and it was easy and did not take long, as you can see the drivers side was stained badly with rust so it was not work wasted as I pulled the box and acid washed it, looks like new now.
I also added a rain drip edge above the boxes using 3/4X1/8" angle.
EDIT, if you have one of these tops
it looks like the bolts would hit that "cutaway" section in the front lower part of the box.
So this weekend I decided to do something about it, the first thing I noticed was the boxes actually consists of two major components, the box and the door/frame.
So I thought no problem, remove the frame and invert it, well no that will not work, the flange where the door frame attaches to the truck is wider on top that the bottom.
So that is not going to work, so a quick look revealed the inside of the door frame was indeed symmetrical so the answer became to simply drill out the rivets and flip the door, much easier now that the frame was on my saw horses, so I just get everything lined up, make sure to measure the exact center of the frame (side to side) and drill the middle rivet hole there.
OK so far I just get all the rivets in and the wife strolls by and in her I just noticed something you did not voice (42yearsBTW) "what's that going to do to your camo pattern",, CRUD she is right the front of the door is green the rear black.
But a quick walk around the truck and the passenger side was also green on front and black on the rear so that answer was to flip and rotate the doors, is not perfect but not too bad ether.
It needs some touch up work anyway.Add some gas cylinders and Voila..
You will also need to cut/remove the old chain tabs.Do not use rivets from the local hardware store, use aluminum rivets with steel mandrels...
If you are careful you can cut the weatherstripping away with a razor knife then use adhesive to put it back in.
Also flip the door handles so they are oriented correctly.
This will require you to "tweak" the rods to the bolts, do not tweak them where the rods thread into the bolts as they can be easily broken.AND reverse the bolts connecting the handle to the rods or the exposed threads will scalp someone.
I did the passenger side without removing the frame and it was easy and did not take long, as you can see the drivers side was stained badly with rust so it was not work wasted as I pulled the box and acid washed it, looks like new now.
I also added a rain drip edge above the boxes using 3/4X1/8" angle.
EDIT, if you have one of these tops
it looks like the bolts would hit that "cutaway" section in the front lower part of the box.
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