What Year Did The Tub Grow 2",..??

My '63 CJ 5 has a fiberglass body, 'n I'm guessin' it's a newer vintage than 1963,....

I needed a top, 'n found a nice clean steel hardtop, complete with doors, that came off, I believe, a '65 CJ 5,....
I started puttin' it on the other day, 'n the windshield top is 2" short of inside the top's front lip,....
Thinkin' my custom built gasket is to thick, not allowin' the frame to go back far enough, I got ta lookin' it over today, to decide what to do 'bout it,....
Lookin' the doors over, I see that it's the steel top that's 2" to short,.....

So, the question is,.... Just what "Vintage" is my glass tub, so I can buy a top that fits,..??
For what years should I look for, for a top that'll fit,..??

If anybody's got an early CJ with the 2" shorter tub, I've got a nice clean steel top, I've Love to see on yer Jeep,....

On a side note,..... How much smaller, is the tub of a CJ 2A,..??
I know where there's an aluminum top for a 2A, if he ain't sold it yet,....

 

Is your wiper motor on the inside (passenger compartment side) or outside of the windshield frame (under a cover)?

 

The tub didn’t grow longer, the front fenders, hood, and frame did. ‘76 and newer tons of changes were made but I’m not aware of any length changes. Folks more familiar with ‘76 and up CJ-5’s may know different however.
Be aware manufacturers of fiberglass bodies were notoriously all over the map regarding dimensions. Especially if they left them in the sun for them to set up.

 

What Zoomer is getting at is the '76 and up windshields lean back further (and have the wiper motor inside the Jeep). The CJ5 tub never changed length, but your top may be for a '76-'83 and would be shorter because the windshield leans back further. The newer windshields are also narrower at the top. The older pre-76 windshields have the wiper motor in a can on the outside of the windshield or top pivot wipers with individual vacuum or electric motors inside the Jeep.

If you have a 76+ top with a pre '76 windshield, a possibility is keeping the top and adapting a newer windshield to fit. It's been done before.

 

Ayuh,..... I Guess this is good news,.... The windshield, I believe is original, with 2 wiper motors on the top of the frame,....
That puts me back to my original thought, that my custom gasket is too tall, not allowin' the frame to lean back far enough,....
I have 'bout 1/4" space between the top of the dash panel, 'n the bottom of the defroster box on the windshield frame,.....
The reason I didn't use the new replacement windshield/ tub gasket is, it hangs out so far in front of the frame, it looks more like a rain scoop, than a rain stopping gasket,.....
The bottom of the frame is almost 3, 1/2" wide, but the tub is more like 2, 1/4" to the dash panel,....
2, 1/2" if I go over the top of the lip on the dash panel,....
Does anyone know how wide the top of an original steel tub is, under the windshield frame,..??

The guy I bought the top from had just taken it off a very original looking 1965 CJ 5,....

What caught my eye yesterday is, at the back of the doors, the top ends, on the flat part of the tub, before the curve down of the doors, by 'bout 2",....
hence, I assumed the tub is longer,.... but if the stretch was in the hood, 'n fenders, it Should fit,....

 

From the factory, the top of the cowl and the bottom of the windshield are about the same thickness.

I dug through my photo album for some pictures of the windshield on the '69:

 

Fitting any flat fender top on a CJ 5 requires major surgery. Flat fender tubs start narrowing at the door openings and have more narrow windshield frames. The windshield height is also different, especially on the MB/GPW/2A's.

 

Thank you,..... You too, duffer,..... You convinced me, I don't need that roof off the 2A,....

My windshield looks alot like yer's, except my wipers are top mounted,.....
The top of yer tub looks alot like mine,.... except the defroster hole is different, mine is a single, which lines up with the right hole on the w/s frame but only 1/2 of the left defroster hole on the w/s frame,....

Yer gasket is quite different on the bottom side though,..... Mine, from quadratrec, has a front cross rib, 'n a back cross rib, 'n a cavity in-between, rather than the 4 cross ribs on yer's,.... Mine is also a very soft foam rubber feelin' thing,.... to collapsible for my tastes,...

With it held in place, 'n the windshield pulled up, it appears to be 'bout 1/2" out in front of the tub below it, on the outside, in my mind, a rain catcher,...

When yer windshield is locked in-place, is it tight to the dash panel,..?? or could you pull the dash panel back, after the bolts are removed,..??
Any chance you know where yer gasket came from,..??

 

Ok,..... I Think, I may have found, atleast one of my problems,....
This is the gasket I bought,....

My bad, as it's listed as '76 to '86,.....

I see 3 options for a gasket like Fireball's gasket, with the multiple ribs,.... for '55 to '75,...
Fairchild Industries,....
Crown Automotive,....
'n OMIX,.....

Now my question is,.... Which vendor has the best highest quality rubber products,..??

 

It's best to avoid Crown and Omix if possible. I got mine off E-bay but the seller is no longer there. I don't recall the brand, but it was not Crown or Omix. There is basically no gap where the windshield hangs over the dash. You definitely need to fold the windshield forward to get the dash off.

 

are you saying it's too short on top of frame
did you get the windshield side filler pieces when you got the top
or it's not leaning far enough back , just asking

 

Ayuh,.... Need 'bout 2" of more lean,....

I think the right gasket will "Fix" the problem,............... I hope,.....

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Windshield...illys-M38A1-M170-Early-CJ5-jeep-/292655378359
I bought one of these last fall. It's the US made version. Unfortunately it was about an inch too long. I had to so some surgery and remove a section in the middle. After that it worked good.
I was surprised as I had bought another from the same vendor a year or two earlier and it fit perfectly. I compared them and the product was indeed a different size. I let the seller know, hopefully he worked on it with the supplier.

 

Ayuh,.... I pulled the trigger on a Fairchild Industries gasket last night,.....
It oughta be here by the 1st parta next week,.....

 

Well,.... I got the Fairchild Ind. gasket the other day, 'n yesterday, I pulled my homemade gasket, then fitted the new one,....

It made all the difference,... seems to fit as it should, the windshield now leans back far enough to connect the roof, 'n the doors also seem to fit properly,.....

The only fitment issue is, the screw holes across the center, don't quite line up with the holes in the bottom of the defroster box,.....
Both ends line up with the screws/ holes,.... so I put the tiny end screws in, 'n the center screw, between the defroster holes,... the left of center screws were very close, so I stretched it where necessary, 'n got several of the screws in,.... the right of center holes were off by 'bout 1/2", so I did some more stretching to get them in,.....
When I pulled the windshield up, it was within 'bout 3/4" of the inside of the roof tin, so with alittle tug, it fits very nicely,....
Now the issues I gotta deal with next are, I'm gonna get some different screws for holdin' the gasket in place, shorter than I have on hand, some bolts to hold the door hinges to the w/s frame, 'n tub, as well as the right hand windshield latch, needs to be moved down the dash alittle bit, so there's tension on the latch,....

So in another day or so, I'll be able to cross off one more thing, on my long list of "Things to Do" to my CJ,.....

Thank you all for the help in figurin' this out,.....

 

thank you for the close out/follow up!

 

If I may comment... this is Jeep PN 989844. This part number implies that it was revised in the '60s, and there may be an earlier number that this number supersedes.

I doubt there is much aftermarket product out there except for what Crown and Omix are selling. There may be NOS that's still available, either M38A1 or CJ-5, as shown above. A length difference in an NOS part might be stretching from spending 4 or 5 decades rolled up in a bag on a shelf.

If no one was making this gasket, there might be some enterprising sellers (like Parts Dude or Barney's) that could fill in the missing part and make some money. These sellers typically ask a premium price for these missing items, and I expect they cannot compete on any parts that Crown or Omix offers.

If I had to choose between Omix or Crown, Omix's reputation for rubber part quality is so bad I'd go with Crown. The part I found from Fairchild is currently out-of-stock at Quadratec, and priced nearly identical to the Crown part. I would be very surprised if they are different in more than brand name.

Note country-of-origin here: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/17105230

BTW the largest distributor of Crown parts in the USA (anywhere?) is Quadratec. If you have questions about a part that Crown sells, you can call the Crown warehouse in Canton MA. They cannot sell direct outside of Massachusetts, but they will respond to any questions or comments you may have about their merchandise.