79 Cj 5 Soft Top

To all,

A question. Will a soft top for a 79 CJ 5 work or fit for a 6t6 CJ 5. There is a soft top on the local CL for sale and I wondered if it would work or fit on my 6t6. What brand of soft top is, the ad doesn't state.

Thank you in advance,

Frank

 

Fino CJ,

Thank you for responding the information. My windshield is bone stock to the 6t6.

Have a great week,

Frank

 

Top width of the later windshield is narrower than the bottom too. A trapezoid, not a rectangle.

 

FinoCJ -- does your explanation apply also to why the Kayline I bought used, from a 1970 CJ5 I believe, will not snug down for snapping along the sides (rear portions of sides) of my 1966 CJ. I've been fighting this top for 1.5 years, making no progress in stretching it, even during heat of last summer. So, I drive with much of the top flapping, until I drill some new snap holes .

Namely, is windshield angle more vertical on my 66 compared to that of a 70 CJ?

 

Nope. 1966 and 1970 are not different. The change came in 1976. If the top fit a 1966, it's the right top for a '70 with the original windshield. Installing a later windshield would only make it too loose.

Sorry - Should have let James reply since the response was directed to him.

 

Thanks, folks, for your prompt and informative replies. I'll keep working on the stretching (in summer heat) and drilling new holes for snap positions different from those for my two previous Kayline tops.

My 66 CJ5 is 100% stock, all major manufactured components as they were in 1966.

 

Thanks, Glenn. It does seem shrunken. Perhaps that is why it was for sale. All hardware with this ' shrunken' top identical to my original Kayline hardware, so more reason to now believe it did in fact shrink

 

It's not heresy to shorten the top bows a little to make it fit. You could also thin the windshield-to-cowl gasket and let the windshield tilt back a little more. That would increase the top length, maybe enough to let the snaps reach.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. There's a convertible top and upholstery business nearby, and I do have an extra pair of bows to experiment with.

 

If you have a bracket on the side like this you can use the front hole to make it a little shorter in the back. This is on a cj6 but the principle applies. This and shortening the back bow may give you some slack.



Also I used some of the material that covers the bow to "extend" the rear of this top. You may have to zoom to see the material sewed on the bottom .

 

Actually up to '75. As you noted the change happened in '76 and '76 and up are different.
Regarding the glass, there were changes in size depending on whether top or bottom mount wipers (two different ones with bottom mount wipers depending on top arched or top flat glass) but that had no effect on the outside dimensions of the windshield frames.

 

Thanks for pictures and suggestions, ojgrsoi. I think I've optimized the bow holes, but will recheck. I'm going to consider sewing a fringe as well (having it done, that is).

My wipers are top mount vacuum operated, but if glass size has been essentially constant over those years, then wiper position likely irrelevant.

 

This is correct. However, the tilt of the windshield depends on the thickness of the cowl gasket, to a degree (weak pun intended). If the windshield tilts back a little further, the front edge of the top moves back and the back edge moves down.