Questions & Advise before I begin - Page 3

boywonder · 10-13-2022, 05:30 PM

Your could jack the top up; personally I would try it without jacking it up first. The amount of force the u-bolts will put on the crossbars is very large compared to lifting up a few hundred pounds of roof. If the bars aren't straightening then you could raise it, it will allow straightening with a little less force.

If you can get it up reasonably easily you could put 28" long 2x4's in the corners before trying to straighten.

MerlinG · 10-14-2022, 11:01 AM

Decided to go the safe route and make the drive down to boywonder. Mom lives down that way so I'll get a visit in and I'm sure a lot of good info on how to maintain and fix issues in the future. I'll update this post or create a new one post fixes as there are other things I plan to do on mine and may just go with an ongoing project thread.

MerlinG · 11-02-2022, 06:35 PM

Made the drive last weekend and boy wonder is the man. I should have taken more pictures but we were both working through the process. I still plan on dealing with the headliner so I'll get more detailed pics and info as I take that all apart. We ended up pulling both bars and straightened them on his big mill vice. They were already sleeved but we were still able to get them almost correct. We flipped them over as well so any bend that was left was pointing up instead of down. Top used to stop with about two inches of room in the back roof support but now I need to pay attention when raising it so I don't pull the canvas out. Thanks again to boy wonder for his help and expertise. I'll get pics and more info sometime later this week.

boywonder · 11-02-2022, 09:06 PM

Yup, we successfully flipped the crossbars over with the roof on the van.

Merlin's van is a 2006 and the crossbars were much thicker walled than my 2002ish top, and the pivot bolts were already 5/16". The thicker walls were one reason it was so difficult to straighten the crossbars.

FWIW, Merlin's top is a power top so that may explain some of the differences. The small slider things that connect to the pivot bolts on the power top were also bent a bit; we straightened them as well.

I'll let Merlin post pics and share the gory details.....

Twoxentrix · 11-03-2022, 03:44 AM

Nothing better than receiving ‘expert’ help…sounds like it all went without too many additional surprises.