Penthouse Gasket

[jshrader]

Greetings All -

The penthouse rubber gasket on my '05 SMB is starting to split near the connection points ... is this something I can replace myself (assuming I can get a new gasket from SMB) ?

Thanks!

[rockbender]

I don't see why not. The gasket itself doesn't come with holes in it for the plastic tabs/rivets (not sure what else to call them - grommets?) so you'll want to have a leather punch or similar tool. Also, be sure to trim the back of the plastic tabs/rivets so that they don't hit the original roof when the top is down.

Alternatively, if your rubber is in good shape you could just drill some new holes and add some new plastic rivets instead of doing the entire thing.

[PatO]

I did mine after I had the top Line-X'ed. I got the gasket and pop rivets from SMB. I used a paper punch to make the rivet holes.

[Rapidz]

Hi:
I'm not very good mechanically but I replaced mine this fall. Ordered the gasket from Sportsmobile and did it on a WARM day.
Everything went together well and it is working fine after three campouts so far.
Rapidz

[joey2cool]

By "split" do you mean the rivet holes in the gasket are tearing? I've got a 2010 penthouse top and I'm not happy about the tendency of the gasket to roll out beyond the edge of the van's roof rim. It puts stress on the gasket and pulls at the rivet holes. I've already had some work done under warranty to epoxy old fiberglass holes and drill new ones for a gasket lift as it were. This has helped some, but it seems to be moving the stress points to other places and I can see it will be a matter of time before a new problems pops up.

[daveb]

Joey, mine started doing the same thing as yours after they put the roof rack on. Seems like the rack spread out the top because now it sits in the gutter off the roof tape. I’ll have to have them tweak it one of these days.