CJ7 Hardtop on a CJ5?

[rocmoc]

I grew up in my Dad's body shop and learned to do fiberglass at the professional level.

Has anyone ever heard of someone cutting the extra length out of a CJ7 hardtop to adapted it to a CJ5 ?

Thanks,
rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

 

[Incommando]

Never heard of it being done, but almost anything is possible even if not advisable from a time/money expense point of view. You have the experience so if your time is free to you and you don't have a ton invested in the donor top in case it doesn't work out I say go for it and post up the results of your attempt. I have seen posts where guys shortened a factory CJ7 top for a half cab look and they came out pretty well.

I think harder then the top would be making the hard doors work if you wanted them, too. Creating the lower bends so that they would be sturdy enough and seal correctly would be a challenge in my mind. The above half-cab mod would not have had to deal with the door issue. If you re-used your 5's soft doors you would have to modify the rear curve of the top of the door's frame to fit the hard-top door as IIRC the CJ5 soft doors have a square bend there while the hardtops use a rounded bend.

 

[rocmoc]

I agree finding a cheap top to work with is key. If someone has shortened a top to a half-cab, it has been done so that is encouraging. I also agree the doors would be the toughest part. Thanks for the feedback.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

 

[boots]

My dad has an 83 CJ5 and I have n 86 CJ7 , I noticed that the tub on the CJ5 isnt as tall as the CJ7 . Like if you measure the distance from the top of the fender well to the top of the tub... So it could be possible that the CJ7 hard top wouldnt be tall enough for the CJ5 . Also, the top of the tub, like were the hard top would it on, is different.