david85
Full Access Member
It took a long time to find the exact canopy I wanted. Cab height, neutral white color, and aluminum base plate, instead of wood-core fiberglass. The roof is also cored with something that makes it stiff enough for me to walk on it. Not bad.
Unfortunately, that aluminum base plate proved flimsy and a few pot holes on the dirt roads quickly caused some damage to both the canopy, and my truck. Basically the bouncing and flexing caused the base plate to rip around the hold down clamps, allowing the front canopy corner to start bouncing.
I didn't want to add new holes in the truck so after a few months I had a brainwave. The rear tailgate latch uses two bolts on the bullnose era. Those bolts thread into a floating steel plate that's captured by some sheet metal tabs. This allows for easy adjustment and is very common on most vehicles. The door hinges of these trucks are adjustable in the same way. Anyway, the ends of these two bolts are long enough to just barely get a nut on them. You might be wondering how I intend to tighten a nut inside the rear corner stake pocket of the box. Well, you don't.
Instead, I needed a steel plate that was threaded to the right pitch and with two properly spaced holes. Since I'm a filthy pack rat, I still had the original box for my truck, What's left of it, anyway. And that meant I had two perfectly ready made plates.
I welded a threaded rod onto the plate, and bent it so that it came up roughly through the center of the stake pocket. This turned out pretty solid. Aside from being a much better hold down system, it also meant that the canopy can't slide around either.
It was easier to fab up something for the front pockets. I used some steel channel scrap to fabricate a long "L" bracket. This hasn't been road tested yet, but I'm sure it will hold up better than the usual canopy clamps I've been using up to now. Once finished, I panted it with zinc rich marine hull primer.
Building these components took a couple afternoons of work. Prepping the canopy and accurately drilling the holes took another whole day.
Unfortunately, that aluminum base plate proved flimsy and a few pot holes on the dirt roads quickly caused some damage to both the canopy, and my truck. Basically the bouncing and flexing caused the base plate to rip around the hold down clamps, allowing the front canopy corner to start bouncing.
I didn't want to add new holes in the truck so after a few months I had a brainwave. The rear tailgate latch uses two bolts on the bullnose era. Those bolts thread into a floating steel plate that's captured by some sheet metal tabs. This allows for easy adjustment and is very common on most vehicles. The door hinges of these trucks are adjustable in the same way. Anyway, the ends of these two bolts are long enough to just barely get a nut on them. You might be wondering how I intend to tighten a nut inside the rear corner stake pocket of the box. Well, you don't.
Instead, I needed a steel plate that was threaded to the right pitch and with two properly spaced holes. Since I'm a filthy pack rat, I still had the original box for my truck, What's left of it, anyway. And that meant I had two perfectly ready made plates.
I welded a threaded rod onto the plate, and bent it so that it came up roughly through the center of the stake pocket. This turned out pretty solid. Aside from being a much better hold down system, it also meant that the canopy can't slide around either.
It was easier to fab up something for the front pockets. I used some steel channel scrap to fabricate a long "L" bracket. This hasn't been road tested yet, but I'm sure it will hold up better than the usual canopy clamps I've been using up to now. Once finished, I panted it with zinc rich marine hull primer.
Building these components took a couple afternoons of work. Prepping the canopy and accurately drilling the holes took another whole day.