Homemade Conquest Hardtop Build Thread

[bluebruin]

decided to cut a new side rather than sand the paint off. here it is. Reattached the BIN primed door trim since I didn't want to have to recut that also. Don't think that small amount will harm things.



started installing some heavy duty door hings I had laying around. I can take the doors off if I just pop the pins out of the hinges which would be nice in the summer if I don't want to remove the whole hard top.


inside view

Detail of the CNC joints where the side walls meet the back panel.


installed rear hatch


view of how I am covering the rear end of the argo where it sticks out past the aluminum top.




from the inside




finally, painted all the insides with oil based black paint. I will painting the outside with the epoxy based "coat-it" I ordered but have not received yet.

[bluebruin]

started painting the jerry can holder I made that will attach on the rear of the hardtop. Its for a small 2 gallon jerry can
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here is the can that goes with it. picked this up in Argentina when I was road tripping down there in 2005. it was the only thing I could fit in my VW bug
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screwed together holder. needs final coat of paint
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will have a lock. you slide out this part of the wood after removing padlock to get can out
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[bluebruin]

here is where i decided to mount the 24" LED light bar
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[bluebruin]

I started a side project while I was waiting for my epoxy in the mail.

With the hardtop, I plan to load gear while the argo is warming up inside and the engine is getting warmed up, and my family is in the jeep waiting (sleeping) after a drive up on friday's after work...

I was planning to put the gear on the roof. This prevents letting a bunch of cold air into the cab each time you load a bag, and also makes room for the 4 of us in there, especially while the boys are still in car seats.

But, putting it on the roof is a pain, makes the argo top heavy, and also puts more weight on the tracks reducing floatation in powder.

I had bought a roof top cargo carrier (cheap old plastic one at a garage sale). They are light. Then I found one in a dumpster near work. Its BIG and light. Nice and boxy with lots of cargo capacity. Maybe 4ft by 3ft or so. I decided to make it into a gear sled. I'm calling it the "Snow Snail".

Its two halves, that were held together by a bunch of aluminum clips and straps and such. I removed all that.
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here is the bottom half
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It suffered some damage in its life and there were some holes near where it had brackets to mount it to your car's roof.
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I patched them up with some roofing ice shield. Heat it with a heat gun and the stuff turns into the stickiest stuff on earth. its thick and strong, and waterproof.
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Had some extra snowboards I picked up at some point
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mounted them to the underside of the bottom half of the box.
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used large fender washers to help them from tearing out of the plastic.
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with the top half of the box on
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Next I welded up some scrap tubing and such into a tow bar system of sorts. Pivots up and down on bolts to accommodate for different height tow vehicles.
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Next I'll add a 2" ball coupler, and then I can put a 2" ball hitch in my argo's rear receiver. We'll see how it works. Should be nice since its easy to load at ground level. Also, all the weight will just be in the sled instead of adding to the weight on the argo tracks directly...

[akcrawler]

I cannot see any of your pics after the first one for the gas can holder assembly. I can picture what you built as a sled. That should be a nice little rig. I wouldn't have thought to use snowboards. They should work really well. Let us know how it all works.

[Freedom6X6]

I cannot see any of your pics after the first one for the gas can holder assembly. I can picture what you built as a sled. That should be a nice little rig. I wouldn't have thought to use snowboards. They should work really well. Let us know how it all works.

Same

[bluebruin]

hmmm. not sure whats up with pictures. I see them all at work. I have them in google photos. What do you guys recommend for hosting photos for forums?

what about?

http://postimage.org/

read that it "PostImage.org is a very simplified site that gives you free image hosting for life. This site is primarily used for hosting images for forums and comes with a simple image upload mod forum users can install and use. You can upload multiple images at a time and choose to resize them for avatar use, message boards, web, email or computer monitors"

[bluebruin]

its something to do with internet explorer. I just reinserted the images and they work now, on chrome and IE. not sure about firefox did not check that.

I am uploading to postimage.org and will give that a try too.

anyway. finished the "snow snail" sled tonight.

Mounted the $12.99 harbor freight ball hitch coupler. Decided on 2" so it would be compatible with all my other vehicles etc. just easier if everything is the same size ball.
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I feel like the griswold's in 1983.....hahahha love it.

[bluebruin]

anybody seeing the photos now?

I can upload via the forum from now on if they are not going through. thanks!

[Mike]

The only one I got was the griswald photo

[bluebruin]

I just put on the epoxy. See if this photo comes through. if that works I'll go back and replace all the other photos.

[bluebruin]

here is the polycarbonate I had.... 0.060" thick. I am not really worried about the PC breaking, the stuff is really strong. But, I am worried about it vibrating so bad when the argo is running you won't be able to hear yourself think in there... guess we'll see.




I cnc'd a pocket (rabbet joint) for the windows to sit in. Just makes cutting them the right size and installing them easier.



I got some 3/8" screws today. but since I marked the screw locations with the cnc ahead of time, there was not enough wood below the PC for the screws to bite well. So, I went ahead and doubled them up by putting one in between each screw locations. Hope this helps the window from blowing out in high winds.

[tbone9]

The cab looks great! Thanks for posting. Hopefully it will be quieter inside being made of wood versus aluminum? I like the sled too. Great ideas you've got there.

[thorn]

Nice work Blue! I love my hardtop. I actually installed a am/fm/weather band stereo on the roof (interior) of my aluminum hardtop yesterday and with a yellow top optima battery. I notched the case of the batter like you did.

[bluebruin]

Nice work Blue! I love my hardtop. I actually installed a am/fm/weather band stereo on the roof (interior) of my aluminum hardtop yesterday and with a yellow top optima battery. I notched the case of the batter like you did.

awesome! what do you need to know the weather for? the argo can go through ANYTHING the weather can bring with tracks and a hardtop... hahahaha just kidding. That's a fun toy.