how to cut top off bronco II

cbriz · Nov 12, 2013

This is my first bronco II I have had two rangers and I was wondering how you cut the top off and re-atatch it behind the back seats I have seen some pic's but not sure the best way to do it

swynx · Nov 13, 2013

Sawzall. Cut and shape the hatch to fit. Bond it in. Put rubber at the bottom so it doesn't leak. If you want to weld it you'll have to add more than the hatch because the hatch is fiberglass. Use diamond plating or the alike for bed rails.

silverslug · Nov 13, 2013

Step 1: Give your Bronco to someone else.
Step 2: Go find a saturn wagon and cut that up.

lil_Blue_Ford · Nov 13, 2013

Chopping the top and making it so you can re-attach the top later is a bit more difficult than just chopping the top off and getting a fabric top made by a boat shop. I've heard it talked about for years and I've heard of people cutting down truck caps and fullsize Bronco tops, I even saw a guy who started to make his own custom fiberglass top.

I have yet to see any of them completed.

Cutting the top is easy. The way the previous owner did on mine was to pull the back windows and cut across the top by the B pillar and to whack the C pillar off even with the edge of the window. He did it with a sawzall and it is far less than neat.

If I was to do one, I would carefully mark out my cuts, then lay painters tape along the cut line and use a circular saw with a metal cutting blade. It would be a lot easier to make a straight cut using that than to use a sawzall.

That all said, I have been working on an idea to make a removable hard top for my choptop. I haven't said anything really about it yet because I haven't had time to really get started on it and I haven't worked out some of the details yet. I had figured on just working out things and tell everyone after it's done what I did.

cbriz · Nov 13, 2013

No I am not going to give the br2 to some one else it was $400 so I don't feel bad at all and they look neat with the top cut down and I think I am goin to use a little of the metel of the top to avode messing with the fiberglass hatch

lil_Blue_Ford · Nov 13, 2013

cbriz said:
No I am not going to give the br2 to some one else it was $400 so I don't feel bad at all and they look neat with the top cut down and I think I am goin to use a little of the metel of the top to avode messing with the fiberglass hatch

FYI, a Ranger tailgate will fit. That's what I did on my choptop, the previous owner who cut the top cut the hatch. Thus when you opened the swing-away tire carrier and turned the latch, the whole piece popped off in your hands. I took it off, mounted some Ranger tailgate hinges, put a tailgate on 'em, pulled the pins for the hatch to clip to and put the bolts in for the tailgate cables, then just had to rig up the catches for the tailgate. Not a very hard swap.

cammeddrz · Nov 13, 2013

you can get a steel hatch from an explorer, and weld that to the cab behind the seats. there will need to be a couple pieces to fill where the taillight reliefs are on the hatch but that's about it

some guys just cut the b2 hatch and use it like a tail gate, but it will come off entirely instead of be on hinges.
and you would just twist the latch like you would open the hatch, and it will come off in your hands

the best way of course would be to use bed-rails, and even the back part of a cab from a genI/genII ranger

or the even best way is to use a ranger cab on the broncoII frame, and bob the bed:

most guys run out of ambition before getting that far "welp, I cut all the structural strength out of it, it looks cool....i'll stop there"

lil_Blue_Ford · Nov 13, 2013

I was going to do a solid partition behind the front seats until I discovered that PA law would then require me to re-register it as a truck, which means my registration would go from $28 per year to $78 per year. So I went roll cage and am planning on doing a soft top. And considering making a removable hard top for winter use.

straycat · Nov 13, 2013

silverslug said:
Step 1: Give your Bronco to someone else.
Step 2: Go find a saturn wagon and cut that up.

^^^What he said........LOL

:icon_rofl:

lil_Blue_Ford · Nov 13, 2013

straycat said:
^^^What he said........LOL

I think you forgot to say "bro" :annoyed:

how to cut top off bronco II

cbriz

Member

swynx

Well-Known Member

silverslug

Active Member

lil_Blue_Ford

Cut & Weld

cbriz

Member

lil_Blue_Ford

Cut & Weld

cammeddrz

Well-Known Member

lil_Blue_Ford

Cut & Weld

straycat

Well-Known Member

lil_Blue_Ford

Cut & Weld

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