Does anyone know where you find seals for the top,hatch,and tailgate?(74-80)

I don't think anyone makes them. You may have to get creative. I have a 74 truck that's a project and I'm looking to buy a 70's one that's already done.

Do not despair about "impossible" rubber seals. Creativity helps a lot, but some vision goes a long way!

At the time (2000, 2001) I needed new rear quarter glass rubbers for my 64 Fury wagon. No new ones had been made for decades, and any that were old but "looked good" were hard as rocks or otherwise UV's to junk.

Just having my car fully stripped and painted, I was thinking I's have to have the glass channel flanges increased and have the quarter glass glued in like a modern car, a very pricey (albeit kind of cool) solution.

Then I called a real auto glass shop. They came out, looked the car over to see the actual scope of the project, and took a chunk of the original gasket back with them. About a week later, he called me and said they found the perfect solution! It was a new, modern windshield gasket for a large Caterpillar product that had the exact correct profile to hold the glass properly! Yes, it wasn't molded in the shape of the original, but once the pro's had it installed, you had to be pretty intimate with a 64 B body to see it wasn't "correct"!

Less than $200.00 for the parts AND installation, too!

Moral of this story? A little research goes a long way!

crowbait, check the glass shop across from rafferty's. they might be able to help like powerwagon suggested.

If you find some, please post up where.. I have a 78 roof virgin, the top has never been off, but it needs the box to roof seals, the seals are rotten and the truck needs to be repainted.

If I had time I'd post the complete install, with pictures, and what rubber, and where to get it, Lowes or someplace like that provided it's still available. As it is I'm going fishing.

LMAO...

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and of course the stupid text page won't load, you're on your own there.

try it this way;

not my truck;

not my pictures;

not my article:

from 2002;

Subject: top


For months I have been waiting to replace the hard top on my Ramcharger but could not find a suitable gasket to replace the old
dry, rotted out seal. The old one was stock from the factory and when new, would have worked great but twenty-two years of
sun, rain, and wear had reduced it to a brittle mess. In the local Home Improvement center, Lowes, I found some fatigue-matting.
It was a light gray, five sixteenths inch thick, water resistant, easy to work with, and inexpensive. It comes in a 3-foot wide roll
and sells for $4.00 per foot. I bought 9 feet and used about 3 inches X 6’6" on the Ramcharger bed rails. I ended up with plenty
to do 6 or 7 more vehicles.



First, I roughed up the bed rails to clean off any debris, old paint, rust and crud, then, I laid down a coat of primer and one of
gloss black paint. I measured and cut the matting with a utility knife and a straight edge. Next, I placed the matting on the bed
rails for fit. I positioned them exactly where I wanted them to sit then from the underside of the bed rail, I marked the position of
the holes. I removed the matting and cut holes where the bolts would pass through the matting, about the size of a dime, so I
could easily locate the boltholes while the hard-top was in position.





Next, I used a spray adhesive on the smooth side of the matting and set them aside for about 15 minutes to get tacky while I
worked on the hard top.



I scraped and wire brushed the under side of the hard top to remove all the old gasket material and any loose dirt and rust. Most
of the loose crud came off with a paint scraper but I had to resort to more power with a wire wheel and electric sander/polisher.
Once all the old gasket material was off, I hit the underside of the hard top with a coat of black gloss to protect from future rust. I
also cleaned the front lip of the hard top and painted it too.



While the paint on the hard top was drying, I laid the new gasket matting on the bed rails exactly where I wanted them to stay.
Next, I removed the soft-top snaps and screws along the upper side of the windshield rail and sanded down the area where the
hard top would contact the top of the windshield. Once that was clean and smooth, I laid a couple coats of gloss black along
that surface to prevent future rust. Some how, the factory neglected to apply a good layer of paint and there was minor surface
rust along the top of the windshield rail. I wanted the maximum seal possible so I first laid down a 2-inch strip of gasket matt
along the top of the windshield rail to keep all water out. This turned out to be a bad idea since the ¾ inch bolts would not reach
up through the rail, matting and into the hard top. This area was not where the water seal was intended to be anyway. I removed
the 2-inch strips, cut them into 7/8-inch strips and laid them down along the outer parameter of the windshield rail about 1.5
inches above the actual glass. In this picture the two inch strips were removed. The black strip just in front of where the matting
is in the picture was where the final 7/8-inch strips were placed.



The front lip of the hard top had a 2-inch gap so I filled it with a 2-inch strip the entire length except where there was raised metal
for the anchor bolts.

If you have a couple of buddies and a 12 pack the task of positioning the hard top will be relatively simple. I was flying solo so I
had to engineer the whole process. I had used 3-inch PVC pipes to roll the hard top off the Ramcharger and onto the bed of my
72 Powerwagon. Once the new gasket matting was in place I headed to the hardware store for some new bolts and washers. I
could have used the old ones but they were rusted and beat down and I wanted to install Stainless Steel to avoid the rust in the
future. I used four ¾" X 5/16" bolts for the front, and eight 1" X 5/16" for the side rails, four on each side.

I positioned two PVC pipes on the bed of the Ramcharger and slowly rolled the hard top from the bed of the Powerwagon to the
bed of the Ramcharger. Once it was in position, I stood in the bed of the Ramcharger and placed my back in the center of the
hard top and with my legs, pushed up enough where I could move the PVC pipes out of the way. The rest was small
adjustments to line up all the holes. I started with the front of the hard top and ran all four bolts up just enough to get some
threads into the hard top. Next I went all the way to the back to seat those bolts. The holes would not line up so I had to use a
C-clamp to pull the hard top and the bed rail into position.

Once all the bolts were in loosely, I tightened down the front 4 then made sure the lift hatch would open and close without
scraping the sides. After the hatch was checked, I tightened down the bed rail bolts.



Where the windshield and the top came together there was a 3/8 inch gap that I filled with Double Rubber tape. I used to use the
stuff to seal splice enclosures when I worked for the phone company. It is thick rubbery tar like stuff that I pushed into the gap
and around the upper part where there was some possibility of leaking. Double rubber tape is designed to seal telephone splice
cases in underground manholes that fill up with water, so, it’s an excellent sealant.



The tape conformed to the gap and made a water-tight barrier. It never hardens and will come off with some WD-40. Here is a
picture of the tape sealing the drivers side gap behind the metal joining plate. Original factory gaskets are no longer available
from the dealer so unless yours is in good condition, this might be a good way to seal your Ramcharger. Here is the finished
product. It is not factory, but, it’s close enough, and it keeps the water on the outside of the vehicle where it should be.



Where to find the materials:

Foam matting or Fatigue Matting Home Depot, Lowes, or most Home Improvement centers.

Sealing tape: Here is the 3M site for the sealing tape I used, it explains about what the tape is and what it looks like.

To find a distributor near you 3M offers these numbers:

Where to Buy

Locate a distributor:
? Call us for 3M Electrical Distributors: 1-800-245-3573
? Call us for 3M OEM Distributors: 1-800-676-8381
? Call us for 3M MRO Distributors: 1-800-245-3573

Tom...


Is that truck camoued-out???

I don't know, it isn't my truck, or pictures, or article. It looks like bad paint. I got the info from Ramcharger Central back in 2002.

$

That gave me wood.

Too tall for my short butt.

(Tom...

Can you imagine running over a screwdriver in THAT one???

Not usually a worry, BUT, if Angie is in the state - LOOK OUT!!!

(Like to see her change one of THEM tares...


I hear she got a tire-repair kit from someone fer X-mas...