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Rampage Soft Top Owners Experience and Advice Needed

Bradsp8

Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
599
Installing my Rampage soft top and getting close to putting the fabric on. I've got my brackets made so as not to drill into the B pillar. Now I'm wrestling with the fit and finish and have a concern.

I'm wondering about the fit of the bars coming from the windshield riser running over the tops of the doors that then fits into the holes in the forward bow.

Does the bar just sort of sit in the indentation of the hole or is the bar supposed to be inserted and seat all the way into the hole? Seems like it wants to just sit in the indentation vs. being seated all the way into the hole but in my opinion it would be much more solid if it were seated all the way. Looks like I'm going to have to force it, tweak the hole or bend the bar a bit to get it seat all the way in the hole. Please offer up your experience or advice. Thanks!
 

Pops68

Contributor
Bronco Rookie
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
Messages
1,667
Loc.
Bazetta Township
There is a driver's and passenger's side piece for above each corresponding door. Make sure you got them correct. Since I no longer have mine, I am thinking the rods went completely into the holes. Had an issue when Rob and I installed the top during the sale.....had the pieces flip-flopped (on the wrong sides) and couldn't get things to line up. Easy fix once I figured what we did wrong.

Hope this helps.
 

Hozr

Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
1,434
Loc.
Oly, WA
They kind of suck. I had to twist and tweak and clearance my rampage door parts a LOT. I plan to rework them in the future and weld the horizontal and vertical pieces to make them more rigid. The stupid wingnuts keep coming loose. They should press ALL the way into the bow or they WILL come out. I've had them come out even completely seated!
 

BGBronco

Contributor
N A S H V I L L E
Joined
Jun 23, 2017
Messages
1,543
Loc.
Tennessee
Regarding the orientation mentioned above, the side with the thin weather stripping faces outside.

The brackets you are asking about weren't designed to stay in place without the top on. I would recommend you get the top on and then start fiddling with the brackets. It takes a few minutes but when you see how they all work together, it makes sense. Also, don't over tighten the two brackets that hold the bows in place.
 
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Bradsp8

Bradsp8

Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
599
Thanks for those who have replied. I appreciate it. Keep it coming if anyone else has any answers, tips or tricks. Will try to work on it and work it all out tomorrow.
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
47,345
Yeah, your key is going to be get the top warm before you try to pull it over the bows!
Since it's winter, you may need to keep it in the house for the day, or put it in warm sun if you have it where you are and leave it there for a few hours before the install.

What they said about the bars. They will not stay in place well until the top is on. But even then, they can pop out on warm days when taking a long freeway ride where the top flaps around a bit. Someone can come up with a better mousetrap when it comes to retaining them, but in general they do work.
Well, unless like so much else, they've changed the way it's designed and built, and just gone cheaper with materials.

Good luck!

Paul
 

Stu7054

Jr. Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2016
Messages
56
I added some rubber vacuum line nipples to add some material to ensure they stay in place otherwise they seemed to flop around and almost fall out of the holes. Especially when I would drive with the windows out.
 

sprdv1

Contributor
REBEL
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
81,734
Agree on getting it warm.. more stretch the better for sure
 

TDubya

Sr. Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2009
Messages
381
Loc.
Fortuna, CA
I have the STC top, which I think is basically the same. Mine came with rubber ends to go over the rod that inserts into the hole in the front bow. I always inserted the rod on the door frame into the bow first, then inserted the other end of the rod into the hole on the windshield riser. That seems to work for me. Good luck.
 

ep67bro

Contributor
Bronco Junky
Joined
Aug 28, 2008
Messages
3,642
Loc.
Easton, MD
Funny I have never had the door frames pop out of my Rampage or STC tops. I have run them with the windows rolled up or zipped out on the highway and no issues? The upper door opening rod should fit al the way in the bracket on the windshield frame. But it wont until you put the top up and pull it tight. They seem very loose until the top is pulled tight. It would be a neat mod to weld the two door pieces together but that would make it more difficult to store them when the top was removed. I do like the mod to use a home made bracket so you don't drill the door pillar (my 70 has that done by the previous owner). I am getting ready to install a new Rampage top on my 67, it has a 15 year old STC top that is just about shot. My 70 has a new Rampage and it fits good not as tight as the STC but good.
 

67RT

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
Messages
1,308
Funny I have never had the door frames pop out of my Rampage or STC tops. I have run them with the windows rolled up or zipped out on the highway and no issues? The upper door opening rod should fit al the way in the bracket on the windshield frame. But it wont until you put the top up and pull it tight. They seem very loose until the top is pulled tight. It would be a neat mod to weld the two door pieces together but that would make it more difficult to store them when the top was removed. I do like the mod to use a home made bracket so you don't drill the door pillar (my 70 has that done by the previous owner). I am getting ready to install a new Rampage top on my 67, it has a 15 year old STC top that is just about shot. My 70 has a new Rampage and it fits good not as tight as the STC but good.
Correct, I created that rough bracket based on advice here. Rod goes completely thru the hole and never once tried to come out with windows in or out. My issue was that the rear corner flaps couldnt get tucked under so I used velcro, which was not optimal.
 
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Bradsp8

Bradsp8

Sr. Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
599
RE: Rear corners needing velcro and another fitment issues.

I've also found the rear corners can't be tucked in under the tailgate strip channel as the rear window flap takes up half the space the corners should use. I'm trying to figure out how to make it work w/o velcro. Other than trimming an inch of material off the corners or the 2 inches off the window, velcro may be the only solution.

I have also found the door openings to be tight as I can't shut my doors w/o aggressively pulling the corner of the door area back towards the rear so the door can shut w/o shutting and pinching the material in the door. I hope w/ warmer weather the top will stretch, otherwise I will have to trim and restitch that area.
 

jmangi62

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jul 28, 2013
Messages
2,469
I used the wife's hair dryer to heat mine up,had it so hot had to use gloves to pull it over the bows , even after all that the two of us still had a tough time , man tight fit! I guess all said and done, it's a nice top,could fit better around the doors tho. The sonuvagun looks great, I have a limestone green rig and the black just accents it perfectly. ;)
 

Unknown

Contributor
Sr. Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
695
Couple of thoughts on this. On my old STC top I took a tread die and ran some threads for two nuts to fit the rods at the windshield. It added a little adjustment but also firmed up the door frames so they stayed put. It was a little more work to fully drop the frames when you go top down but a trade off.

I too made brackets for the door post and cut the rod off about an inch so the frames matched the doors good and threaded them so I could tweak the height.

I recently replaced this top with a new Rampage and I've noticed the fit is better(probably because it's new), but the area where the top material tucks into the window frame groove - above the door - is off about an inch. There's not enough gap in the groove to force the stitched material in. The piece is riveted together and there seems to be room to move it a bit so I may try that this spring.
 

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BGBronco

Contributor
N A S H V I L L E
Joined
Jun 23, 2017
Messages
1,543
Loc.
Tennessee
Same thing on both sides of mine. The issue seems to be that the stitch doesn't tuck into the back part of the grove more than the 1" spacing closer to the windshield. I was thinking about shaving about 1/4" off of the back part of the groove but haven't done it yet.

Couple of thoughts on this. On my old STC top I took a tread die and ran some threads for two nuts to fit the rods at the windshield. It added a little adjustment but also firmed up the door frames so they stayed put. It was a little more work to fully drop the frames when you go top down but a trade off.

I too made brackets for the door post and cut the rod off about an inch so the frames matched the doors good and threaded them so I could tweak the height.

I recently replaced this top with a new Rampage and I've noticed the fit is better(probably because it's new), but the area where the top material tucks into the window frame groove - above the door - is off about an inch. There's not enough gap in the groove to force the stitched material in. The piece is riveted together and there seems to be room to move it a bit so I may try that this spring.
 

matt w

Bronco Guru
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
2,798
I’ve had mine for about 4 years. I installed it with little difficulty and I did drill the b pillars. I keep the beknconharaged so the top still looks and
Performs well....MY ONLYNPROBLEM ANDNITS HUGE IS THAT THE REAR WINDOW ZIPPER PULL BROOKE and I can not get it repaired to stock or the way it came!���� i will have to have to pay an upholstery shop install a new top zipper and I will probably add snaps for each side.���� ALSO I could never get the rear window to roll up and keep it retained up with the supplied straps...oh and the rear snaps that were sewed into the top to snap around the rear tube retaining bar would not line up
So I had to add another snap to that retaining bar.
 
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