I have been looking for awhile with no luck. Trying to locate a roof or a repair patch for the roof. All around top of the windshield is rusted away. I cut it out its going to a tough task to make a piece. Does any body know were you can purchase this?? Thank You Howard

 

A salvage yard will be your best bet. I was junking the other day and they had probably 20 or more of the older body style. Get a battery powered reciprocating saw, remove the windows, then just saw the windshield posts and cab corners and off it comes. Make sure the yard will let you do it. They may want to do it themselves. As for aftermarket, as soon as the '94 trucks came out, all the companies couldn't drop the older body parts fast enough.

 

I thought about that I live in s. fl. almost everything is find its rotted out even worst. I did pull the window cut everything out . I was hoping to find a easier way out. The job would be sweet if they had a repair panel. I even thought calling bone yard out in Arizona about chopping a top for me. But thanks for the info. those yrs. are know for that defect. I was hoping to find some that might have gone thru it already. Thanks for the info. Howard.

 

I was lucky to buy a parts truck with a sweet running engine, tranny and roof for $600. I don't know why the roof on this one was so immaculate but it is. I chopped the roof off with my sawzall like mentioned earlier and brought it to my body guy. He drilled all the spot welds out that are in back of the windshield rubber along the roof. He cut the roof strait across behind the cab lights and just above the side window gutters. He placed this cutout on top of the bad roof and traced a line to cut the bad part out.

There are 3 pieces of metal that come together there, I guess the reason they rust is because chrysler was trying to save 50 cents a truck by not painting the inside layers.

 

If you can find a donor with a rust free roof the whole cab of the donor may be rust free. Swapo Swapo. Gotta paint the roof anyway.

 

If you are gonna go to all that trouble, you may as well get fancy while you are at it.

Raise the roof above the windshield, Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser style, complete with the extra glasses.

This will give you much more head-room and one very unique truck.

I intend to do just that on one when I find time to start.

I have been eyeing various fiber-glass hi-rise bed-toppers as candidates for the Vista Cruiser portion of my idea.

 

someone could make alot of cash if they started producing these. Hint hint all fabricators. Ive been looking forever to no avail. Most scrap trucks around here have rotten roofs. Buddys heading to Florida in the spring. I'll get him to grab one.

 

Plenty of rust free cabs out here in Commiefornia. Finally got a short bed for my crew conversion off a '90 at a pick-n-pull. I was amazed at how clean it was, almost no rust on the frame of that truck. Sad thing is that most of those cabs probably get crushed since people are mostly only pulling small stuff off the vehicles.

 

I had the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser top grafted onto my old 1975 Ramcharger top . I miss that truck!!!!

 

that's because like me you live in Ontario.

I was at a picknpull out in Calgary on Sat. and it seemed about 1-2 of every 5 old dodges had either a nice relatively rust free box or cab, or both. I wish I had more time to pull a cab or box and bring it home with me... I didn't have the time though. I settled on a couple nicer fenders and a few odds and ends that I needed.

 

just wanted to say thanks for the replies. Its all pulled apart went yesterday bought the metal and some tools going to try to retro fit it. wish me luck. Just to let you guys know if you have the old style truck a helpful hint. When I first looked at the rust -I thought well it rusted from the inside that dodge didn't under paint it it good enough. Well that was some of it but what i found out why it happens. Is that the roof is a in 4 parts. ( top -middle-headliner and the drip edge. What happens is in whether conditions the rain hit the windshield shoots up and makes it way under the drip edge and shoots all the road crime in between the top and starts to eat away so by the time you see a rust spot on the outside . Its in sad shape underneath. So the biggest failer is the sealant underneath the drip edge (all it takes is a pin hole). So if you have a rust free roof you might want to reseal it . If you see how it done as you chop it a part you will wonder what the factory was thinking.

 

yeah I realized that not long ago. I mean, I've seen pictures of chopped roofs so I have a reasonable idea as to how it's put together but recently I was looking at my rain drip and I noticed that the sealer stuff dodge used was starting to crack real bad and it made me cringe to think that all liquids that hit my windshield will work their way up and probably get inside. resealing all along the rain drip for my truck is on the real short list, that's for sure.

 

That is great advice Howardfire70 thanks. I just got mine looked at today to get an estimate. Let us know how you did it. Good Luck

 

The other issue is the aftermarket roof visors. If the sealant used around the drilled holes dries out and cracks, the water will find its way down in there. Think of the amount of vibration and twisting the visor goes through driving up the highway at 75mph.

 

I think using Permatex Ultra Black silicone adhesive/sealant would be a good cure for this. I had a rivet on my engine CPL tag that started to fail and rammed some of that stuff behind the tag as a fix 3 years ago. It's still holding just fine.....