Recent content by PathNotTaken

The cutaway is available for purchase from ford. They are still being made for a variety applications! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Every company will have different philosophies on subframe design, and it differs drastically between different chassis. A lot of this tech trickles down from large expedition vehicles chassis in which a spring mounted or even pivot system is required. It also not as simple as just maximizing...

We used the same panel manufacture that nomad uses. I can’t comment on nomads quality standards, but I can say assembling these boxes is incredibly simple. With proper lifting equipment and a few hands, any shop could do this with ease and there are relatively few ways to mess it up. It’s like...

What you’re looking in that photo is the factory mounting pucks. The mounting puck ujoint is talking about in the video is not finished yet and the subframe is on stock mounts for now. Justin from ujoint and I worked together on a lot of the subframe design based on our subframe, and we...

Great question, and not yet. I haven't fitted any canvas (and not planning on doing that for a few months for interior build reasons). I've been meaning to try it with the actuators disconnected, I'll say though from my testing before the top was on, they don't do much laterally when extended...

I'm confused why you think the gas struts are not the system specifically designed to handle lateral loads? they are mounted at an angle and provide 462lb of force laterally (depending on what strength I decide on, currently sitting around 280lb) with the top fully extended, evenly split...

Another thought I had: As I have it now when the pop top is fully extended, the struts are ~1in away from the end of their stroke. if I instead made them at max travel in the up position, when the top takes on lateral load the struts in one direction would act as solid rod instead of a spring...

Correct. The gas struts are mounted at an angle and only see push/pull as they are designed. The actuators push vertically and rely on the struts for rigidity. It is by no means weak as I have it now, but I’d like it stronger for increased winds. A scissor driven mechanism would definitely be...

My bad. 8 actuators was the only typo! my setup is: 8 gas filled struts. 4 electric actuators, 1 per corner. I was doing it manually but you can use something like this to calculate netX force and netY force. Just need the angle of the strut. https://www.inchcalculator.com/net-force-calculator/...

Thanks for sending this over! My top is a little under 200lb currently, will be a little under 300lb when factoring canvas weight, solar, fan, etc. With 8x100lb actuators, this results in 660lb of vertical force when fully extended ~36in. At 10in extended is when the weight of a 300lb roof...

I was having trouble finding in your build thread where you go into your mechanism, specifically the lockout. Do you have a post # handy? I'm curious if your lockout mechanism is also providing stability in the north south direction, otherwise I would think your top should have a similar amount...

I'd be curious if you know how heavy your roof is, and the angle/force of your struts at full extension. My top has right about the same amount of lift height, except no stabilizers east/west, just more struts. How solid is the top to movement against the struts?

Thanks for weighing in everyone! To clarify, I am not relying solely on the canvas, just curious if it adds a measurable amount of stability. My lifting mechanism consists of an actuator mounted in each corner, which provide great support but not any lateral stability. I have a total of 8 gas...

working on a tall pop-top and have most everything worked out but a couple questions for those with experience. The way I am attaching my canvas allows me to control the tension quite easily. How tight did you fit your canvas? I could go anywhere from just firm to extremely taught. I obviously...

Here's the video on the subframe design. Goes into more detail and a lot more visuals than I could provide here: