By Johnny Lange - President / Founder Wild Yoats

The long awaited for article......  

Many of you have seen my rig and have seen my canvas rear topper that I have constructed.  Some have even asked if I would make them one.  Here is a tech article for you all to get crafty and start making your self a canvas topper using one of two different materials.  

 In the old days, you can see here that I constructed a rear canvas shell if you will, out of a army canvas tarp that was bought at the local army/navy surplus store.  If you are interested in this type of easy and cheap rear topper, visit this old article I wrote some years ago.  This type of cover works great for a pick up application and is perfect for those GI Joe types out there that are into the camo thing.

Although I am going to try to explain to you all what I have done here, please bare in mind that should only be a......well.......look at it as a idea for you to create your own rear top.   

Now, if you are not into making your own top, and let me tell you, that it is not a piece of cake, I will send you to a company called CAN-BACK to check out their tops.  They are great and after many years of research and development, have come up with a perfect fitting top for the Toyota's.   I'm sure many of you have seen them around.  Be prepared though, as nice as the Can-Back's are, you will need to pawn a child, your wedding ring, or apply for a second mortgage to purchase one.  But wait there's more, if you want options like windows, you'll need to pay more. 

Here is a list of some items that will be needed to make your own top: 

As you will need to go into the Sewing Store to gather some items, be fore warned.  Old ladies will look at you and ask if know what the hell you are doing.  You'll need to be man enough to let them now you have it covered.   The sales person that assisted my in the purchase of the sewing machine that is was cool that I was going to attempt this. 

**You'll obviously need to remove your existing fiberglass top to to this

THE FRAME

Ok, take a look at the pictures to see what I did- 

I started out with two pieces of rectangular steel (roughly 1" x 3" ) and measured out the length and location of the EXISTING Toyota threaded holes ( the holes that you bolt your stock up to),    I then measured and marked where I wanted my three ribs to be placed.  I just made sure they were equally apart.  (One at the front, one at the rear, and measure in between and divide by 2 for the middle rib placement). 

Once the holes and rib locations were marked, I proceeded to drill and cut out the the rib placement holes on the side rails.  Now, you need not necessarily place your ribs into the side rails, you CAN just weld them on top of the rails, I just thought it would be a little stronger putting them into the rails, especially if I ever wanted to add a top rack one day. 

Once the rails were done, I mounted them temporarily into place and measured out the three ribs.  I took the over measurement of how long the ribs would each be, figured out where to bend them, and then bent them.   I used my Harbor Freight bender to make the bends in the ribs.   I used 3/4" square tube for the ribs and top rails. 

Once the ribs were in place, I placed the connecting top rails in-between the ribs and started welding it all up. I used a Lincoln 110V welder.

Once the welds were finished and cleaned up, I gave a fresh coat of premium spray paint. 

THE CANVAS

First off, you will need to buy some canvas.  I bought about 15 square yards of it locally at a place in Salt Lake called Cohen Canvas.    SUNBRELLA is what you want.  This is the exact same stuff that other companies use for this application, it is normally used for boat covers and is really durable.    You can find SUNBRELLA on the internet too, but I was surprised on the price difference amongst the different companies.  Shop around.   While your ordering, get about 12 feet of 1.5" black nylon strapping and about 75 complete snap assemblies.

How I sewed the top-

First off, I did mine in four different pieces.  One for the top, two on the sides, and one for the rear.  

I started out by attaching the top piece to the front of the cab.  I rolled up some strap metal into the material and then marked the holes where the stock bolt holes are at the top of the cab.  I then drilled out the metal, punched holes in the material, and bolted up this front part.    Now that the front was tight, I pulled back on the top from the rear and made a measurement.    Then I cut, and went inside and sewed up the back edge LEAVING about a 1" loop on the end seem so that I could eventually pull the nylon strapping through it as a anchor on each side.

By the way, this takes a lot of installing and removing the top on your rig to make sure the sewing stitches are where you want them. 

I then returned the canvas to the truck and made the side measurements and drew a line on how far I wanted the sides to drape.  ( I used some chalk or crayon to make these marks).    Off again to the sewing machine.  Once again, leave about a one inch loop before you sew.  This is where you are going to be inserting metal strapping later.

-Gotta share this with you- I do believe it was about this time that my wife came home to find me in the kitchen behind the sewing machine wearing my safety goggles.  I think she thought I finally  flipped my l lid and after she gave me this gaze of mass confusion, she busted out laughing.   She had no idea that I had gone out and purchased a sewing machine and no I idea I would ever attempt this.  She was a little baffled about the safetly goggles too, I pleasantly informed her of my first experience behind a sewing machine when the needle broke and nearly poked my eye out.   I'm glad she found this funny.....

Anyway, back to the top-  I then proceeded to make the side panels.  I will be mounting the bottoms of the top sides to the ribs after I insert a strip of strap metal along the drape.  I will then bolt the strap metal to the ribs.  This will prevent the sides from flapping around. 

One benefit to using rectangular tube at the bottoms is that you have a nice flat surface to eventually place your snaps into instead of your body.  This was there is not one hole you will be drilling into your body. 

Once the sides were sewn, I installed them and placed the snaps on where they needed to be.

 For the back panel, I basically did the same thing I did for the side.  You'll see that all side and back panels go UNDER the top piece.  This will prevent rain from coming into the cab for obvious reasons. 

On the rear top, I inserted the nylon strapping and merely tightened up the top and tied them to the bottom of the side rails.  This applies tension to the top and keeps it nice and tight.  

I later sewed some nylon strap pieces to the top of the top (four pieces per panel - two out and two in) where each panel could be rolled up and tied in the up position. 

One day I plan on taking the panels into the canvas shop and have them sew  in some plastic windows.  This is one thing your Wal-Mart special sewing machine could not handle. 

Once again, this article is only designed to give you some ideas on how I did this.  You probably have many follow up questions about certain things on this, time FOR YOU to put on your thinking caps and come up with your own answers.  I hope I just provided you with a little thinking fuel. 

See you on the trails - Johnny