Looking at my spare (which I’m going to sell), the crossbar is there only to make it easy to push the top up.  The sleeves it goes into are welded to the elbow cover, and it’s held in place by a through bolt. 

 

So, no problem in taking it out for painting, but it’s best done with the top up!

 

Stuart

 

From: Jim Felder [mailto:jim.felder@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 10:24 AM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: Vanagon mailing list
Subject: Re: Question about westy poptop crossbar

 

Suart et al,

 

What I was planning to do was just remove the crossbar, leaving the springs and uprights in place. Only the crossbar has corrosion. I was wondering specifically if there was any mechanical connection betweenthe crossbar and the uprights so that the springs somehow interfered with the removal or, worse, the thing would do something unpredictable with the top up and the crossbar removed.

 

Jim

 

On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com> wrote:

No big deal, just cut a long pole to hold the top up, or if you have gas springs you may not need one.  I'd tape over the gap where the spring cable runs since you'd have to paint it folded and unfolded to cover it all, and it's greasy anyway.

Good time to change the canvas too!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Felder
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 9:49 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Question about westy poptop crossbar

The crossbar that you use to raise the poptop... mine could se a little cosmetic improvement after three decades of wet towels etc. hung over it.
I'd like to remove it to repaint it. What kind of trouble am I going to run into?

Thanks,

Jim