How do you remove the roof bows?

[Sub71]

I want to remove the roof bows to replace the headliner that in pretty bad shape. I've gotten the factory air out of the way but don't see how the bows are held in place. Anyone with pictures?

Thanks

[k5kev]

No Pics, but I believe you just need to slide the little chrome end caps off each end of the bow, and there is a screw behind that. Unscrew each end and that should do it.

[burbguy]

mine popped out with a screw driver....CAREFULLY. They didn't screw in there just pushed up in the groove of the roof cross members. Before i figured out how they came out I cracked one of mine, so be extremely careful... Do it slowly and you'll see them start to come out from the groove.

[rsavage]

The chromed plastic bows snap over the steel bows. They are extremely brittle and more often than not will crack. I've had some limited success using a thin wide chisel and a heat gun, carefully prying them off. Emphasis on "limited". The steel bows are held up by a sheet metal screw on each end. Panels lay up against the lips on the steel bows and the chrome plastic bows snap over the middle of the steel bow and hold the panel up.

[Sub71]

Thanks everyone, I'll give it a try this weekend.

[Sub71]

I had some time last weekend so I started pulling the headliner out. What I did was push up on the chrome end caps and pull out the screw. Did that on both sides and was able to pull the whole bow out without having to take off the plastic retainers. Here's a couple of pics.





The roof looked good, at least the second, third and fourth sections did.





The front section is different, it looks like the insulation and headliner was applied over vinyl and I'm guessing the glue held moisture...



It's all surface rust, but it'll be a pain to get it all off and sealed.

This is what I was taking out. Sorry about all the pics

[rsavage]

Yes, you can remove them as one piece, but it is very difficult to reinstall the panels in the bows when they are one piece. You can get one side but then the next panel becomes very difficult to get into the slot. Perhaps with a bunch of hands. I did mine by myself and needed to have the plastic bows off to reinstall. Good luck - it's a frustrating operation. My Burb had a green vinyl over the driver's seat area that was glued to the inside of the roof. I scraped the glue off and sprayed it with a rust stop type of product - also sprayed down in the roof pillar and double wall area as long as it was open.