I’m going to share some of my experiences and lessons learned on how to install a turret for your slant back HMMWV.
Here is a quick video of everything below.
You first want to select your turret setup. Make sure you have the right bearing, the right turret support. If you have an older style turret with a smaller bearing you may want to think twice before adding a heavy coupla or shield. Also, before getting started, make sure you currently have a c-pillar, if not you can get one here.
I like to start off with the turret support. Scrape off all of the old gunk, grind and sand.
Then you want to disassemble your hatch. Make sure to take lots of pictures because you will need them as a point of reference upon assembling. Take all of your bolts to your local Fastenal or tractor supply and purchase brand new stainless hardware. Do yourself a favor and don’t go to lows and other such stores, you will be hard pressed to find everything you’ll need and you’ll pay a lot more. Make sure to buy extras of each nut and bolt, you will lose some. Once you have it completely disassembled, go ahead and start sanding each component one by one.
Once you have everything sanded and prepped. Then, move to priming and paint. In my case I’m using tan primer. Also, the interior of my truck will be green while the exterior will be tan, so I will have to pay attention to what I paint what color. Finally, make sure to use the right kind of primer based on the paint you’ll be using. If paining with CARC, the you will have to use the correct primer with the epoxy. If you need details on this, then message me and I will be more than happy to give you the details.
Then, remove your roof and if necessary remove your old insulation. If necessary, then use Polyurethane Sealant to close the gaps between where the roof lines meet.
You can find the sealant here:
Polyurethane Sealant in Aluminum Gray
Polyurethane Sealant in White
Polyurethane Sealant in Redwood Tan
Then spray on your adhesive on your roof and insulation. You want to go vertically, then go over it again horizontally. Lesson learned, cut out where your support and b-pillar come into contact with your insulation. Otherwise, your roof will not sit low enough.
Here is the Spray Adhesive for the roof insulation, you may want to get 3-4 cans of this
Next you want to install your c-pillar. To do that, you will have to remove one of your sponsons, slide in your c-pillar, make sure the bolts line up, and reinstall your sponson. The you want to install your support. Followed your roof. Finally your lock rings.
Once you’re happy with the fit of the roof and turret support then you want to run some of the sealant around where the roof and support meet. Then place your bearing over the support and apply sealant again. Attached a few bolts to hold the bearing close to the support and leg that dray over night.
On the follow day, you want to create a gasket to go under roof retainers. To do that, you can buy a large sheet of 1/8 gasket, you can buy shower liner, or you can use bike tire tubes. I would discourage using bike tire tubes because I believe that would be harder to work with. You can buy the shower liner, which is what I used, here.
You want to make sure your gasket is big enough to go passed your roof retainers, you can go back and cut it to exact fit once everything is dry. You also want to add s’more more of your sealant under your gasket as well as under and around your roof retainers. You want to go around the whole turret support and make sure your roof retainers are on nice and tight. Leave this again over night.
Note:
(1) this sealant will not be 100% day in 24 hours but will be dry enough to work with.
(2) make sure not to add sealant on the bearing and the gasket you just made, the gasket can temporarily go onto the bearing but you will want to come back and trim it just passed where the bearing spins.
Now you can start to assemble your hatch back together. Remember those pictures you took before taking it apart? This is when it will come in handy.
Again, here is a quick video of everything above
Finally, a huge thank you to those who continue to train me. In this specific build, I have to thank Todd. I think we both educated each other but I had a lot more to learn.