Top bow brackets

had the half cab soft top. He owned state wide 4 wheel drive in phoenix az. and I've dealt with since the

mid 1980's Earl has since retired.

  

663089  BRACKET, top bow, front, left, assembly

663090  BRACKET, top bow, front, right, assembly

663679  BRACKET, top bow, rear, left, assembly

663680  BRACKET, top bow, rear, right, assembly

This is right after the bow storage brackets, both LH and RH mounting. This is in the "normal" part of the parts book, where parts that ALL CJ-2A's had, not optional or special equipment, is found. In the SPECIAL EQUIPMENT section, where optional parts and equipment are found, in Group 35-10--Rear Body Top, Model CJ-2A is found the rear top and all of the attaching parts for it, including bows and footman loops. There are no bow brackets or pockets or anything of the type in this group. It says, "Installation of Rear Body Top Kit can be made only in conjunction with the Front Body Top Kit. This tells us that there are things in the Front Top Kit that are necessary to the installation of the Rear Top Kit. In Group 35-17--Front Body Top--Model CJ-2A is found the front top and all of the parts needed to install it, including bows, footman loops, hinges, rods, etc. but there are no bow brackets or pockets or anything of the kind in there either. This tells us that the bow pockets, or brackets as they call them, are already on the body and not needed in either of these kits.

The vast majority of the CJ2-A's that I have seen, as well as all 6 of them in my collection, have those parts in place or show evidence of them being removed (or rusted off). If they had had to be installed at the time of the top installation, I would expect to see some fine examples of bow brackets Bubba-welded on, as well as bolted, screwed or riveted on. I've never seen any of that. 

Ol' Unreliable, if I remember correctly, is a CJ3A, and may be different, the PO's question was about CJ2-A's. And after looking, no bow pockets or brackets are listed in the Special Equipment Parts Groups for the CJ3A either. Not everybody who worked on a jeep in the past was Bubba, there were a great many craftsmen extant at that time, who did nice work and took pride in what they did. Lots of rear-corner bow brackets have been removed or altered, and it's not impossible for some of them to have been done cleanly.

BW

  Only one of my CJ2-A's has a rear seat at the present, but I'm not sure how many of the others have had one at one time or another. I could check them and see if any of them still have the knockouts in the floor.

  Another bit of info for the PO and others, that many here are already aware of: A lot of reproduction, so-called "CJ2-A" bodies made in the past, and maybe some in the present, do not have the bow brackets behind the seats or on the rear corners, or the storage pockets on the side.

BW

jeeper50 wrote: I would be more inclined to believe the "fully restored" jeeps that you are seeing are in fact using repop body kits that do not come with top brackets unless they buy and install them.

I'm with ya on this.  "Fully restored" doesn't mean the exact same thing to everyone.