Fitting a new roof skin
- Landseer
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- Peter and Sandra OKA 374
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The standard Oka roof is very heavy, the whole body setup is very heavy to meet the ROPS standard. There are plenty of Oka's running around with thinner bady panels, even aluminium but anything lighter will require more stiffeners underneath to stop it acting like a woopy board.
There are also other Oka's that have had the roof skin removed when a cabover camper body has been fitted to allow a lower profile at the front of the cabover, it is pretty much up to you what you do, nobody else is going to care what you do to your 20+ year old truck.
From my understanding the roof skin on an NT is one piece, XT and LT were two piece with a seam north/south down the middle. Looking at mine it appears to be pop riveted down each side so as the bodies are handmade I guess they make the skins larger than required to allow for slight changes and the sheet is bent over the edge, which might be why it is too big. Have you asked Dean? Then they are riveted, bogged and painted I guess.
OKA 374 LT Van, converted to camper/motorhome,
400ah Lithiums, 1100w solar, diesel cooking heating and HWS,
Cummins 6BT, Allison 6 speed auto, Nissan transfer.
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- Holmz
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The nose corner pieces were a similar deal, and took a lot of fettling time.
The local sheet metal place has competitive pricing, and the job is quicker with no shipping.
Peter and Sandra OKA 374 wrote: Depends on whether you wish to maintain the ROPS capability.
The standard Oka roof is very heavy, the whole body setup is very heavy to meet the ROPS standard...
...
.
I thought that the ROPS was from the RHS frame?
My currently has a ROPS badge, but the "Sunday roof" is so holey that the flys and every other of the good lords creations from sunshine and rain to dust makes it through.
How does the sheet metal makes give it strength for ROPS?
The weight of the roof up high.... it alone, almost require the narrow vehicle to need a ROPS standard.
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- Peter and Sandra OKA 374
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I guess you'd have to ask the engineers if the whole thing rather than just the frame was the ROPS bit.
OKA 374 LT Van, converted to camper/motorhome,
400ah Lithiums, 1100w solar, diesel cooking heating and HWS,
Cummins 6BT, Allison 6 speed auto, Nissan transfer.
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- Landseer
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- mort
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When some one else that I know had the problem and complained they were told to just heat shrink to suit which they did but it left some wrinkles but up on the roof with solar panel its not seen and they wern"t panel beaters.
luckily for me I got my roof made by a sheet metal worker.
It would be good to be told before purchase that this is a problem rather than find out latter.
Martyn
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- Peter_n_Margaret
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I checked with the factory at the time (2004) and was assured that its removal would NOT affect the ROPS rating.
Cheers,
Peter
Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214
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- Landseer
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marks on it that said heat shrink here,problem is it is impossible to remove that much metal, It’s a joke, as soon as you heat the roof it creates more problems in another part, We have stopped trying to shrink it and are going to cut it and fit it that way, I have rung Dean to discuss this but only got silence,he is obviously aware of this problem.
Regards Dennis
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- Holmz
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Landseer wrote: .... My roof had two marks on it that said heat shrink here,..
My wool jumpers , on the other hand, need marks on them that say "unshrink here"...
Sounds like it is all going pear-shaped?
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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- Landseer
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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- mort
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In reply to your post.
I had believed that the frame size was the same on all 3 oka's and didnt want to believe that all or more than one of the roof skins were over sized.
I wont name who owns the oka as he likes his privacy but when he aquired it his intention was to strip it down and do a complete rebuild it was my suggestion that he gets the skins from oka spares as the price is reasonable even though he could make himself then he could spend his tiime on other areas. I was at his workshop when a test fit happened but to our surprise the roof WAS 20 mm too big at the rear no maybe about it, I had agreed that it was wrong and should get an exchange, They had contacted Dean only to be told it needed to be shrunk to fit...not having heard of this before I was embarrassed that I had recommended they get from Dean and this was 3 years ago and I have not mentioned this untill now when Landseer has the same problem so its not a one off.
You make an uncalled for remark being..... the so called expert... I dont know Landseer's panelbeater so I wouldn't even think to make a call on that one but the owners of the oka that I have followed through the rebuild have done an excellent job at shrinking the roof and no shrinking metal is not the same as heat shrink plastic.
The product wasnt rubbished just stating fact and the supplier was contacted.
the roof is not a good fit at the back and the supplier knows this which is why it was marked with shrink here.
Martyn
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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- Landseer
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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- Landseer
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PS I live in Queensland so you can see why I can’t return it.
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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- Landseer
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- Joseph Baz
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Cheers,Joe
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