FJ-40 Hard Tonneau Cover

I wanted a tonneau cover for my 40 series when the top was off so the junk didn’t fly everywhere and people wouldn’t be tempted to take stuff out of the back. I had a soft tonneau on my Toyota T-100 and I didn’t like it much. I did, however, like the hard tonneau on my Dad’s GMC, so I decided to make a hard tonneau for the 40.

It was very easy. I used a sheet of 1/2 “ thick Oak plywood I had leftover from a project. You could use anything. In fact, CDX would probably be a better choice if your cruiser sees a lot of outside parking.

I built the main center piece first to take the measurements off of. I wanted it just larger than the back doors to get the stability of sitting on the wide lip of the tub. You could make it as wide as you could clear your rear roll bar hoops. It’s not perfectly parallel front to back. It’s cut to fit. The front bar is located at the same height as the lip on the top of the back doors. It serves as a base for the tonneau, a strengthing member of the roll cage, a mount for the five-point harness and prevents the speaker box from being taken out from the front. In a perfect world it would be perfectly parallel to the rear of the tub. Don’t count on it. Once the plywood was cut, I simply wrapped it in vinyl. I considered laying down padding or something, but decided against it as a waste and a possible collector of moisture. I could have done a better job of rolling the edge on the bottom side, but it’s just the bottom side.

The sidepieces are a little more complicated, but still very easy. I made a cardboard template of the tub curve and the locations of the roll bar openings. Then I transferred the measurements to the plywood and cut it out with a band saw. I then cut two chunks the length of the sides to serve as the bottom lip. It really doesn’t support the center, but it gives a finished look and fills the gap. I used the cardboard again to locate the holes for the factory hard top and drilled them in the plywood. Allen head stainless screws and fancy washers hold the sidepieces level and in place. I also drilled a hole in the left one for the CB antennae.