Early Cj5 Factory Roll Bars

Below are images of two similar but slightly different types of OEM roll bars made for the early CJ5s:

1) The first type of roll bar ("Type 1") has the tops of the diagonal bars welded to the horizontal bar, but further toward the center than the second type ("Type 2"). The Type 1 roll bars were made by Whitco, and to the best of my knowledge were the first CJ5 roll bars ever marketed. They were first available as a factory-installed option on the 1969 "462" CJ-5, and later on the 1970 Renegade I. These roll bars could also be purchased as an aftermarket item to be installed either by Jeep dealerships or owners.

Whitco produced the dealer literature below with the "Special Jeep Equipment" logo in December 1969 showing the Type 1 roll bar. Note the attached Kaiser Jeep price list:






The earliest Jeep ad in which I've seen this same type of roll bar pictured is this one from very early 1970, right around the time AMC bought Jeep from Kaiser. Note on this ad the large AMC-type front parking / turn signal lights, along with the (pre-AMC) Kaiser Jeep logo:

[Revision on 2-24-16: As colojeepguy correctly noted in his comment below, the large parking / turn signal lights do not necessarily indicate that this is an AMC-produced vehicle. As I've now learned, these lights actually began to be used in production on the 1969 year model, near the end of the Kaiser era. Also, Steve Statham's book Jeep Color History notes that one of the last moves by Kaiser was a limited production run of the Renegade I version of the CJ5 - which the jeep pictured below appears to be. So, this ad most likely actually dates from late 1969, just prior to AMC's purchase of Jeep, which was finalized in February 1970.]:




Here's a factory photo of the 1970 Jeep Renegade I with this same roll bar design:





2) The second type of roll bar ("Type 2") has the tops of the diagonal bars moved further outwards, closer to the vertical uprights than those on the first type. This change may have been made for visual reasons, or simply to give people sitting in the back seat a bit more room and make it less likely they would hit their heads on the diagonal bars. This is the OEM type that came on the 1971 Renegade I & II's, and continued to be used by AMC for several years thereafter. I believe this roll bar was likewise available from Jeep dealerships, and possibly as an aftermarket item as well. Here are a couple of photos of this type roll bar:





This press photo shows three 1971 Jeep Renegade IIs with this second type of roll bar design. (Also featured at right is the optional front bumper-mounted Power Wench, a timeless favorite):




Does anyone know if this second type of roll bar ("Type 2") was also made by Whitco, as an evolution of the first type, or by a different manufacturer?


Update May 2016:

I recently came across an interesting piece of dealer literature that answers the above question. In addition to manufacturing the earlier Type 1 roll bars, it turns out that Whitco did indeed make the slightly later Type 2 roll bars as well. I believe this literature dates from 1972 or '73:





These two mages showing the difference between the Type 1 and Type 2 roll bar designs were taken from the above 1969 and 1972-73 dealer literature documents. The second was clearly traced from the first, but with the changes in the roll bar design and bumper indicated. (Note also AMC's addition of the name "Jeep" to the center of the tailgate, which of course was not present on the Kaiser Jeep CJ5's):




Here's a second piece of dealer literature from late 1973 (for the 1974 model year), complete with price list. Here, rather than being referred to as a Whitco Roll Bar as in the literature above, it is instead referred to as a Jeep Roll Bar:

 

There were several other great advertising shots of the Ren 1 airborn to go along with the shot of the red Jeep above. If I remember, it is a lime green Ren 1 airborn with the same driver/passenger, except the passenge has an "oh $h** " look on his face. Priceless!
Great documentation of the early accessory rollbars.
-Donny

 

Interesting roll bar info...just as an aside, those larger front turn signals pre-date AMC by a couple years.

 

Take a look at the Roll bar in my avatar. Dad built this one from 2" Steam pipe in the early 60's Pre 1964 for sure. I remember a lot of discussion with the guys in the Salem Jeep Club (formed in 1965) about which brace style was safer. The tipped in angled brace like dads. Or the 90 degree brace that hit the main hoop about half way up the vertical. The guys with kids riding in the back liked the 90 degree brace as it was completely out of the way. Dad on the other hand was all about safety. And since both he and mom smacked us in the head occasionally if we got out of line I don't think he minded if we hit the roll bar with our heads once in a while LOL.

Dad did one thing very different then the ones shown above. Dad used 1/4" boiler plate for the bases and they covered almost the whole fender box top. The thing also made for excellent traction weight LOL.

I'll be refinishing the Head buster and putting it back in Chug A Lug when its time.

 

Colojeepguy, thanks for your comment above, which is 100% correct. Please note that I've added a revision to the initial post above to clarify your point!

 

An earlier thread which was trying to identify and sort out roll bars - whitco, smittybilt, sears... Whitco Roll Bar? | EarlyCJ5.com

 

I think that is a midyear 70 model CJ5, not the late edition 69 "462". There are other photos on Ebay of this same CJ5 with fender reflectors. It has the spare tire bolts on the side, "462" models came from factory with a swing out tire carrier. The accent stripe was an option on any CJ5 and the front bumper is an add on from a Commando. The wheels are 15x8 KH, but it does not have the wheel covers that came on the "462" and has the white wall tires not the H70x15 Goodyear Polyglass Redlines. If you notice you can see the 2 bolts that hold down the role bar, "462"s and early Renegade I only used 2 bolts on the sides and 4 on the wheel well. The Whitco bar states it has 16 mounting points and the factory only used 12 of them even though the bar came with 16 holes. They (factory) did not use the holes that used the long spacers between the plate and body. The Jeep in the Whitco add is a 69 model, it has the hood reflectors, V6 emblem, and tapered rear axle. All V6 CJ5s starting in 70 (Sept. 69) came with a flanged axle. I was told by the man who was the original owner of my "462"(830517360056 Aug. 15 1969) that Whitco supplied Jeep with role bars. I have an early Orange Rene I(Oct. 8305017361663) with the early role bar and only 2 bolts used on each side, and an early Mint Green Rene II(8305017367274 with tail gate and filler neck in rear) with same role bar and all 8 bolts were used on the sides. My Orange 71 Rene II(May 8305017375091) used the later bar. The "462" model was the first production vehicle with a role bar from the factory and mine only used 12 mounting points.

 

Anyone has dimensions of any of these two roll bars? I would like to make one for my wife's 73 CJ5
Thanks

 

Me too.

 

I like the spare tire mount on the rear of the Renegade too. I may do something similar to mine.

 

I just made an update to the first post in this thread that includes scans of a couple more pieces of interesting dealer literature related to the early roll bars. (I decided to modify that post rather than showing them in a new one, just so they would all be in one spot.)