i hate my hardtop

[jeep90]

ok......i adjusted my doors, hinges, windshield and hardtop for hours yesterday. i still have gaps between my hardtop and doors, although they are down to about 1/4 of an inch now. all this air leaking in makes for some cold mornings. im seriously considering going to a soft top setup. get rid of the full steel doors and go to halves, and get the bestop supertop. how much colder in the winter is it really? cant be worse than what i have now. maybe i can trade someone doors and hardtop for soft top and half doors.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

The supertop has rounded upper rear corners on the doors, made to work with full steel doors. You have to get a bestop replacatop if you want to use the soft door uppers and half doors, they have the squared upper rear corners on the doors.

Sounds like you got a lot of the misalignment worked out if you've got it down to 1/4".

 

[jeep90]

yeah its alot better than it was, but thats the best that its going to get. i think that the hinges or something may be bent. unless there is a way to keep the lower part where it is and just move the upper hoop around the window :?:

 

[jeep90]

but is a soft top really that much colder?

 

[laneiac]

Heat may not stay insulated as well, and it will be noiser, but once you get going it will be fine. Keep in mind that most soft tops will leak air in around the doors, at least that has been my experience with them. I am going to try a rockgear inc. top next, give em a look.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Just a little breesier, but may seal better than your current setup. No colder but definately noisier.

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Soft tops are loud, ear poping pressure changes, and flex slash bend open a bit during heavy cross winds. I am no fan of a soft top myself. They are harder and slower to take off and install then a hard top. I won't own another myself.

Sounds to me you have the wrong top?? Is that possible?? My 84, 86, 91 all fit perfect. I am only guessing but I have never seen that kind of gap on a hardtop even during adjusting the hinges to aligne the stricker and door latch.

 

[jeep90]

nope right top....i had to pull it off of this guys yj when i bought it. he had 87 yj...mine is a 1990. when i pulled it off of his, it fit perfect on his. there is something out of whack with mine. i would rather figure mine out, but if i cant a bestop super top would be a great all year setup. just fold it back in the summer time :lol: and storing that hardtop sucks too. check out skidplates.com they have a thing that is supposed to stop soft top noise and water collection. could probably make your own pretty cheap.

 

[Jeepr89]

I have some gaps during the winter when my top is on, I just go get some weather stripping that has the sticky tape on the backside and put it where it needs to go and that usually takes care of most of the leaks. also if you wan't something that doesn't have air leaks and isn't cold and noisy buy a honda

 

[osito129]

Just thought I would jump in before someone else did.

If you are any where close to VA and decide to swap for soft top let me know, I might be interested. I have a gray Besttop soft top with tinted windows but my door tops are black soft uppers. I could probably kick in some extra cash to sweeten the deal. Oh yeah my half steel doors are white, but painting those is easy enough if they don't match your rig.

-Chris

 

[88WRANGRED]

BREEZE, you ain't kiddin. I feel like i have no windows at all with my hard top on. i just put it on aligned the doors, and still pretty good size gaps. good thing its no longer my DD. i guess weather stripping and a heavy jacket with a hoodie to keep my neck warm. gotta love the jeep!!! I do like my "new" windows. Two way glass sliders. decent from Ebay. but they need a little work too.

 

[jeep90]

osito129.....my jeep is also white so there would be no painting involved for either of us. the hard top was just painted in the fall with herculiner(black). what kind of shape is the top/doors in. i have grey uppers sitting in my house right now doing nothing. send me a pm and we can talk more about it if you want

 

[flip124]

ARG! Head Bolts!

I have hard doors and a soft top and dont mind it at all. The bestop i have(dont know which one) stays pretty dang quiet. Its only a little chilly for the first couple minutes before the heater kicks on...after that the heat stays in really well.

I dont think ill ever go through the mess of having a hardtop.

My $.02
TJ

 

[K_K_PSI_GUY]

You may want to check out if it is in fact the correct top. I beleive 1987 Jeeps are a bit different. I am not sure what are the differences are, but that may affect it. -al

 

[Snitty]

i live in a cold, high snow area... i currently have a hard top... if i could find a good soft top for the right price, i would switch back to it in a heartbeat.... i found my soft top MUCH easier to install and remove than the hardtop

 

[osito129]

PM sent

 

[Utah_jeepster]

Well its the begaining of December and I still havnt put on my hard top...the soft top works fine and holds the heat in just as well as the hard top.

Think I will loose it as well and stick with a softy during the winter and a half top during the summer.

My two cents

 

[Craig]

One other thing you can do to make for a tighter fit...The outside hinges that hold on your windshield frame can be adjusted a little, mabye even enough to get rid of that 1/4" gap. The screws that hold on your outside hinges for your windshield frame are not in a set place. If you take out your windsheild frame seal, then loosen off the screws that hold on the hinges (both the ones that hold the hinge to the vehicle and to the windshield frame), without taking out the screws completley, you'll find that you can actually adjust your windshield frame up and down a little bit. If you can move your windshield frame down a little, it should move your hardtop down and forward just a little bit. If these hinges have never been off before, you might have to pry them off the windshield frame after unscrewing them. Mine had a double sided tape inbetween the hinge and windsheild frame. You can do this with the windshield frame seal in but you'll have to find a way to squish the frame down on top of the seal. It's much easier to just pull out the seal and do it.

 

[TwistedCU]

The supertop has rounded upper rear corners on the doors, made to work with full steel doors. You have to get a bestop replacatop if you want to use the soft door uppers and half doors, they have the squared upper rear corners on the doors.

Actually, Bestop makes a rounded upper door for the YJ that is for the Supertop to work with half doors. You can get full soft doors also.

I ran a soft top all last winter, and the only gripe I had was not being able to roll up/down a window. I have a hardtop on mine now, but when it comes off, I'm putting on a supertop. That way I have 1 top year round. Fold it down when I want in the summer. Hard doors when cold, 2 pc full soft doors in summer. I'm going to sell my hardtop, my factory soft top, half doors, and square corner upper door sliders. Anybody need any of this stuff PM me.

 

[jeep90]

hey twisted, i tried to send you a pm. let me know if you got it.....i dont think that it worked.