LJ vs TJ top

[Mike_H]

My header bar broke...again. I don't know what Bestop sells for their aftermarket parts, but they just don't last. Its my second one in like 6 years. Anyway, I have a friend with an 06 LJ and she gave me her old soft top and frame. I was excited, since it had the sun-rider feature. I swapped out the front section from my 97 top (on my 04) to the LJ front section with the sun rider. It would not close due to the bends in the bars being different. The bars are crashing into the door surrounds. Does anyone know if they used a different style surround on the sunrider version? I thought the LJ and TJ were identical from the B-pillar forward, but maybe not?

 

[psrivats]

My header bar broke...again. I don't know what Bestop sells for their aftermarket parts, but they just don't last. Its my second one in like 6 years. Anyway, I have a friend with an 06 LJ and she gave me her old soft top and frame. I was excited, since it had the sun-rider feature. I swapped out the front section from my 97 top (on my 04) to the LJ front section with the sun rider. It would not close due to the bends in the bars being different. The bars are crashing into the door surrounds. Does anyone know if they used a different style surround on the sunrider version? I thought the LJ and TJ were identical from the B-pillar forward, but maybe not?

I think the surrounds on the sunrider version are slightly different from what I've seen? But I'm a bit hazy on if I'm remembering the Bestop trektop sunrider vs the factory sunrider.

 

[mrblaine]

My header bar broke...again. I don't know what Bestop sells for their aftermarket parts, but they just don't last. Its my second one in like 6 years. Anyway, I have a friend with an 06 LJ and she gave me her old soft top and frame. I was excited, since it had the sun-rider feature. I swapped out the front section from my 97 top (on my 04) to the LJ front section with the sun rider. It would not close due to the bends in the bars being different. The bars are crashing into the door surrounds. Does anyone know if they used a different style surround on the sunrider version? I thought the LJ and TJ were identical from the B-pillar forward, but maybe not?

Sunrider surrounds are completely different. And they have the latches for the folding bars to snap into.

 

[Mike_H]

The person I got the top from still has the surrounds. I will take a look at them tomorrow. That has to be the difference.

 

[nk24]

Sunrider surrounds:

 

[mrblaine]

The person I got the top from still has the surrounds. I will take a look at them tomorrow. That has to be the difference.

It gets worse, there are two sunrider surrounds, one for the narrow plastic tab with the hole that snap into the latch and one for a wider one.

 

[Mike_H]

It gets worse, there are two sunrider surrounds, one for the narrow plastic tab with the hole that snap into the latch and one for a wider one.

Hopefully the surrounds they have match the top. Otherwise, I'll just steal the header bow and use my old frame.

 

[Andy-WhiteTJ]

I believe there are two different roll bar brackets as well. My 1998 has shorter tabs than my daughter's 2004 with the sunrider top.

 

[mrblaine]

I believe there are two different roll bar brackets as well. My 1998 has shorter tabs than my daughter's 2004 with the sunrider top.

They increased the length of the tab hole centers away from the roll bar to compensate for the thicker padding that started in 03. I have not seen that manifest in any top fitment issues though which I find to be very odd.

 

[Mike_H]

There is also the complicating factor of LJ top vs TJ top. Based what I took apart, the front bow section was attached to the rear bows, vs the roll bar like on a TJ. If I can get the correct door surrounds, and the tubing bends still don't work out, I'll probably cut the tubing and use the sunrider front portion, and the rear TJ bend.

I hope having the sunrider is worth it...though its kind of a fun mini-project

 

[mrblaine]

There is also the complicating factor of LJ top vs TJ top. Based what I took apart, the front bow section was attached to the rear bows, vs the roll bar like on a TJ. If I can get the correct door surrounds, and the tubing bends still don't work out, I'll probably cut the tubing and use the sunrider front portion, and the rear TJ bend.

I hope having the sunrider is worth it...though its kind of a fun mini-project

Yes, the TJ has two arms off the roll bar for the bow knuckles, the TJ Unlimited has one arm.

 

[TRevs]

It gets worse, there are two sunrider surrounds, one for the narrow plastic tab with the hole that snap into the latch and one for a wider one.

I found this out when I put an ‘04 top in my ‘06 LJ.

My surrounds have the narrow locking bracket , but the ‘04 top frame has the wide tab. The metal brackets are removable but the holes don’t line up.

So far I’ve just ignored the brackets and done without the Sunrider feature.