Bestop Trektop NX twill or Supertop NX Black diamond

[mde8965]

Ok well I bit the bullet spent the money. Supertop NX twill. Bought from Summit. Amazon was cheaper but charged sales tax which made it more expensive. I hear the written install instructions are horrendous. Found the one video and didn’t think it was that great. Hope all goes well with the install. We will see. Thanks for everyone’s input.

 

[glwood]

Ok well I bit the bullet spent the money. Supertop NX twill. Bought from Summit. Amazon was cheaper but charged sales tax which made it more expensive. I hear the written install instructions are horrendous. Found the one video and didn’t think it was that great. Hope all goes well with the install. We will see. Thanks for everyone’s input.

Did Summit have it in stock? I'd heard that the Twill tops were on backorder 'til May due to supply issues from Bestop. Might give Summit a call to verify...

 

[lovemachine]

Ok well I bit the bullet spent the money. Supertop NX twill. Bought from Summit. Amazon was cheaper but charged sales tax which made it more expensive. I hear the written install instructions are horrendous. Found the one video and didn’t think it was that great. Hope all goes well with the install. We will see. Thanks for everyone’s input.

Don’t worry. The instructions that come with the top is quite easy to follow.

Just an FYI, the hotter it is outside, the easier the install is. When I was putting the frame together, I had the fabric sit out in the sun for at least an hour.

 

[mde8965]

Did Summit have it in stock? I'd heard that the Twill tops were on backorder 'til May due to supply issues from Bestop. Might give Summit a call to verify...

Said it was in stock when the order was placed with estimated shipping date of today. So either way I will hear from them today. If not I will call. When I was looking I noticed the top was still in stock from several vendors. Quadratec and Bestop said "backordered"...

 

[mde8965]

Don’t worry. The instructions that come with the top is quite easy to follow.

Just an FYI, the hotter it is outside, the easier the install is. When I was putting the frame together, I had the fabric sit out in the sun for at least an hour.

I'm in Florida...no issues with it being hot here. I will likely set the top out on the back patio in the sun for at least 2-4 hours before starting it...Thanks

 

[glwood]

Ok well I bit the bullet spent the money. Supertop NX twill. Bought from Summit. Amazon was cheaper but charged sales tax which made it more expensive. I hear the written install instructions are horrendous. Found the one video and didn’t think it was that great. Hope all goes well with the install. We will see. Thanks for everyone’s input.

The thing that always befuddles me on a new top is attaching the fabric to the windshield header. If you have a brain that can figure out upside down and inside out, you'll be golden...the rest is a piece of cake.

 

[mde8965]

The thing that always befuddles me on a new top is attaching the fabric to the windshield header. If you have a brain that can figure out upside down and inside out, you'll be golden...the rest is a piece of cake.

I will get to find out how confusing this may be on Friday/Saturday this week. I actually received the top from Summit last Thursday. On Saturday I spent the time putting all the hardware together and attaching the hardware to the Jeep. And yes the written instructions were completely useless almost. Believe it or not the worst of the worst was attaching the door surrounds. Which you would think would be the easiest thing. Took me an hour just to get those installed. I could not get the large thumbscrews to go through the top and thread into the bottom part of the surrounds. They would not line up correctly. If anyone else experiences this, I finally figured out a trick to it. Once the door surround is in place, grab and twist downward (toward you) the surround as hard as you can while trying to thread the thumbscrew through. It is hard to explain...but if anyone has an issue here, PM me.. The door surrounds took about an hour....the remaining hardware took maybe an hour...so I am two hours and some change into the install so far (I am slow and deliberate...LOL)

Anyway, what I will be doing this Friday/Saturday is attaching the fabric to the header, then installing the top itself to the hardware then getting the windows put on... I can only imagine how much fun that will be. The only reason I have not done this yet is because the weather here is gorgeous with highs around 85 and lows around 72 each day this week with no rain. Don't want to put that top on and have to leave it up for a few days as long as the weather is like this!

 

[glwood]

I will get to find out how confusing this may be on Friday/Saturday this week. I actually received the top from Summit last Thursday. On Saturday I spent the time putting all the hardware together and attaching the hardware to the Jeep. And yes the written instructions were completely useless almost. Believe it or not the worst of the worst was attaching the door surrounds. Which you would think would be the easiest thing. Took me an hour just to get those installed. I could not get the large thumbscrews to go through the top and thread into the bottom part of the surrounds. They would not line up correctly. If anyone else experiences this, I finally figured out a trick to it. Once the door surround is in place, grab and twist downward (toward you) the surround as hard as you can while trying to thread the thumbscrew through. It is hard to explain...but if anyone has an issue here, PM me.. The door surrounds took about an hour....the remaining hardware took maybe an hour...so I am two hours and some change into the install so far (I am slow and deliberate...LOL)

Anyway, what I will be doing this Friday/Saturday is attaching the fabric to the header, then installing the top itself to the hardware then getting the windows put on... I can only imagine how much fun that will be. The only reason I have not done this yet is because the weather here is gorgeous with highs around 85 and lows around 72 each day this week with no rain. Don't want to put that top on and have to leave it up for a few days as long as the weather is like this!

That is the one thing about Bestop's door surrounds - they are slightly different from the oem ones, in that the oem thumbscrews have a pointed end, making it easier to line them up with the threaded hole below, while the Bestop screws don't have that pointed end. I had the same issue with my door surrounds ordered from Bestop the first time also. Took a good long while to get those lined up to catch the threads. I found you can also look from below to help line up the screws in the bottom hole. It might be a good idea to grind the ends of those screws a bit to a taper. I bet that would help.

Take heart, it gets easier. I just put up my soft top for the summer, and 3 of the 4 thumbscrews went right in. The 4th took some persuasion...good luck on wrestling the twill fabric into place!

Looking forward to your review of the twill top.

 

[mde8965]

That is the one thing about Bestop's door surrounds - they are slightly different from the oem ones, in that the oem thumbscrews have a pointed end, making it easier to line them up with the threaded hole below, while the Bestop screws don't have that pointed end. I had the same issue with my door surrounds ordered from Bestop the first time also. Took a good long while to get those lined up to catch the threads. I found you can also look from below to help line up the screws in the bottom hole. It might be a good idea to grind the ends of those screws a bit to a taper. I bet that would help.

Take heart, it gets easier. I just put up my soft top for the summer, and 3 of the 4 thumbscrews went right in. The 4th took some persuasion...good luck on wrestling the twill fabric into place!

Looking forward to your review of the twill top.

OMG! So I decided to try to install my fabric twill top last night. It started out easy getting the material attached to the header. And then as I was folding the Bows forward so I could work on the rest of it one of the plastic Push pull thingys that you attach the bow to the rollbar broke. So I had to MacGyver that with a bolt and a lock nut. I will get a replacement one from best top. But the rest of that installation could not have been more of a pain. And I’m not done yet.

It was hard enough getting the rear corner sections clamped on or whatever you wanna call it. But then trying to get that back window and oh my God!!!! I practically broke the zipper trying to get that thing on there. I broke the pull almost immediately. But after about 45 minutes of wrestling with that I finally got it zipped. Then I put the side windows in and got everything else attached and I thought I was done.

But as luck would have it. then I was putting my tools away and was walking towards the jeep from the front and noticed it was lopsided. What I did not know was when that attachment thingy broke the center bow where rests on the front bow moved to the side. Just the driver side with is the side that part broke on. So it was no longer resting on it it was to the side of it. So that meant having to undo the front take the side windows out and all of that to put that bow back where it was supposed to be. And then I could not get the header clamped down again. Because the window was in place in the back.

So just about the time I was going to cry real man tears. I decided to quit for the night. But that’s top kicked my butt. I’m so sore today. And as soon as I am feeling up to it again I will go out and try to finish it. I don’t know if that’s going to be today though. I’m going to have to unzip the back window and disconnect it back there and then reattach the front and then reattach everything else again. Right now I have the jeep parked out in the sun hoping to bake that top a bit.

Why can’t anything just be easy for me? Pity party for me please.

 

[mde8965]

So I finally wrestled that top on there correctly. At least I hope it’s correct now. I parked the jeep out in the sun all day so the top would bake. Then I went out there and took the side windows off unclipped the back corners and partially unzipped the back window on both sides and I was able to get the tailgate bar out. That gave me enough leeway to be able to clamp down the header in front and then everything else went back together pretty well after that. But what a job.

And because Karma or whatever is a bear I went to start up the jeep to move it back to the garage and the battery was dead. No idea how old the battery is. So rather than taking it in and try to get it charged at the auto parts store I’m just going to buy a new one. Boy when your battery goes dead and the battery is not charging right those jeeps run like crap. Trying to get that thing in the garage was a nightmare. It kept stalling out and I thought I’d never get it started again but I did manage to start.

For anybody that bothers to read this thank you for listening. I will have a little whine with my cheese now. LOL

If anybody ever is getting ready to install one of these tops and wants to know what not to do, I am the guy to talk to. Ha ha.

As soon as I get the new battery installed in that jeep I will take a couple pictures of the new top and attach them either to this thread or my build thread. The top looks really nice.

 

[Bill D]

I installed my top just prior to reading your experiences. I can certainly commiserate with you. I had a hard top on for the first year that I owned the Jeep but decided I wanted to experience the wind blowing through what hair I had left. I just happened to be looking through Craigslist when I spotted a Supertop NX for sale. It had only been on a Jeep for about 3 months and was, for all intents and purposes, brand new. Since it had previously been installed, I was saved the experience of assembling the framework which the previous owner assured me was a pain in the hip pocket. Also, the PO had thoughtfully discarded the assembly instructions but assured me that installation was “intuitive”. Actually, installation wasn’t all that bad with the exception of those damned screws in the door surrounds. Three of them finally threaded after several hours of twisting, turning, and cursing but the fourth one absolutely refused to thread. Then, - - - a light went on in my head. I remembered that when I bought my Jeep and got it home, I discovered a couple of strange looking, hinged, plastic thingeys with large knobs with threaded shanks clear in the back luggage compartment. Those were a pair of original Mopar door surrounds with the large attachment screws (with tapered ends on the threads). After about five minutes, which included removing the three screws which I had managed to get installed, I had all four door surround screws installed. Why Bestop would sell a product which included four screws that are practically impossible to install when all they had to do was taper the ends is beyond comprehension.
There, that rant helped.

 

[glwood]

I installed my top just prior to reading your experiences. I can certainly commiserate with you. I had a hard top on for the first year that I owned the Jeep but decided I wanted to experience the wind blowing through what hair I had left. I just happened to be looking through Craigslist when I spotted a Supertop NX for sale. It had only been on a Jeep for about 3 months and was, for all intents and purposes, brand new. Since it had previously been installed, I was saved the experience of assembling the framework which the previous owner assured me was a pain in the hip pocket. Also, the PO had thoughtfully discarded the assembly instructions but assured me that installation was “intuitive”. Actually, installation wasn’t all that bad with the exception of those damned screws in the door surrounds. Three of them finally threaded after several hours of twisting, turning, and cursing but the fourth one absolutely refused to thread. Then, - - - a light went on in my head. I remembered that when I bought my Jeep and got it home, I discovered a couple of strange looking, hinged, plastic thingeys with large knobs with threaded shanks clear in the back luggage compartment. Those were a pair of original Mopar door surrounds with the large attachment screws (with tapered ends on the threads). After about five minutes, which included removing the three screws which I had managed to get installed, I had all four door surround screws installed. Why Bestop would sell a product which included four screws that are practically impossible to install when all they had to do was taper the ends is beyond comprehension.
There, that rant helped.

Now you know why Mopar charges so much for a part that Bestop makes. That still doesn't answer why Bestop doesn't taper the Bestop-sold version. Thinking about it, I think I will taper the ones I have now on the ol' bench grinder...

Glad to hear you were successful in your installation! How's the hair you have left holding up to the top-down winds...?

 

[glwood]

So I finally wrestled that top on there correctly. At least I hope it’s correct now. I parked the jeep out in the sun all day so the top would bake. Then I went out there and took the side windows off unclipped the back corners and partially unzipped the back window on both sides and I was able to get the tailgate bar out. That gave me enough leeway to be able to clamp down the header in front and then everything else went back together pretty well after that. But what a job.

And because Karma or whatever is a bear I went to start up the jeep to move it back to the garage and the battery was dead. No idea how old the battery is. So rather than taking it in and try to get it charged at the auto parts store I’m just going to buy a new one. Boy when your battery goes dead and the battery is not charging right those jeeps run like crap. Trying to get that thing in the garage was a nightmare. It kept stalling out and I thought I’d never get it started again but I did manage to start.

For anybody that bothers to read this thank you for listening. I will have a little whine with my cheese now. LOL

If anybody ever is getting ready to install one of these tops and wants to know what not to do, I am the guy to talk to. Ha ha.

As soon as I get the new battery installed in that jeep I will take a couple pictures of the new top and attach them either to this thread or my build thread. The top looks really nice.

You must have gotten the electric version fold down top, and left the switch on...

 

[mde8965]

I installed my top just prior to reading your experiences. I can certainly commiserate with you. I had a hard top on for the first year that I owned the Jeep but decided I wanted to experience the wind blowing through what hair I had left. I just happened to be looking through Craigslist when I spotted a Supertop NX for sale. It had only been on a Jeep for about 3 months and was, for all intents and purposes, brand new. Since it had previously been installed, I was saved the experience of assembling the framework which the previous owner assured me was a pain in the hip pocket. Also, the PO had thoughtfully discarded the assembly instructions but assured me that installation was “intuitive”. Actually, installation wasn’t all that bad with the exception of those damned screws in the door surrounds. Three of them finally threaded after several hours of twisting, turning, and cursing but the fourth one absolutely refused to thread. Then, - - - a light went on in my head. I remembered that when I bought my Jeep and got it home, I discovered a couple of strange looking, hinged, plastic thingeys with large knobs with threaded shanks clear in the back luggage compartment. Those were a pair of original Mopar door surrounds with the large attachment screws (with tapered ends on the threads). After about five minutes, which included removing the three screws which I had managed to get installed, I had all four door surround screws installed. Why Bestop would sell a product which included four screws that are practically impossible to install when all they had to do was taper the ends is beyond comprehension.
There, that rant helped.

Congratulations on your new top. I bet it looks nice and I am sure you saved a bunch over a new one. Glad to hear I'm not the only one that fell whooped by those thumbscrews on the door surrounds.

I cannot believe I did not think to re-use my old thumbscrews from the door surrounds. I mean when I spent the better part of an hour wresting with the new ones, the old ones were sitting there not 5 feet from me. I may switch them out before I sell the original soft top hardware and the Smittybilt top.
A couple of qualms that I have with the new top though:
1) The thumbscrews should have been tapered like the OEM ones
2) The quick release knuckles are nice, but why are they plastic - should be metal - I see these getting brittle and breaking over time
3) The header is plastic with plastic hinges/clamps. The original one might have been plastic, but it was heavier and the hinges clamps were metal
4) The bows are not as thick and re lighter/cheaper than the OEM.
5) The add on bow in the front, why is that silver? The rest of the top inside and out is black. Sticks out like a sore thumb
6) The instructions are awful

That said, I do love the new top now that it is on there. So much quitter than the Smittybilt one. I like that it is black inside the vehicle instead of grey. And it looks nice from the outside.

I thought I attached pics of my new top to this thread, but I guess not...ok here they are

 

[bobthetj03]

That top fits quite well! Do you have a certain procedure for folding it down? I found this little how to a few years back when I was trying to find the best/neatest way to fold mine down. Don't know if this will apply for the Supertop since the frame work is a little different, but it works pretty good for the factory tops.

http://home.exetel.com.au/jeeps/Removingthetop.htm

 

[mde8965]

Procedure I use to fold the top down is:
1) Undo the clamps on the header
2) unhook the top above the door on each side (2 flaps per side)
3) remove the side windows
4) release the quick release knuckle above the door (that stops the top from falling back when you use the sunrider)
5) Unzip the rear window and remove the window
6) Unhook the back corners and fold them up over the top of the Jeep
7) Fold the top down tucking in the material as you go as well as the center bow to rear bow straps