What did you do to your TJ today?

TheBoogieman said:
I have the "supposedly" thicker Trilogy material and have zero complaints. Especially the price. It's quieter than my old Bestop sailcloth.
:unsure:

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Sierra Offroad now offers the heaviest vinyl on the market for the 2003-2006 Wrangler TJ. TRILOGY Acoustic Vinyl is a 45 ounce heavy weight two ply composite designed to reduce noise at highway speeds.​

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Is your sierra top still holding up? The MasterTop on mine is in good shape but ear splitting on the highway.
 
MountaineerTom said:
Quite the project. I bought a kit to try and repair tears in soft tops, but I hope I never have to use it.
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definitely quite the project, im no seamstress by any means... just dangerous enough to make a attempt. ive successfully stitched up my leather work boots by hand in the past, this is just a much larger project.

I am looking into sewing awls which appears simpler than fishing a needle back and forth and looks like the awl can produce a easier & stronger stitch. just need to find an awl with a small enough needle, seems like the majority of what I see is larger needles and aimed towards the leatherwork market.

I believe the real answer to the binding and failing zipper pull problems I keep coming up against is to just simply uncrimp the stop and replace the 2 pulls when they get difficult and crimp the stop at the end of the slide. currently I have two twill tops with mangled rear window zippers assemblies and a hardtop on the jeep just wanting to get pushed into the corner of the garage to get forgotten about again.
 
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Installed cargo webbing to contain the dogs.

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03coloradowrangler said:
View attachment 412436Continuing progress on de-stitching this morning. Figure I’ll just get the original zipper slide pulled out of the way enough before I start sewing in the new one and cut out the old as I move along.

Can see why a lot of repair places refuse to work on jeep tops.
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And why most people just buy a new top. Those windows have seen better days. :unsure:
 
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I locked my keys in the Jeep the other day. I unzipped the driver side window and pushed the passenger door lock with my long ice scrapper.

I'm too big to squeeze through the side roof braces.

Most of the time, I forget to lock the doors. The half doors don't have keys.
 
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TheBoogieman said:
And why most people just buy a new top. Those windows have seen better days. :unsure:
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most people.

ive got a brand new unused set of windows in the box down in the basement. just cant use them because the top's zipper got trashed when I took some anger out on the zipper pull getting stuck when it was binding really bad.
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these current windows are only a little over 2 years old. just trashed with scuffs from rolling it up covered in dust its still very visible to see through though. the little brush and lube kit from bestop didnt do diddly squat for keeping the zipper pull good. I brushed the dirt off and lubed when I had to use the zipper kept the stuff in the door pocket all summer. the zipper slides coils have ripped from the slide on the top and the window is missing teeth so I need the whole assembly. I generally average about a year before the zipper gets f'd on the rear window... which is why I have 2 tops with f'd rear zippers :ROFLMAO: dont want a third.
 
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I made a couple rod holders , the rear are made from a chunk of 2” abs that I sawed and sanded to snap fit on the roll bar and some two inch closed cell foam for the front. I’m using them for the trip to fish camp and back not necessarily to transport to the fishing holes as they’re a pain in the ass to get to with a soft top.
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Bought a trailer for it:
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Bit of a rust bucket, but other than the fenders, it all seems to be surface rust that the PO rattle canned over. It was used to haul a tiny RHIB, so it got salt water dripped on it. I'm going to reverse the axle to the bottom of the springs, convert it to a lunette ring to fit the Jeep, then haul it off to a sand blaster and get it blasted. I'll repaint with (brush) Rust-Oleum. $350, supposedly new in 2019. 4x6 bed.
 
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Everybody having problems with their tops lately.

This happened to me last night. On the back window. Haven't been that mad in awhile.

Managed to get the bottom zipper all the way off past the crimps and turn it around so it would actually zip the window up until I find a solution. Best case scenario I buy new zippers and get em on and redo the crimps.


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03coloradowrangler said:
most people.

ive got a brand new unused set of windows in the box down in the basement. just cant use them because the top's zipper got trashed when I took some anger out on the zipper pull getting stuck when it was binding really bad.
View attachment 412450

these current windows are only a little over 2 years old. just trashed with scuffs from rolling it up covered in dust its still very visible to see through though. the little brush and lube kit from bestop didnt do diddly squat for keeping the zipper pull good. I brushed the dirt off and lubed when I had to use the zipper kept the stuff in the door pocket all summer. the zipper slides coils have ripped from the slide on the top and the window is missing teeth so I need the whole assembly. I generally average about a year before the zipper gets f'd on the rear window... which is why I have 2 tops with f'd rear zippers :ROFLMAO: dont want a third.
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Yup . The F'n soft top windows and zippers made me switch to a hardtop. Actual daily driving in the mountains , in the winter , convinced me that the softop is a summer, fair weather application at best. You can't believe what it's like to see out the rear quater / rear window ! :unsure:
 
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Finally some nice weather.. I can start to address all the stuff I have accumulated over the winter.

Been working on a tailgate refresh.. Last week I started the install of the Bestop HighRock 4x4 Oversize Tire carrier. Got as far as installing the tailgate mounted hinge plates and found one of the M6 rubber bumper bolts used to mount the plate is stripped. I was going to drill it out and insert a nutsert, but there was plenty of meat on the backing plate so I tapped it out to 1/4x20.

Reinstalled the Bestop Overtire Cargo Basket bracket with the new 1/4x20 bolt installed in the tire carrier bracket and it's now rock solid.
Trimmed all the bolts for the basket mounts. They were excessively long. The basket won't be on full time so shorter, more appropriate bolts FTW.

Removed the stock rear bumper that I had modified with flush mounted aux reverse LEDs. Installed the Barnes 4WD low profile bumper. Cleaned up the fuel tank skid while I was under there. Need to rethink the aux reverse lights as the MaxBilt reverse LEDs are woefully dim.

I'll finish the tire carrier next weekend and can then turn my attention to the front bumper. Got a Motobilt stubby back from PC and ready to install but I need to clean up all the soon-to-be-exposed bits in the front. The frame rails, sway bar, sway bar brackets, PC the mounting bar for the aux lights.. and then reroute the QR coupler for the OBA.

Finally detailed the engine bay. Been wanting to get started on that since I bought the TJ.

2023-04-02 Barnes Rear Bumper 22-2.jpg
 
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MikekiM said:
Finally some nice weather.. I can start to address all the stuff I have accumulated over the winter.

Been working on a tailgate refresh.. Last week I started the install of the Bestop HighRock 4x4 Oversize Tire carrier. Got as far as installing the tailgate mounted hinge plates and found one of the M6 rubber bumper bolts used to mount the plate is stripped. I was going to drill it out and insert a nutsert, but there was plenty of meat on the backing plate so I tapped it out to 1/4x20.

Reinstalled the Bestop Overtire Cargo Basket bracket with the new 1/4x20 bolt installed in the tire carrier bracket and it's now rock solid.
Trimmed all the bolts for the basket mounts. They were excessively long. The basket won't be on full time so shorter, more appropriate bolts FTW.

Removed the stock rear bumper that I had modified with flush mounted aux reverse LEDs. Installed the Barnes 4WD low profile bumper. Cleaned up the fuel tank skid while I was under there. Need to rethink the aux reverse lights as the MaxBilt reverse LEDs are woefully dim.

I'll finish the tire carrier next weekend and can then turn my attention to the front bumper. Got a Motobilt stubby back from PC and ready to install but I need to clean up all the soon-to-be-exposed bits in the front. The frame rails, sway bar, sway bar brackets, PC the mounting bar for the aux lights.. and then reroute the QR coupler for the OBA.

Finally detailed the engine bay. Been wanting to get started on that since I bought the TJ.

View attachment 412569
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Do you have before and after pictures of the engine bay? I wan't to do this badly as well... but my jeep is currently on jackstands.
 
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