Wanting to buy an OEM hardtop for my factory soft top LJ — mounting questions

DeadStang

TJ Enthusiast
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Nov 3, 2019
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Albany, Oregon
My soft top is getting tired and I am kind of a hard top fan, anyway. I found one fairly local to me on CL that the guy wants to sell. Can someone point me in the right direction to see what all I need to mount a hard top on my Jeep? I assume I have to completely remove the soft top to accomplish this...? Are there mounts on the Jeep for the soft top that need to be removed as well (like the piece that runs across the back to hold the "door" down)? Are there bows that need to come off also? What hardware do I need to make the hard top stay on? Should I remove the soft top, then drive up to the guy's house to mount the hard top?

Thanks!
 
You can leave the soft top mounting points on the roll cage as well as the two mounts on the rear of the tub. Really, you're just going to remove the soft top, drop the hard top on, and go. I was able to swap tops in about 5-10 minutes without any help other than the hoist in my garage.
 
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Ah, forgot about the door surrounds. However the rear fasteners on the body shouldn't interfere with the hard top, at least it never got in the way for me.
 
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Not the hard top, but the rear glass. It not removed they will contact the glass and shatter.
 
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Are we talking about the same thing? The part that's screwed into the tub in this photo? I left these on as my rear glass never came close to touching them. Google search shows other TJ's with hard tops and these brackets installed together. Just curious if there's something else I'm missing!

OIP.jpg
 
Are we talking about the same thing? The part that's screwed into the tub in this photo? I left these on as my rear glass never came close to touching them. Google search shows other TJ's with hard tops and these brackets installed together. Just curious if there's something else I'm missing!

View attachment 205818

Interesting. I wonder if the 97-02 is different that the 03-06 because the ones on my 97 protrude much further than whats in your photo. The tailgate kept my glass shut. I stole these pics from another thread

hardtop interference.jpeg
hardtop interference 2.jpeg
 
Mine is a 1997 as well. ;)

I just sold my hard top last week, so I can't take a photo of both together. But what I can say is that my Jeep didn't come with a soft top, I had to buy those brackets off Amazon and drill/install them myself. I wonder if from they factory they put the brackets too high up and I found a sweet spot to install them lower while still maintaining a tight seal?

Who knows!
 
Shouldn't need anything except some nuts and bolts. Obviously, you wont be able to hook up wiper and defrost yet if it wasn't originally a hardtop jeep. Check for foam padding under hardtop lip. Maybe take some painters tape with you to prevent scratches.

Not only can the soft top (rear) brackets be left on, supposedly they help hold the rear glass shut. That's assuming they're stock and positioned properly. I remove my non-original ones and my glass still stays shut just fine.

Also, you should leave the muckets on with the hard top. Assuming you have them. If you look underneath the top, you'll see a depression for them. Not a big deal if the foam/padding has been replaced and covers that area.
 
Not the hard top, but the rear glass. It not removed they will contact the glass and shatter.
The OEM stock brackets won't interfere, the aftermarket (like TrekTop NX) are too long and must be removed or the glass will strike them. I have my hardtop on now with the stock brackets in place. The rubber on the rear window actually "molds" around them. Sorta.
 
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OK, just to verify 100%... My Jeep came with a soft top/no hardtop. Reading this and watching some u-tube videos —

I drive to the guy's house, unzip the back windows on my top (and hope the zippers don't break like the back window one has) and remove them, unclip the top at the front behind the sun visors, then just fold the top backward. Then remove something around my door tops(?) [I have full doors] and the bar across the back that holds the back window down. We kind of fold the soft top inward towards the back seat/trunk and everything is essentially out of the way to install the hard top — I don't need to physically remove the bows or anything else?

Then we unclip his top (he's giving me his mounting hardware) and just transfer it over to my Jeep and attach the hardware that we took off as it was on his Jeep and my soft top hardware and soft parts can all just ride folded down/in place until we get home...?

Thanks again for the help — it's a 4-hour drive to the guy's place, so he's doing me a big favor by meeting me at his parent's house only 2 hours from home. But obviously I want to be able to just show up, load the top, and be on my way.
 
OK, just to verify 100%... My Jeep came with a soft top/no hardtop. Reading this and watching some u-tube videos —

I drive to the guy's house, unzip the back windows on my top (and hope the zippers don't break like the back window one has) and remove them, unclip the top at the front behind the sun visors, then just fold the top backward. Then remove something around my door tops(?) [I have full doors] and the bar across the back that holds the back window down. We kind of fold the soft top inward towards the back seat/trunk and everything is essentially out of the way to install the hard top — I don't need to physically remove the bows or anything else?

Then we unclip his top (he's giving me his mounting hardware) and just transfer it over to my Jeep and attach the hardware that we took off as it was on his Jeep and my soft top hardware and soft parts can all just ride folded down/in place until we get home...?

Thanks again for the help — it's a 4-hour drive to the guy's place, so he's doing me a big favor by meeting me at his parent's house only 2 hours from home. But obviously I want to be able to just show up, load the top, and be on my way.

Take your door surrounds off, put them in the back seat. Take the windows out of your soft top and put them in the back seat.

Fold the soft top down neatly, put the hardtop on, bolt it down to the tub, latch it to the windshield frame, and you should be good to go.

Simple as that. It might be tight, but you shouldn't need to remove any of the bows or anything.
 
Why would you want to leave the bows on if your switching to a hard top? Wouldnt it just be easier to remove everything soft top related and store it first? Meaning the soft top, surrounds (OP - those are the things above your door.), bow, and header. (OP - the header is just basically the part that is up front on your frame. That attaches to the windshield.)

Then just go over and put the hard top on?

Even if the guy selling the hardtop is totally lying it wouldn't be bad practice. As OP is gonna get a hard top from somebody.

Final word to the OP. You might not want to waste any time looking at the hard top. They aren't exactly easy to find. Not unobtainium by any means. But still not easy to find sometimes near you.
 
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Why would you want to leave the bows on if your switching to a hard top? Wouldnt it just be easier to remove everything soft top related and store it first? Meaning the soft top, surrounds (OP - those are the things above your door.), bow, and header. (OP - the header is just basically the part that is up front on your frame. That attaches to the windshield.)

Then just go over and put the hard top on?

Even if the guy selling the hardtop is totally lying it wouldn't be bad practice. As OP is gonna get a hard top from somebody.

Final word to the OP. You might not want to waste any time looking at the hard top. They aren't exactly easy to find. Not unobtainium by any means. But still not easy to find sometimes near you.

It's 40 degrees here and rains buckets every day (western Oregon), so I don't want to drive 2 hours to get the hard top tomorrow night after work with my top completely removed — hence the folding and removing in his parent's garage for the swap. I don't want to do a test removal in advance as every time I touch the original/OEM soft top, I break something (zipper, etc.) and I am afraid if I remove the windows and such w/o acutally buying his hardtop first, my Jeep will be undrive-able — I'll either have to buy his top not matter what, or buy a new Bestop to replace my original before I can drive the Jeep.
 
It's 40 degrees here and rains buckets every day (western Oregon), so I don't want to drive 2 hours to get the hard top tomorrow night after work with my top completely removed — hence the folding and removing in his parent's garage for the swap. I don't want to do a test removal in advance as every time I touch the original/OEM soft top, I break something (zipper, etc.) and I am afraid if I remove the windows and such w/o acutally buying his hardtop first, my Jeep will be undrive-able — I'll either have to buy his top not matter what, or buy a new Bestop to replace my original before I can drive the Jeep.
I see.