Bestop availability

Good deal. Glad to hear that you two have been contacted. I suspect it won't be long for me then. I'll just wait for my turn. They probably are swapped.
I kinda figured that may have been why the chat feature wasn't working. I'd heard from someone the other day that said they had the same problem with the chat feature for the IRS.
 
looks like some suppliers may have converted over to manufacturing ppe equipment.

April 27, 2020

We hope that you and your family are staying healthy and well during this trying time.

Bestop continues to be open for business and ready to help. Our Customer Service Team can be reached at 1-800-845-3567 if you need a hand. Our Home Installation is available as well; they will come to your home and install your soft top or doors in your driveway or garage, while you stay inside.

During this unique time, Bestop and our family brands (Baja Designs lights, PRP Seats, Tuffy Security Products, BullRing and SofTopper truck bed enclosures) have re-purposed some of our facilities to manufacture face masks and face shields in an effort to do our part. We are proud to play a role in the much larger goal of getting through this difficult period and are also inspired by the other efforts of this industry that we love.

Stay strong and be well,

The Bestop Team

Bestop, Baja Designs, PRP, Status: Racing, Speedstrap, Tuffy Security Products, SofTopper, BullRing
 
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My order came in. I may be late to the party with my thinking on this, but man this top left much to be desired.

I'd say the header bar and top (combo) are better suited in the $80 range, max. Very strange and troublesome design.
 
My order came in. I may be late to the party with my thinking on this, but man this top left much to be desired.

I'd say the header bar and top (combo) are better suited in the $80 range, max. Very strange and troublesome design.

I felt like there was some profit taking on my new lj trektop nx as well. All parts are below the quality of the OEM parts I removed and the design is lacking.
 
I felt like there was some profit taking on my new lj trektop nx as well. All parts are below the quality of the OEM parts I removed and the design is lacking.
Dang. I haven't looked into that top, but the little that I have seen it (in pictures), I thought that maybe it wasn't as bad.

The only part of this top that I'm pleased with is the fabric, not including the nylon straps. Just the fabric top itself.

This one doesn't really fit neither. Pretty terrible actually. In all seriousness, in my opinion, it's comparable to a Harbor Freight purchase.
 
I've added my own rear crossbar and I've found a way to be happy with it. But when i go to replace my worn out factory soft top it will be with OEM.
 
Doing that same thing crossed my mind. That part isn't the worst though.

I bought the one that doesn't use the factory soft top door surrounds. Not intentionally, but I did. With this style, they have it so that the material wraps around the rollbar and joins with velcro instead.

Unless there's something I'm missing, there's so much excess fabric at that spot, that I can very easily slide my hand and arm into the extra space. Since it is that way, the top fits very very loose across the top, creating 3-4" rolls in the material. Which puddles and funnels water.

So many issues. The headerbar and the top's strap placement are two other issues. Mind boggling really.

The stitching on the top, passenger side is loose enough to allow a standard flathead screwdriver to freely slide into the gap.

As far as the OEM parts, I don't blame you. I can't recall any aftermarket part that I have purchased that wasn't worth the time and money.

I'm going to give them a call tomorrow and see what I can figure out.
 
Oh yeah, here's another oddity.

From what I read online, they (bestop) recommends for the headerbar to be "rolled" as far forward as possible, so as to not have a huge gap between the headerbar and the windshield header seal.

One place that I read said the bar is designed wrongly, and doesn't fit the windshield correctly, but that I'm not sure about. I am sure that it may be next to impossible to mount it the way they recommend.

That aside, if it could be "rolled" forward as far as it needs to be, the would raise the backside by about half an inch to one inch. That would have the bolts pressing very firmly into the fabric.

This is how close the bolts are with the bar mounted as it is seemingly designed to sit, leaving a large gap over the seal.

20200602_175647.jpg
 
I bought the one that doesn't use the factory soft top door surrounds. Not intentionally, but I did. With this style, they have it so that the material wraps around the rollbar and joins with velcro instead.

Unless there's something I'm missing, there's so much excess fabric at that spot, that I can very easily slide my hand and arm into the extra space. Since it is that way, the top fits very very loose across the top, creating 3-4" rolls in the material. Which puddles and funnels water.


Your top doesn't have the parts that clip into the door surrounds?

Mine can be clipped into the surrounds or wrapped around the roll bar if you don't have the surrounds installed. I have mine clipped in and the extra fabric rolled/folded up and tucked up above the surrounds. I can easily get my finger in-between the bolt heads and the fabric. I'm using the door surrounds that came with my Supertop NX and I'm using the cross bar that goes between the door surrounds, that might be why the fabric isn't close to my bolts.
 
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I had eliminated the aluminum bar over the driver and passenger due to excessive rattling with and without the top on & didn't quite understand the purpose of it... unless its to prevent rain puddling in a few years with the top sagging?

My header is made from plastic and warps up away from the windshield at the edges (twill supertop nx) my tops a bit short but expected some stretch over a year but hadnt done so, bestop is sending me a new top and header bar.

heres my gap currently.
IMG_20200506_191907.jpeg

IMG_20200506_191900.jpeg


on the other hand though, customer service is very responsive and has assisted me in the past basically no questions asked and have yet to be charged shipping or parts

your header bar clamp bolt looks like a carriage head style bolt would be a good candidate for swapping .
 
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Not that I'm aware of. I'll take another look today and see what I can see. Does yours have a strip of plastic in that spot, like the front has for the headerbar?

I had eliminated the aluminum bar over the driver and passenger due to excessive rattling with and without the top on & didn't quite understand the purpose of it... unless its to prevent rain puddling in a few years with the top sagging?

My header is made from plastic and warps up away from the windshield at the edges (twill supertop nx) my tops a bit short but expected some stretch over a year but hadnt done so, bestop is sending me a new top and header bar.

heres my gap currently.
View attachment 167323
View attachment 167324

on the other hand though, customer service is very responsive and has assisted me in the past basically no questions asked and have yet to be charged shipping or parts

your header bar clamp bolt looks like a carriage head style bolt would be a good candidate for swapping .

I was wondering about the aluminum bar in MountaineerTom's picture. Was this something that came with the top you both have? Mine didn't come with one.

They are carriage bolts. Them using those had me scratching my head a little too. Since the bolt has to be installed from the top, there's no other route to take though. Since it has to be tightened using the head of the bolt.

No bolt that I'm aware of anyway.

Edit:

Here's the gap in mine. It clearly needs to roll forward quite a bit, but it's design doesn't allow it.

20200604_084128.jpg
 
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Turns out that it does have the ability to fasten to the door surrounds. Thats a relief.

20200604_084220.jpg


Pulled the surrounds out of storage and got them on.

20200604_093018.jpg


I'm not entirety sure of my plan or my origami skills for the wad of fabric in the corner, but atleast there's some headway made.

20200604_093026.jpg


I read online where some were saying that they had a really hard time snapping the sides into place. One even mentioned trying to use pliers, and eventually tossed the top in the trash. Mine wasn't difficult at all. It could be a one-handed job. I remember my factory top was a little like that, but that was a good thing.

Here's mine after I got it into the door surrounds. Plenty of room, so long as the headerbar sits with a large gap in front.

20200604_092223.jpg
 
my bestop supertop nx came with the aluminum bar, but i dont fully understand its purpose other than creating additional noise with or without the top up.
 
My Supertop NX came with the aluminum bar too. It’s purpose is to support the top in that area to prevent water pooling as far as I know. If I drive with the a/c on the recirculate setting and all doors and windows closed up, it balloons the top up and it doesn’t even come close to touching that bar. I decided to leave the bar in place when I put the safari top on to make it tighter and help with water pooling, if needed.

@03coloradowrangler , it looks like your header definitely needs to roll forward. Mine has almost no gap between it at the the forward bead on the rubber seal.

I think you’d have to make that upper hole on the bars let a square to get a carriage bolt to work or else it would just try to spin when you tightened the nut on the bottom.


@bedhed , in your first picture it almost looks like your top isn’t inside the channel of the header, towards the middle. It may be where the header just needs to roll forward more against the bead of the rubber seal. I can’t tell for sure.

The folds of fabric on the corners were a little tricky. I tried to fold them with them front part laying over the rear, if that makes any sense. Think the most aerodynamic way of doing it.


I’ll take a couple more pics of mine once I get outside.
 
Hm. I'm not really sure why the safari top doesn't come with one the aluminum bars then. That's not a big deal though. I think I have a couple strips of aluminum flat bar that I could make something up with.

Does the NX top have a header bar that comes separately? With this one, I'm not sure how it could be rolled into the right position, tightened, and it not naturally fall back into the position it's in now.

This isn't the best picture to show what I mean, but maybe you all can see what I'm trying to describe.

This is with the bar sitting in the position that it naturally wants to sit. With mine, if I roll it forward into a better position, as soon as I start to tighten the bolts, it falls back into the position shown in the picture.

Oh, and this one doesn't use an adjustable nut. The bolts tighten into a rivet nut.

20200604_090931.jpg

20200604_084024.jpg

20200604_141252.jpg
 
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That’s weird. I‘m pretty sure mine came with a separate nut in the bottom. I’ll look after work.
Mine wasn’t quite as close to the bead on the rubber gasket as I thought, but I think it’s closer than what you guys have.

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