Installed soft top, now I need help finding the part I lost

GorillaBiscuit

GorillaBiscuit

TJ Enthusiast
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Tennessee, USA
Hello everybody!
I finally got the soft top installed on Big Red today! What a huge pain in the ass that was!!! Lol

Anyway, I need help. For some reason or another, I honestly can't remember why, I had the top and sides in the box in the garage and the brackets and hardware in my den downstairs. I've got the top fully installed, I didn't lose any vitality important pieces, but I did manage to lose two small brackets and two pins. ( I think that's what I'm missing, I'm not really 100% sure. )
It's the two little brackets that connect to the tops of the door surrounds and makes the sunrider feature work.
I need help from you guys figuring out the names of those parts so that I can begin my mission trying to find them.

I think I have a picture, I'll post it and see if it helps at all.

20200531_151943.jpg


I think it's supposed to be a bracket on each side with removable pins that attach in those holes.

Anyway, here's Big Red with the factory soft top.

20200531_165825.jpg
 
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It’s called a rail plunger assembly. I don't think you'll be able to find the plungers separately at this point unless they pop up as NOS.

5166003AA and 5166003AB

You could call Daveys Jeeps or keep an eye on ebay.

When I needed the brackets back in 2012, I bought the Bestop Kit, but it was only $159.00 back then. Bestop does still make these doors surrounds so you could contact customer service to see if they'll sell you the plungers.
 
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AjRagno said:
It’s called a rail plunger assembly. I don't think you'll be able to find the plungers separately at this point unless they pop up as NOS.

5166003AA and 5166003AB

You could call Daveys Jeeps or keep an eye on ebay.

When I needed the brackets back in 2012, I bought the Bestop Kit, but it was only $159.00 back then. Bestop does still make these doors surrounds so you could contact customer service to see if they'll sell you the plungers.
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhh! Thank you!
I was thinking my best shot would be ebay or a salvage yard or something. I'll definitely call up bestop and see if they have something.
 
Yes, pins are part of the assembly. They’re retained by c-clips.
 
Hey @GorillaBiscuit, I may have the solution if you don't find those brackets with the pins...

When I bought my Rubicon back in 2016, it had the oem soft top still folded up on the bow assembly in the factory sleeve behind the rear seat, never having been put up since new; unfortunately, what was nowhere to be found were the windows, or the door surrounds with hardware...no big deal, I thought, I'll order those from Bestop, which I did. When I received everything from Bestop, and went to install the door surrounds, they had those sunrider spring pivot clips mounted, as their current TJ door surrounds can be used for sunrider or non-sunrider oem or Bestop soft tops. My 2004 did not have a sunrider top, so I removed those clips and threw them in a box 4 years ago. I was cleaning out the shed the other day, selling off the last of my leftover Jeep parts, and discovered those two brackets. I thought I might have tossed them, as I would never need them.

Anyway, I came across your thread, then went out to look in my workshed, and found them in a box...

I think they are what you might need (see photos below), and if so they're yours for the cost of postage. Let me know.
20200531_230325.jpg
20200531_230317.jpg


If they are what you need, it beats contacting Bestop...no telling if they sell those (though it would be interesting to know), or if they do, what they might charge...

Gary
 
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Bestop has them available. Personally I'm going to remove that Sunrider ability some day by welding it into its closed position. All that flip-up section does for me is to make the softop's removal and reinstallation process a giant PITA.

I'd trade my Bestop Sunrider frame for the factory frame to anyone local in a heartbeat.
 
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glwood said:
Hey @GorillaBiscuit, I may have the solution if you don't find those brackets with the pins...

When I bought my Rubicon back in 2016, it had the oem soft top still folded up on the bow assembly in the factory sleeve behind the rear seat, never having been put up since new; unfortunately, what was nowhere to be found were the windows, or the door surrounds with hardware...no big deal, I thought, I'll order those from Bestop, which I did. When I received everything from Bestop, and went to install the door surrounds, they had those sunrider spring pivot clips mounted, as their current TJ door surrounds can be used for sunrider or non-sunrider oem or Bestop soft tops. My 2004 did not have a sunrider top, so I removed those clips and threw them in a box 4 years ago. I was cleaning out the shed the other day, selling off the last of my leftover Jeep parts, and discovered those two brackets. I thought I might have tossed them, as I would never need them.

Anyway, I came across your thread, then went out to look in my workshed, and found them in a box...

I think they are what you might need (see photos below), and if so they're yours for the cost of postage. Let me know. View attachment 166404View attachment 166405

If they are what you need, it beats contacting Bestop...no telling if they sell those (though it would be interesting to know), or if they do, what they might charge...

Gary
Click to expand...


SOLD!!! 😁😁😁

Oh that's wonderful!! I thought for sure it was going to be a lost cause trying to find those things!
Is there supposed to be another bow that those attach to, or do they just screw into the door surrounds?
 
Here's the funny thing, I got the instructions out looking for a picture of the parts I needed, and those brackets are not on the parts list at all!
20200601_084422.jpg


Here's the parts list in the instruction manual, I don't see those brackets anywhere.
 
GorillaBiscuit said:
Here's the funny thing, I got the instructions out looking for a picture of the parts I needed, and those brackets are not on the parts list at all!
View attachment 166431

Here's the parts list in the instruction manual, I don't see those brackets anywhere.
Click to expand...
They weren't listed as a separate part when I got my BT door surrounds, as they were installed on the surrounds when I got them. I only removed them as they were sort of in the way of my bow assembly, and were not needed. I believe the two screws on each bracket (hard to see in my photo) go through the two small holes in your first photo, and screw into a small plate on the other side. The small plates & screws are on the two brackets I have.

The only thing I don't know is if the Bestop sunrider bow assembly and the oem factory sunrider bow assembly are the same, and use the same bracket in the same location, or if the unlimited bow assembly is different (besides being longer in the back), as mine was on a 2-door. Maybe @Jerry Bransford can verify if his brackets are the same as mine...
 
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glwood said:
They weren't listed as a separate part when I got my BT door surrounds, as they were installed on the surrounds when I got them. I only removed them as they were sort of in the way of my bow assembly, and were not needed. I believe the two screws on each bracket (hard to see in my photo) go through the two small holes in your first photo, and screw into a small plate on the other side. The small plates & screws are on the two brackets I have.

The only thing I don't know is if the Bestop sunrider bow assembly and the oem factory sunrider bow assembly are the same, and use the same bracket in the same location, or if the unlimited bow assembly is different (besides being longer in the back), as mine was on a 2-door. Maybe @Jerry Bransford can verify if his brackets are the same as mine...
Click to expand...

I've come across two different sunrider clips. The clip design below on the right came with my LJ when I bought it last year. It's supposed to have the pin, but it fell off. The soft top bracket it connects to is a bigger block. My soft top is in storage, but the block can be seen here in this post by @FadeToGray.

To the left is a door surround that came with an entire Mopar soft top kit I purchased from someone. As can be seen, the clip is designed to grab onto a much narrower bracket on the soft top, like the bracket shown in the first picture by @GorillaBiscuit.

I'm guessing Jeep/Bestop must have changed designs sometime during LJ production

IMG_1814_2.jpg
 
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il buono said:
I've come across two different sunrider clips. The clip design below on the right came with my LJ when I bought it last year. It's supposed to have the pin, but it fell off. The soft top bracket it connects to is a bigger block. My soft top is in storage, but the block can be seen here in this post by @FadeToGray.

To the left is a door surround that came with an entire Mopar soft top kit I purchased from someone. As can be seen, the clip is designed to grab onto a much narrower bracket on the soft top, like the bracket shown in the first picture by @GorillaBiscuit.

I'm guessing Jeep/Bestop must have changed designs sometime during LJ production

View attachment 166445
Click to expand...
The clips I have are just like the left hand clip in the photo, narrower.
 
I'm guessing I will need the narrow type clips since the tabs that I have are thin. Hopefully that's going to be the one. I feel fairly confident. Lol!
 
glwood said:
Hey @GorillaBiscuit, I may have the solution if you don't find those brackets with the pins...

When I bought my Rubicon back in 2016, it had the oem soft top still folded up on the bow assembly in the factory sleeve behind the rear seat, never having been put up since new; unfortunately, what was nowhere to be found were the windows, or the door surrounds with hardware...no big deal, I thought, I'll order those from Bestop, which I did. When I received everything from Bestop, and went to install the door surrounds, they had those sunrider spring pivot clips mounted, as their current TJ door surrounds can be used for sunrider or non-sunrider oem or Bestop soft tops. My 2004 did not have a sunrider top, so I removed those clips and threw them in a box 4 years ago. I was cleaning out the shed the other day, selling off the last of my leftover Jeep parts, and discovered those two brackets. I thought I might have tossed them, as I would never need them.

Anyway, I came across your thread, then went out to look in my workshed, and found them in a box...

I think they are what you might need (see photos below), and if so they're yours for the cost of postage. Let me know.

View attachment 166404

View attachment 166405

If they are what you need, it beats contacting Bestop...no telling if they sell those (though it would be interesting to know), or if they do, what they might charge...

Gary
Click to expand...

Gary did you ever get rid of the plunger clips? I need a set of not thanks Kevin [email protected]
 
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