Should I get a new soft top?

I've got no advice for TJ soft tops but my recent experience with Bestop was beyond horrible. I'm not one to complain about customer service often or even at all but their complete lack of respect for the people who buy their products exhibited over the last 5 weeks was truly amazing.

Just make sure you get a complete unit and don't have to contact customer service. Let's say my experience in getting an incomplete windshield channel part (missing installation hardware) will lead me away from Bestop or any of their other brands. What a complete pain in the butt to deal with when you finally get a hold of them.
 
Guitarguy said:
Thanks Moab for the backup! It's good to hear someone's had good luck with a more affordable top. I've gone over the soft top frame and there's no bends in it or anything but there's also no foam on any of the bars. There's padding on the roll cage but that's about it. Should there be foam on the soft top frame? I do have the new top on the way. Haven't gotten an eta cuz of all this COVID crap but hopefully it'll be here in the next week. I do appreciate all you guys though recommending the bestops. There's a handfull of things I need to do to the jeep too and there's a weird rattle that I've been chasing so I just cant' dump that kind of money into a top when I don't know what else is going on. A bestop will probably happen when I ditch the old 4 cylinder and hopefully go to a 5.2 or 5.9 magnum and a lift. That'll be at least a year down the road though. Anyways I'll keep posted on how the new top works out.
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Read my thread on my cheap top. Alot of good info. Including pics of how your frame should be.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...-any-other-brand-soft-top-installation.17352/
 
In addition your frame should have that foam above the front seats. the oem pic does not show that. But it should be there. Get some pipe insulation from home depot to replace it.

tj-supertop-hardware.jpg
 
also make sure that piece of fabric running along the top corners front to back is not twisted. It's impossible to explain how to straighten it out. Or how it even gets that way. But make sure it's flat and not twisted.

Jeep wrangler TJ soft top oem factory frame.jpg
 
Shoot I'm sorry grumblebee, I could a swore I wrote a reply to yours! I've got full doors up front so it's just the rears flapping all over. I tried to tape the velcro but it still rattled like none other. You get a gold star too buddy!
 
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Just checked around on the old top looking for a date or something. It's got 10/2015 stamped on the window. So this top is almost 5 years old. I think we've got our culprit as to why it's so loose. Also the windows have been faded pretty bad since I've had it. I'm not sure if I mentioned that before or not but you can hardly see out of them so I do think it's time for a new top anyways. Glanced over the frame again and it all looks pretty dang good! I'll definitely pick up some foam though to put over everything.
 
Guitarguy said:
Shoot I'm sorry grumblebee, I could a swore I wrote a reply to yours! I've got full doors up front so it's just the rears flapping all over. I tried to tape the velcro but it still rattled like none other. You get a gold star too buddy!
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Aww, shucks. lol

@Moab Interesting on the foam on the frame. My 2001 didn't come with any on the OEM frame and I haven't had any issues with the OEM top or OEM style replacement. Were there trim levels or years in the TJ style that came with a different frame and foam like the red one you posted? Or is that an aftermarket thing? My frame and Jeep are pretty much spot on to the yellow Jeep you posted above. I read most of the posts, but I might have missed the part of the post that explained this.
 
grumblebee said:
Aww, shucks. lol

@Moab Interesting on the foam on the frame. My 2001 didn't come with any on the OEM frame and I haven't had any issues with the OEM top or OEM style replacement. Were there trim levels or years in the TJ style that came with a different frame and foam like the red one you posted? Or is that an aftermarket thing? My frame and Jeep are pretty much spot on to the yellow Jeep you posted above. I read most of the posts, but I might have missed the part of the post that explained this.
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My frame is from an unknown year Jeep TJ. Someone on this forum graciously gave it to me. But it is the OEM style like the red Jeep. And like yours from what I gather. But mine had factory padding on the bar above the front seats. A dark charcoal grey color. About half an inch thick around the bar. And one solid piece. No seal or seam.

Foolishly, when I tried to put my new top on in the middle of winter. I ended up cutting the original foam from that section. To try to get my soft top to fit. Not knowing I was just trying to attempt something that was better left to a 70F day or greater. And that I should have left the foam well enough alone.

So some year(s) had foam on that section of the frame. But I don't know which. And I don't know if there were any trim differences that included an upgraded or different frame.

But once I pulled my head out of my ass. And I got my top put on in a sunny 71F day. I drove it for about two months with this annoying flapping in the top above the seats. Whenever at freeway speeds. But I remembered that foam. So I went to Home Depot and bought 3 bucks worth of foam pipe insulation in the correct diameter and thickness. Self healing no less and an almost match colorwise. And once I had it installed the flapping went away.

I also drove around with the soft top - not attached correctly - to the front header. Because I hadn't turned the fabric under a enough times before putting the screws in. In some of my earlier pictures on my build thread you can see how loose it was in the front. Which undoubtedly caused alot of loose material and more flapping.

So there are alot of little things you can f up on a soft top installation. Do what your doing. Research the crap out of it. And you'll at least get your "cheap" soft top fitted correctly. That's the majority of the battle with cheap tops IMHO. Probably with any top actually. Even an ill fitted Bestop is going to flap around and sound like crap.

But the worst part of an ill fitting top. Is it will allow loose seals where it mates to the Jeep. Where water will get in. And that's not worth any cheap price on a soft top. But at least - fitted - you'll at least have a good chance of it doing the one thing it has to do. And that's keep water out.
 
@Moab , I see what I think is the foam in the first pic (middle bar?), but am I correct that it's not showing in the second pic? I don't think mine came with it (stock top). What diameter/thickness/length fits?

Also, I have always wondered what the fabric strip was that you warn not to twist. I am missing one and the other is disconnected at the forward bar (the fabric has degraded and rains tiny fibers everywhere whenever you move it). What do those do? Are they to prevent the rear-most bar from falling too far down?
 
RMETeeJay said:
@Moab , I see what I think is the foam in the first pic (middle bar?), but am I correct that it's not showing in the second pic? I don't think mine came with it (stock top). What diameter/thickness/length fits?

Also, I have always wondered what the fabric strip was that you warn not to twist. I am missing one and the other is disconnected at the forward bar (the fabric has degraded and rains tiny fibers everywhere whenever you move it). What do those do? Are they to prevent the rear-most bar from falling too far down?
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That's correct the padding is not showing in the second pic.

I don't recall the size offhand. But if you measure the width of the tubing you can determine what ID you need. Then it's up to you how thick you want the padding to be or OD. If your tops loose it may be good to use a thicker OD. It's super cheap stuff though.

Yes. Those fabric strips help hold the frame up in the rear I believe. If you don't have them. You need them. I guess you could use a section of seat belt and some new rivets. You'll have to drill out the old ones. Depending on your diy skills and tools. It may be easier to just buy a new old frame.
 
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So I just checked out that scenario in the back of the Jeep and one strap is connected to the top by 1 rivet holding on to a few threads and the bottom of that side isn't connected to anything. The other side has no strap at all. I just remembered seeing a random strap dangling and not giving it any mind otherwise. Where is it supposed to connect on the bottom side? I can't seem to find anywhere it looks like it should go.
 
Guitarguy said:
So I just checked out that scenario in the back of the Jeep and one strap is connected to the top by 1 rivet holding on to a few threads and the bottom of that side isn't connected to anything. The other side has no strap at all. I just remembered seeing a random strap dangling and not giving it any mind otherwise. Where is it supposed to connect on the bottom side? I can't seem to find anywhere it looks like it should go.
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You'll have to follow the pic of the yellow jeep above. As to placement of the straps. Or find more images on google images. That's certainly why your top was flapping.
 
This was driving me crazy with the major differences between the soft top frames of the red Jeep and yellow Jeep above, so I did some research and the best I can tell:

The red Jeep's soft top hardware is a BesTop Supertop® (not Supertop NX, just Supertop) aftermarket frame. It differs from the OEM design (different connection points, foam on bars, no straps, to name a few ) and is designed to be used only with BesTop Supertop® soft tops. It can be purchased standalone or as a set with a BesTop Supertop® soft top.

The yellow Jeep shows the OEM style soft top frame that would have come factory on a Jeep TJ, this is what most aftermarket tops are designed to mount to unless specified (like certain BesTop tops that need different frame hardware made by BesTop, etc).

If you have the OEM style frame hardware of the yellow Jeep, you should not add foam to it. You should check to see that no hardware is missing and that everything is properly connected. You can order new replacement parts for all aspects of the OEM hardware at the Jeep parts site of your choice from what I have seen while researching.
 
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grumblebee said:
This was driving me crazy with the major differences between the soft top frames of the red Jeep and yellow Jeep above, so I did some research and the best I can tell:

The red Jeep's soft top hardware is a BesTop Supertop® (not Supertop NX, just Supertop) aftermarket frame. It differs from the OEM design (different connection points, foam on bars, no straps, to name a few ) and is designed to be used only with BesTop Supertop® soft tops. It can be purchased standalone or as a set with a BesTop Supertop® soft top.

The yellow Jeep shows the OEM style soft top frame that would have come factory on a Jeep TJ, this is what most aftermarket tops are designed to mount to unless specified (like certain BesTop tops that need different frame hardware made by BesTop, etc).

If you have the OEM style frame hardware of the yellow Jeep, you should not add foam to it. You should check to see that no hardware is missing and that everything is properly connected. You can order new replacement parts for all aspects of the OEM hardware at the Jeep parts site of your choice from what I have seen while researching.
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My oem standard frame (just like the yellow jeep above) came with foam above the drivers seats. Additionally there is absolutely no harm in adding foam anyplace u need it. On any style frame. It actually helps pull your top taut in those areas. And keeps it from beating against the metal frame. You can also get the foam as thin or thick as u need.

As we've discussed not all tops are the same. Some may have loose areas others dont. Even between same tops. Adding some foam here or there could be the only way to tighten it up.
 
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Moab said:
My oem standard frame (just like the yellow jeep above) came with foam above the drivers seats. Additionally there is absolutely no harm in adding foam anyplace u need it. On any style frame. It actually helps pull your top taut in those areas. And keeps it from beating against the metal frame. You can also get the foam as thin or thick as u need.

As we've discussed not all tops are the same. Some may have loose areas others dont. Even between same tops. Adding some foam here or there could be the only way to tighten it up.
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Ah, I didn't realize you were just using the red Jeep photo as an example for adding foam, I thought you were saying you had that exact frame.

Maybe a new top will fit on his OEM frame without any problems, and it was just a crappy top, but if a new top doesn't fit any better, sure, I'd try foam or any other fix as well.
 
Guitarguy said:
So I just checked out that scenario in the back of the Jeep and one strap is connected to the top by 1 rivet holding on to a few threads and the bottom of that side isn't connected to anything. The other side has no strap at all. I just remembered seeing a random strap dangling and not giving it any mind otherwise. Where is it supposed to connect on the bottom side? I can't seem to find anywhere it looks like it should go.
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You definitely need the straps to hold the back crossbar in place. Mine deteriorated too, so I went to joanns and got some canvas like fabric that was as close to the original fabric as possible. It wasn’t as wide, so I had to sew two pieces together, then cut it to the same size, burnt the edges (to prevent fraying) and riveted into place. Has held up well, I think I replaced them around 3 years ago now.

55E1CF0A-1B91-441A-8667-60088CE84251.jpeg


9950E7BD-E929-4086-A34F-6D3AF36381CA.jpeg
 
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Vidar said:
You definitely need the straps to hold the back crossbar in place. Mine deteriorated too, so I went to joanns and got some canvas like fabric that was as close to the original fabric as possible. It wasn’t as wide, so I had to sew two pieces together, then cut it to the same size, burnt the edges (to prevent fraying) and riveted into place. Has held up well, I think I replaced them around 3 years ago now.

View attachment 175921

View attachment 175922
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Nice job!

Ya. He has to replace his straps. No amount of new top is going to fix that. :)
 
That looks awesome! The top got put on back order. It should ship out this coming Friday but I'm still trying to figure out where those straps connect to. I've got one connected on the far back top passenger side corner but the other end is just flapping around.
 
I had written something several years ago about the straps. I will paste it here. If you need measurements, I can probably come up with something. I’m on the road now but tomorrow I should be able too. I made an extra when I did this. I just used a chisel to chop off the heads of the rivets and replaced them. Crazy easy.

The strap listed below was the right width (just under an 1/8th" wider) and thickness of the original.
The company, I had seen in other posts, but had a tough time rummaging through their product until I came across another post from some time ago with a link.
It's strapworks.com and the product code is: HWP3, Description is: Heavyweight Polypropylene 3 inch. I picked black of course. It was $13.05 to the door for 20 feet. 5 days to the door with their basic shipping.
This bit above is for the next person trying to figure out where and what strap.
I have installed it now. No issues at all. I riveted the strap in place, I used some small washers on the rivets because the heads seemed small, give it a little more bite. I used the old strap as a template to cut the new strap. If it's too damaged you can take the other off and use it as a template. From side to side they just flip as I recall, the cut is the same for both sides. Besides, I bought enough material to make multiple. A new one is already cut for the other side.
I bought a cheap riveter at harbor freight and knocked the old heads off with a chisel. Having never riveted anything before, it was easy. Hope this helps.
BTW, I used a soldering iron to put the holes in the straps and a lighter to seal the threads where it was cut.
I’ve had these on there for about three years with no issues whatsoever.
 
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