What is your worst top-off experience?

Grey_Machine7.3

Acts like a mechanic
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Hendersonville Tn
Just drove my tj to Nashville from my house (30min). Majority interstate.
Got me thinking, boy there's no protection from debris flying around out here. Nothing happened to me on the drive there, but it got me thinking. Let's hear your worst experience with your top off/down that could have been avoided had to had the top on your Jeep. I'm sure there are a few wild ones. 😁
Hopefully you were not injured.
 
I parked my TJ outside of my high school without a roof or doors. When the hailstorm rolled in, I could see my Jeep from my seat in physics as it filled with hail. Nothing I could do. Radio didn't work once I fired it up afterwards, but no lasting problems. I got made fun of for a few days for that one...
 
I didn't have the top off at the time, but I had all the windows out and the doors off when I drove to a rocky area for a hike. Just as I got there one of those southern summer pop-up thunderstorms formed. I was able to drive away from it for a bit without getting to wet. I thought it had stopped so I went back to my hiking area. Just as I started to walk away from the jeep, it started raining again. Tried to outrun this one too but it wasn't happening. The rear carpet got soaked and in the front, the rain running off the sides of the top poured straight down into the floor, right between the door openings and the seats. It eventually did stop and I went on my hike, but I was busy when I got back home. Pulled all the carpet and shampooed it and let it dry in my workshop and cleaned up all the water in the floor. Not the worst of things to happen, but was an inconvenience afterwards. It was kinda fun while it was happening though.

I now have a window roll so I can have them with me easily stowed away. Now I just need some 2 piece soft doors to throw in the back for such situations.
 
I've been caught out in the rain a handful of times. Once you get above 30mph or so though the rain goes right over the jeep.

Fortunately I've never had any of this happen to me. Though I've always been waiting for the day a bird flies overhead and shits on me :LOL:
In Moab I had a bird crap land right at eye level on the windshield. I remember thinking I got lucky.
 
I've been caught out in the rain a handful of times. Once you get above 30mph or so though the rain goes right over the jeep.


In Moab I had a bird crap land right at eye level on the windshield. I remember thinking I got lucky.

Damn, I’ll say you did! That’s one of my worst nightmares having it land on me, haha.
 
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In Moab I had a bird crap land right at eye level on the windshield. I remember thinking I got lucky.

Lucky, lucky, lucky. My old dentist got hit in the eye while playing golf. Cleaned it up the best he could because he was on the far side of the course. Seemed good enough to finish up the game, so he did. Ended up with an eye infection the next day and shortly after that he lost 90% sight in that eye.
 
Back in 86 I was driving my 85 cj7 on the interstate with Bimini top on when I got hit by a major rainstorm. The rain rolled around the top and was raining as hard on the inside as it was on the outside. Had to continuously wipe the inside of windshield, and finally had to pull over and pull the drain plugs in the floor, the tub had filled up to the pedals.
 
Back in 86 I was driving my 85 cj7 on the interstate with Bimini top on when I got hit by a major rainstorm. The rain rolled around the top and was raining as hard on the inside as it was on the outside. Had to continuously wipe the inside of windshield, and finally had to pull over and pull the drain plugs in the floor, the tub had filled up to the pedals.
Daaang, turned your cj into a bathtub 🤣😂
 
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Lucky, lucky, lucky. My old dentist got hit in the eye while playing golf. Cleaned it up the best he could because he was on the far side of the course. Seemed good enough to finish up the game, so he did. Ended up with an eye infection the next day and shortly after that he lost 90% sight in that eye.
That is horrible .

If a rooster does that , you could end up cockeyed.
 
The good experiences far outweigh the bad . Topless is sooo much what a jeep is about to me . I just love it .

I would hate for a manure truck to turn over on me on the interstate though .
 
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Was at work and the rains came as I was leaving. I had just the top up no sides or half door tops. Doesn’t sound bad yet, but as I was driving home it started to come down very hard to the point of flooding the roads. I might have been okay but a semi was heading my way throwing a huge wave of water. Nothing I could do but hold on tight. It nearly blew me off my seat. Now I carry my half door tops.
 
Was at work and the rains came as I was leaving. I had just the top up no sides or half door tops. Doesn’t sound bad yet, but as I was driving home it started to come down very hard to the point of flooding the roads. I might have been okay but a semi was heading my way throwing a huge wave of water. Nothing I could do but hold on tight. It nearly blew me off my seat. Now I carry my half door tops.
Glad you made it out that sounds intense
 
This wasn't a Jeep. But related.

My then GF (now wife) and I decided to rent a convertible in LA and drive to San Diego for the weekend. When we picked it up the top was down.

It was very hot out. I'd say in the upper 80's. And the sun was beating down. Not a cloud in the sky.

When we got to Camp Pendleton there was a huge wreck someplace before Oceanside (the end of Camp Pendleton). And the freeway came to a complete stop. Now you can't enter Camp Pendleton without military id. And the 5 freeway runs right thru it for several miles down the coast. So your kind of trapped on the freeway. No turning off to use a phone. (This was before cellphones. Or at least before they were common.) With the one exception of the southbound rest stop. Which we passed.

Well it's already a couple hours into our journey with the top off. And my bald head is getting red. And my GF in her bikini top is getting red shoulders. And a burnt face. Traffic starts creeping very very slowly. And we pull over to get out and put the top up.

We tried for an hour to figure out how to get the top back up. No doing. Nothing worked. Even asked a few people parked like us on the 5 freeway. Nobody could figure it out. It takes us 7 hours(!) to get thru Camp Pendleton. And we are both FRIED. I mean red to the core. I'm seriously wondering if my GF is having a bad reaction to her sunburn.

So we get out of the traffic mess. And high tail it to SD with the top down and the ac on. We get to our hotel. I call the rental place. And they inform us that the convertible top release is a button up under the right rear wheel well! Like hidden. I guess it must have been a safety feature? So you couldn't easily get the top to go down so you could steal it? IDK. All I know is we spent the rest of the weekend in our hotel room. Nursing the worse sunburns we'd ever had. And did nothing we had planned.

Moral of the story. Always carry a hat. And an extra for your occupants. Her face was fried!
 
The pressure tank in our wellhouse went bad and a good friend of our owned a company that drills wells and sells all that stuff. He graciously bought one for us. All I had to do was drive 39 miles to pick it up. It was a Monday (I still remember). The place closed at 5 and I got off at 4. I had to drive home first, another 10 miles. I had to put the cargo carrier on the Jeep too. It was going to be close. I started driving, topless, doorless, and then there was this storm between our town and the other town. Geez, just drive through it, right. What other options do I have. At the time I hadn’t regeared and there are a lot of hills, so I’m fluctuating between 55 and 70 through this rainstorm. Turned on the windshield wipers and that didn’t seem to get all the water off. I realized it was inside the windshield. So I get there at 4:59 and load up my pressure tank only to drive back through the same stupid storm. By the time I got home I was cold and dinner was being served. I was planning to go on a MTB ride at 6pm. I started shaking. My wife was looking at me and said I was as white as a sheet. She took my temp and I was running 100*. So, I didn’t go on my MTB ride. But I got my pressure tank!
 
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