[Squint77]

Originally Posted by azxj91

top looks good! But I love the rims... what are they? size?

Oh the rims are 16x8's...

[Squint77]

I am still debating on running some sort of lightweight support across the top on each side. It definitely deflects the rain and has no low spots, however, looking up at the top as you stand right next to the jeep, it's shape looks a little saggy. this is just an illusion as you can see from the pics though and the only reason to make this change in the future, would be asthetics. It would be an easy add anyway.

This morning I will be attaching the rear straps with basting tape in preparation for sewing tonight when the wife gets home. Our sewing machine is quite powerful and can sew through ten layers of sailcloth if needed. This comes in handy when you are sewing right through plastic.
Here is a pic from when we were sewing the zipper flap a while back:

[Squint77]

After a long hiatus, I am back on this project. A good friend passed away, we traveled, I had a few health issues to work through, I did some wheeling and then a few jeep projects and some maintenance/repairs...
After my 8274 lounged around on my garage floor for a while, I finally decided mount it. Funny, I could have sworn I heard my jeep grunt when it settled on the front bumper.


Also made a rack for the wife's jeep and a wind jammer:


I added two more straps to the far edges of the top above the doors. To my chagrin, I realized that those two straps did not help. This is a learning process, right?

Yesterday, my wife sewed the seam that joins the rear portion of the top down the middle. The rolled fabric, as it comes from the distributor, is only 5' wide which was just a tad short for our project, hence the joining of two pieces.



I expect this portion of the project to be more difficult in terms of prepwork being that the zipper has to perfectly join with the front section, and the fabric must rollover the back edges tightly and then join various zippers, all
pulling tight with the sides and windows. It becomes, to say the least, a complicated mess of a brain teaser, but I am hopeful that my plan will work.

I did a quick mockup to insure I didn't make any glaring errors in measurements:
All ok so far:


Preparing to stitch in the velcro, fold and zipper flap:

[flying_bosun]

Originally Posted by Squint77

After a long hiatus, I am back on this project. A good friend passed away, we traveled, I had a few health issues to work through, I did some wheeling and then a few jeep projects and some maintenance/repairs...
After my 8274 lounged around on my garage floor for a while, I finally decided mount it. Funny, I could have sworn I heard my jeep grunt when it settled on the front bumper.

Yesterday, my wife sewed the seam that joins the rear portion of the top down the middle. The rolled fabric, as it comes from the distributor, is only 5' wide which was just a tad short for our project, hence the joining of two pieces....

I expect this portion of the project to be more difficult in terms of prepwork being that the zipper has to perfectly join with the front section, and the fabric must rollover the back edges tightly and then join various zippers, all
pulling tight with the sides and windows. It becomes, to say the least, a complicated mess of a brain teaser, but I am hopeful that my plan will work.

Glad you're back, condolences re friend's passing and hope your health is better.

Nice winch, though I recommend that you have the eye re-swaged with a thimbol, cuz steel rope (i.e., cable) doesn't like sharp bends like the one being made around the clevis in the pic. It'd prolly be fine for most of what you do, but it is definitely not as reliable as it would be with a larger turning radius.

But enough of the chit-chat; You're driving me batty with the promise of this top be available sometime. I WANT IT NOW!!! I'll send money now for the first non-prototype. Heck, I'll send money now for the first prototype! I also know a couple of sailmaker/canvas guys that do phenomenal work and would make the cover for me if you have any plans I could use or buy to fab the framing. UGH!!

Glad you're making progress, though, it looks great. Keep up the good work!

[Squint77]

Originally Posted by flying_bosun

Glad you're back, condolences re friend's passing and hope your health is better.

Nice winch, though I recommend that you have the eye re-swaged with a thimbol, cuz steel rope (i.e., cable) doesn't like sharp bends like the one being made around the clevis in the pic. It'd prolly be fine for most of what you do, but it is definitely not as reliable as it would be with a larger turning radius.

Flying, thanks for the kind words.
I will definitely take that into account and, this being the first winch I have owned, I do appreciate the advice. I do plan to purchase synthetic rope with a thimble and hawse. A new switch panel from the 12 volt guy arrived today so the winch is not yet operational, however that is not a priority right now- the top is .

Originally Posted by flying_bosun

But enough of the chit-chat; You're driving me batty with the promise of this top be available sometime. I WANT IT NOW!!! I'll send money now for the first non-prototype. Heck, I'll send money now for the first prototype! I also know a couple of sailmaker/canvas guys that do phenomenal work and would make the cover for me if you have any plans I could use or buy to fab the framing. UGH!!

Glad you're making progress, though, it looks great. Keep up the good work!

This is actually why I waited so long to start posting about the project. With our busy schedules and all the modifications and rebuilds, progress has been extremely slow. For the time being, I think it is necessary to work this through and then if there is enough interest, I will find a way to bring this to the community.

I do really appreciate the encouragement- it makes me want to move faster knowing that there are good folks like you looking forward to the results. I have dozens of other ideas about what could be done with this framework for camping, traveling, wheeling, etc, in terms of storage, gadgets, lighting, mounts, etc. I would love to get to those as well.

On the progress- last night we did sew the zipper flap and velcro to the canvas that will cover from the B to the D pilar. Tonight, whilst I have a nice microbrew, I plan to attach the zipper which will connect this piece to the "bikini". It will be somewhat exciting to be able to pull the canvas taught for the first time. More to come soon. I promise

[Squint77]

After "tacking" the straps on and connecting the B pillar with just the velcro (zipper is not yet sewn to the back section), we took a weekend jaunt to the high country. The weather was beautiful and the top did great, however, since the straps were only superficially sewn on, the far right strap broke while I was tightening. I didn't have time to pull it off and sew before setting off. Here are some pics:

Our little dingo "Sookie" liked having some badly needed shade as well.


A quick reinforcement of the straps and a simple job on the zipper and we are ready to start on the sides and back.

[dayriesw]

Looks great and retro!

[Squint77]

Thanks! It really looks nice in person. I was pleasantly suprised at how easy it was to take the back portion off/on this morning.

The strap is sewn on and it pulls nice and tight. I plan to run one more strap on the bend as well for astheics. This should take car of the kinks on the curve



As you can see, there is plenty of room for fishing poles, soft camping gear, etc above the roll bars.


I will start on the sides and back this weekend.

[mark02tj]

That is VERY COOL!!

I wonder how a shorter one would look on a TJ? Probably not as cool as on an LJ though. It looks like a scaled down "deuce and a quarter" Army truck! Nice job!

[Squint77]

Originally Posted by mark02tj

That is VERY COOL!!

I wonder how a shorter one would look on a TJ? Probably not as cool as on an LJ though. It looks like a scaled down "deuce and a quarter" Army truck! Nice job!

Thanks for the compliment- definitely the look I was going for so that is encouraging. I did actually do a cheapie photo shop job to see what a TJ looks like. If I can find it, I will post. We are thinking about making one for my wife's TJ.

[Squint77]

Here it is. Not exactly a TJ, but you get the idea- close enough.

[flying_bosun]

Originally Posted by Squint77

I also made a steel mounting rail that ties everything together and uses the factory holes for mounting. There are so many things you could bolt, tie, etc, to this rail that you cannot fasten to the factory tub without drilling holes. Perfect for outfitting my LJ. More on the mounting rail later...
The whole thing was drawn up in Solidworks by a friend who is an engineer originally, but I have changed it a number of times since.

"drool: Looking great and I am chomping at the bit in anticipation. I really would be more than happy to see any plans you might care to share in order to get started.

BTW, the "TJ" photoshop version looks fantastic, too.

[Squint77]

After careful consideration, I have decided to make everything zip off. This does complicate things but it can definitely be accomplished, making for a much more versatile top, overall. Thanks for your input on that.

I knew from the start that the door surrounds pieces would require special attention. The overall shape of the top is a square with the vertical hardware being exactly at 90 degrees with the body of the vehicle. This means that the soft top must taper into the door surrounds which are slightly slanted in, towards the interior. In other words, the doors are not straight up and down- they slant inward as you follow them upwards. For reference, if you look at the Toyota 70 series troopie, they have a hard top which does something very similar. This can throw off traditional measurements so we have to turn to using patterns with a special reinforced plastic and basting tape (sticky on both sides).
Here is what it looks like during the patterning process:



And this is how it stands. Zippers are already attached on one side of the sailcloth material, but need to be sewn into the adjoining sides, therefore, everything is being held on with Velcro for the time being. I drove it to work this morning to see how it reacts to a moderate wind and it did just fine. I did, however, get some very quizzical looks on the way, mainly from built Toyota and Jeep owners.
It looks a tad odd without the windows to be sure, but those are saved for last.



Zippers should go on shortly. I also need to order some materials in order to finish the project.

[flying_bosun]

You torment me so....

Are the side panels are going to terminate 3"-4" short of the rear vertical support as it's currently configured? Why so? For that matter, does the rear vertical take that aftward jog to get the tail edge of the top flush with the tailgate?

Have you considered using fasteners like these? They are pretty easy to install and use and are very common in marine/yacht canvas applications.

[JustinCHorst]

Love this top and need a new one within the year, I would happily purchase a top like this from you as long as the production costs arent totally astronomical, I would be willing to pay for this design...nice work