Hey y’all I’m new here to the forms. Just wanted to share an idea. I’ve had my Jeep going on 3 years now it’s a 2009 Wrangler Unlimited. I have a BesTop frameless soft top that is all beat up and I’ve had to rig it up a lot just to keep it functional. For the past year I’ve been looking at new tops however they are so expensive!! I started thinking about building my own top. I hate the wind noise from the soft tops, but also don’t have anywhere to store a hard top nor feel like taking the hard top off due to the fact I’m always taking my top off if the weather permits it.
I’ve been an experienced carpenter for quite some time now and my friend and I have started brainstorming ideas about making our own top out of wood.
It will be built in a way that seals everything up and minimizes wind noise, as well as being able to fold and come off in sections with ease like soft tops.
For instance, the top will be able to fold over halfway (just driver and passenger) and fold fully back allowing most of the top in the rear to be exposed as well. These 2 folding pieces can either be folded back or come off as a whole (like a bikini top) and the back windows will each be their own piece as well as a slanted rear window.
Basically the idea is to build a hard top that has the easy functionality of a soft top that can be easily stored and can be put on/off as easy as a soft top at 1/4 of the price as a used hard top.
I’ll keep this updated as we make progress and I will also add the final blueprints when everything is finished up.
It is definitely possible to do (especially since I’ve seen people do this with truck bed covers), however it is going to take a lot of time to work out how things will be sealed, latched and secured, materials to use, framing, windows, etc.
The winter weather is going to add more time as well due to the temperatures and also holidays, but my goal is to at least have the sketches and engineering aspects down and figured out by the end of January, maybe sooner.
Again I’ll keep ya’ll on updated, but based on temperatures and work schedules etc, it is for sure going to be a several month project that most likely won’t be done until April-May.
I’ve been an experienced carpenter for quite some time now and my friend and I have started brainstorming ideas about making our own top out of wood.
It will be built in a way that seals everything up and minimizes wind noise, as well as being able to fold and come off in sections with ease like soft tops.
For instance, the top will be able to fold over halfway (just driver and passenger) and fold fully back allowing most of the top in the rear to be exposed as well. These 2 folding pieces can either be folded back or come off as a whole (like a bikini top) and the back windows will each be their own piece as well as a slanted rear window.
Basically the idea is to build a hard top that has the easy functionality of a soft top that can be easily stored and can be put on/off as easy as a soft top at 1/4 of the price as a used hard top.
I’ll keep this updated as we make progress and I will also add the final blueprints when everything is finished up.
It is definitely possible to do (especially since I’ve seen people do this with truck bed covers), however it is going to take a lot of time to work out how things will be sealed, latched and secured, materials to use, framing, windows, etc.
The winter weather is going to add more time as well due to the temperatures and also holidays, but my goal is to at least have the sketches and engineering aspects down and figured out by the end of January, maybe sooner.
Again I’ll keep ya’ll on updated, but based on temperatures and work schedules etc, it is for sure going to be a several month project that most likely won’t be done until April-May.
