Jeeps are often best enjoyed "topless". However, there are certain practical advantages to a removable hard top. As a compromise, I generally run my factory hard top in the winter and an aftermarket Bestop Supertop soft top in the summer. The soft top makes it much easier to strip the top off for enjoying one's Jeep experiences during the warm summer months.
The hard top is fairly easy for two strong people to remove, but I usually find myself without a helper when I'm inspired to remove (or re-install) mine.
After some discussions on the swbjeep email list about how best to remove and store the hard top, I whipped up this little page on how I deal with mine. I hope you find it useful.
Click on the picture for a larger image.
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Here's my garage. First, I'd like to apologize for two things. (1) The quality of these pictures is lacking - they're scans made by the film developer. (2) My messy garage. I certainly wasn't going to clean it up just for these pictures.
Note the four red cargo straps dangling from the roof beams. These straps will be used to lift and hold the hard top in the garage.
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Here's some detail showing the nylon webbing used to hook the straps to the beams.
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The bottom end of the cargo straps has a hook, in which I hang a loop of nylon webbing. Also in that loop is a small, flat hook meant for gripping the driprail on a car roof. That hook will be used to hook under the edges of the hard top.
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The requisite "before" picture.
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I back the Jeep into the garage, centered between the hanging straps.
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Here you can see three of the four Torx-head bolts that hold the hard top to the tub. Remove these bolts. The nuts beneath are rectangular and wide so they won't spin as you loosen (or tighten) them.
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Here you can see the electrical connection to the hard top (for the rear wiper blade and the rear defroster) and the hose for the rear window squirter. Don't forget to unplug these.
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Here you can see four of the seven screws that hold the hard top to the windsheild frame. From the factory these are sheet-metal screws. I've drilled out the screw holes and installed threaded inserts, so my top is held in with machine screws. Remove these seven screws.
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There are two screws on either side of the rear window that secure the rubber gasket to the tub. Remove these four screws.
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Two screws on this side of the gasket, too.
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Okay, at this point it's only gravity holding the top on. Hook the hooks under the lip of the hard top, near the forward edge (right behind the door) and the rearward edge (just in front of where top top curves in). It may help to lift the top a bit in order to get the hooks in without scratching the paint. The part of the top forward of the front strap is much lighter than the rest, so balance isn't a problem here.
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Now start tightening the straps, little by little. I like to lift up on the top with one hand while taking up the slack in the strap with the other. Be careful not to lift so far as to let any of the other hooks fall out.
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I'll usually lift and tighten the two straps on one side a few times, then switch to the other side.
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In my case, there's not room enough to open the rear door of the Jeep when I'm backed up far enough to reach where I want top to hang. So I've got to lift the top far enough that the (closed) rear window will clear the spare tire and center-mounted brake light.
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Houston, we have separation.
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The requisite "after" picture.
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There's the top, where it will hang until fall. Don't forget the two rubber corner gaskets in the front corners of the top, where the top, windshield, and doors meet. At this point you should be able to just pull them out and store them so they'll be read come fall (otherwise they might fall out and get lost). You can barely see them in this picture, still stuck to the top. Make a mental note of how they fit in.
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If I drive in forward, I can easily park with the hood under the dangling top. And if I center it just perfectly, I can even open the hood.
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Here's a shot from underneath the hanging top where you can see one of the hooks.
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Here's a hook on the other side, and you can see the empty sockets where the electrical and squirter connections go.
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