How to stop Bikini Top from flapping and beating my head

Not sure if this is the correct forum in which to post this question, but does anyone have a suggestion or modification that will keep my bikini top from flapping and beating my head when I am driving at higher speeds? I have stock seats, am 6' 2" tall, and have pulled the straps about as tight as I can pull them. I don't want to modify the tub or seats. Here's a discussion from the wrangler forum that looks like a possible solution, but I'm looking for other ideas as well - http://www.wranglerforum.com/f218/bikini-top-flapping-on-my-head-241926.html

 

Yep been there, I put the bow off of my soft top in the front set of holes, the holes the soft top bow goes in, this raised the top about 3" above the roll bar.
Cut some rods to fit from the bow to my windshield to keep it in place and got a harbor frieght tarp clamp to tie to the footman loop in the bed, clamped it on in the middle of the rear of the top, piece of nylon rope to cinch it down
Err, your Jeep doesn't have footman loops in the bed like my 3B. You'll have to find a place on the tailgate to tie it to.

 

I'd post pictures but the Jeep is parked under a tarp right now.

 

Thanks. Sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, I don't have a soft top or the bows that go with it.

Any other great ideas out there?

 

For some strange reason my brain went into the gutter when I read this thread's title and first sentence............

Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you.

 

I was thinking of using some arched metal. like in the link, between the front and rear hoops on my cage. Best thing I could come up with though, I haven't done it yet. Maybe something from a tonneau cover, cut down to fit. I've tried stretching bungees across the bars with little to positive effect.

 

Now that's funny.

 

The bows are just electrical conduit pipe so if you have access to a conduit bender you can make your own to fit.
I suppose you could do this out of plastic too.

Way too cold to think about swimwear right now, well, then again...

 

Thanks. That would be something new for me, but it might be fun to give it a try.

As least Colorado is not in the polar vortex this time around.

 

I try not to drive my cj with bikini only this time of year .. seeing as how I'm in CO too. It's too dang cold.

Sadly, I don't have any solution for you. I've the same issue.

 

The Jeep is under a tarp, the hard top is in a corner of the yard.
When I was younger, I could put it on myself, but now, I need help, well age and medical.
I'm thinking about Alans solution, but then I've done it with my winch and a pully before.

 

I find that if it's over 50, which happens a few times each winter here in Colorado Springs, I can bundle up, fire up the jeep and go.

I'll let you know via this thread if I find a solution. Wish there was a nice one like this -http://www.wranglerforum.com/f282/cheap-easy-fun-creative-mods-102868-61.html - which seems to work well for a TJ.

 

FYI, if you want to try electrical conduit, and have no pipe bender, you can improvise with a slide in hitch and ball. I've used this to bend various pipe and metal things (beside bumpers parked too close pinning me in parallel parking spaces) in the past. Use the underside of the ball between the truck and the ball and leverage to make your bends, you just have to take easy bites, go easy in the bends to keep it looking correct and not make creases.


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Thanks. I've go one of those (a slide in hitch and ball). Might give it a try.

 

I don't have a problem with it in my TJ actually. Not exactly sure why, but only seem to have the issue with my CJ.

 

You could always try a full top.

 

a strip of mullion trim (thin wooden trim used between double windows) from home depot wont rust or cut you like a steel strap

 

I feel your pain brother, I'm 6'6" tall. I either had to make something that not only stopped the top from flapping against the top of my head but also raised it up so as to give me a little headroom (no matter how little) or remove it all together. I've had a supertop on there and the center bow pushed the top up in a way that made it so I can drive comfortably so I figured I'd create something that did something similar to the bikini top but I did not want to use the supertop bow. When I am running the bikini top I want to remove most of the supertop mounting hardware so the bow was out. Also I do not have a full roll cage yet so I could not use that to push up and tighten the bikini top.
I got this current idea form our good friend cj6/442. He has the full cage and the bar that run from the rear hoop to the front hoop on his rig are bent upwards just a bit so as to create a high point basically above that drivers head. He went a step beyond and modified a small length of 1/2 diameter pipe with a notch in the pipe where it would rest on the top of the upward bend in the cage and then slid it in between the bikini top and the top of the cage. It then acted just like the bow from the super top and stiffened the bikini top and eliminated the flap.
I wanted to make something that was easily installable/removable yet sturdy and was thinking of using electrical conduit or EMT tubing but didn't want the galvanized metal. So I went to the local Home Depot and picked up some 1/2 black iron pipe instead. I then used the conduit bender to but some slight bends into the two pieces that were going to run from the top of the windshield to the hoop of the roll bar. I wanted to give myself the space like I had with the supertop so the upward bends are located where the top bow of the supertop would be, right over my head. Welded a couple of flat pieces of steel on the ends with some screw holes in them for securing to the windshield frame and roll bar hoop. At the high point of the two longitudinal supports I welded a length of 1/2 pipe between the two. After some trial and error dry fitting and tacking of the pieces in and out of the Jeep I settled on a design that met my needs. The last thing I did was to wrap the 1/2 pipe in some nice thick soft pipe insulation just in case a bump on the trail would cause contact with my head it would at least not be against the steel, also it created a soft barrier between the bikini top and the support I just made.
I made it just before the Rubicon run last July and figured that'll be a great test since there was going to be a fair amount of highway driving to get to the trail head from Sacramento and at the end from Lake Tahoe back down to Sacramento.
Success! Looks a bit funny but's it better than the top resting on my head.


Raised Bikini Top

Inside view

Mounting tab to rollbar

Mounting tab to windshield frame

 

HeavyIron,

Great solution. Looks really sharp. I ended up making some bows of my own today. Here's what I did. I'll start with my parts list:

2" to 1/2" PVC Tee (2)
1 1/2" to 1/2" PVC Tee (2)
1/2" PVC pipe (2)
Saddle Tee Conversion Gasket (1)

First, I cut the 2" to 1/2" PVS Tee so that it would fit over my roll bar and lined it with the gasket material.







Next, I trimmed the 1 1/2" to 1/2" PVC Tee down so that it would fit between the rear view mirror and visor:



Then I cut a 3/4" slot out of it so that it could slide over the windshield frame and stuffed it with foam so it wouldn't rattle around. The location of the slot is critical as it determines the angle of the 1/2" fitting and how the pipe will sit on the windshield.





I then cut down the 1/2" PVC pipe to 37 1/4" and installed it:









Here's what it looks like with the top on:





Took it for a test drive this afternoon, got it up to 65 with a 30 mph crosswind and it performed just great! NO BEATING ABOUT THE HEAD and it was so much quieter without the flapping! The whole process took about 2 hours, but that was mainly because I used a hacksaw for all my cuts. I may trim the length of the bows a little as I think they are a little too tall. I also may paint all the pieces black. I like how easy it is to take everything apart if I want to run it topless. And I am hoping that one of the nice side effects will be that the top won't collect water when it rains. Btw, the total cost was under $15.