Bestop for the commando

Thanks for the pics. I like the slant back style, that's why I wouldn't get the bestop one. Another reason was because a friend with a CJ8 bought one for his and he said it's going to take a lot of work to make it fit.

I made my frame from the bows of an intermediate CJ5, narrowed them, and tapered the sides. Made door surrounds from 3/4 EMT conduit. My neighbor made the top after I got the frame ready. I got him to make zip out windows. View attachment 22872

View attachment 22873

 

My hardtop is AWOL. PO left it at a paint and body shop, and the Body shop guy there said it was going to cost me 3k to finish it. He wants me to pick it up, but I haven't been down there to get it yet.

And Hawkes- WOW- you did a lot more fab work than I had to...The Bestop kit was $128 shipped, and most of it lined up pretty well. All in all, it took me about three hours to install, and that's counting the cutting that I had to do on the bows front and rear.

 

Top looks great. I like the slant top and the fact that the rear side "windows" go all the way to the door. I've got a CJ6 and the stop situation is the same as for you guys. Only one company. And the top is ugly. And it's something like 700 bucks for the ugly...............

 

lol

 

Well crap. It rained like 5 inches here today, and the area between the rear support rod and my roll bar pocketed some water. When I say "some" water, I mean like 5 gallons of it. I'm afraid that it might have stretched the top. Of course, yesterday I was too lazy to finish installing the snaps to the rear bow, as I needed to charge my drill etc etc. Now this. Anybody else ever gone through this?

 

You can see where it caught it here- right in front of the rear bow

 

Nice top.
Wish I could buy that now
The slant back just looks right

 

I get some water build up on my top also. I do have the straps in the back and they do help to keep the top tight.

If the top doesn't have the straps but the bow snaps to the top in the rear you should be able to loop it around the bow. should work the same way.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! I am going to give it a try- where should I look for the straps? Bungie cords may do in a pinch:?, but not a permanent solution. One of my buddies suggested that I put a piece of plywood on top of the bows, but that would rub holes in the top after a while, plus I wouldn't have the necessary curvature- in essence it would look pretty stupid. Last night I took the grands for a ride, and left it uncovered. Guess what happened then? Yep- started raining about midnight- mad dash outside in the rain to get the tarp on it again.

 

I was looking through some mailer the other day and I happened to see a top with a slant back almost identical to yours. But it was on a CJ8. Do you have any idea as to how close the 8 tubs is to the 'mando?

 

Pretty sure the CJ8 tub is wider, I had to narrow the bows from a CJ5 to fit the Jeepster.

 

grouperboy:

What does the bow hardware look like on that top?
Looking at one pic, it looks like your missing the adjuster portion of the rear bow. that would explain the saggy top.
Mine has the C chanel bolted to the tub, then it has another C chanel bolted between that and the rear bow, with 3 sets of holes to adjust the position/tension on the rear bow so you can stretch the top tight. It fold forward to loosen the top to take it down and rearward onto the bow to stretch it tight.
It also looks like you have your C channels backwards, the higher portion should go towards the front of the truck, so when you lay the bows down (top down) they lay flat across the body.

Also there should be a flap at the rear just befor the back window that has snaps on it, that needs to snap the the front side of the rear bow, so it wraps around the back and up from the bottom so when you stretch the top it grabs the top along that seam and does not slip past it into the window area like your pictur shows.
I have a Kayline top, a far superior top in my opinion to the bestop. The STC tops are supposed to be just the same as the Kayline.
The tightness of the top will be affected by temputure, if you have not found that out already.

BTW, I lam looking into replicating the Kayline tops, with zip out windows if anyone is interested. they will be made of Sunbrella Canvas, not PVC coated fabric (it is too teputure sensitive). It will be for several months yet though befor I have the first one ready for testing.

 

See my photobucket account for more pics of the hardware. I used a Bestop kit, but had to take 6 inches off the rear bow to make the kayline top fit. Kayline did not have adjusters on the rear bow like bestop does, but they should have! I'll post a recent pic of what it looks like now that I put tension on the rear bow.

http://s244.photobucket.com/albums/gg29/grouperboy/commando/

 

Here it is now:

 

More

 

I looked at your pics...very different hardware from my Kayline stuff.

I'll try and get some pictures for you tonight or tommarow night and post them up for you.

I think you will like what I have better.

One reason your top loos like it does is the bows.
Bestop uses a flat top bow, the Kayline /STC tops have a full curve in the bow top. that is why your top looks like it has extra material in it....it does.

I'll take the same pics as you and you will see the difference.

 

BTW...just a quick hi-jack....who did you get your steering parts from in Florida? It was your right?

 

Looks plenty tight now. Jeepster looks great!