Soft Top Options

[Entourage]

I have always wanted the BesTop because it is made here in Colorado, OEM for Jeep, Quality, Reputation, Customer Service, Tinted Windows, windshield riser to use wiper cover, etc. I just saw this on Toms Bronco Parts and this Rampage brand top looks awesome. The Denim material sounds like it would weather the elements well.

Now I am confused which direction to go.

http://www.tomsbroncoparts.com/product. ... 52&id=2205

[akaFrankCastle]

Chop the sides off your hard top and bolt what's left directly to the top of your cage.

[akaFrankCastle]

Gotta tell you, I really haven't seen too many soft tops I've been in love with. About the closest I've come is the old Canback system. Must be the bulges in the center that throw me off.

[PonyCorral]

That sounds like a good idea! I might have to look at doing that with mine. I think from a quality standpoint you know what your going to get from BesTop!

[Entourage]

The Can-Back is a dream Soft Top but at $1,400 it will likely always remain a dream for me

I should see and feel the material on the BesTop and Rampage before making any decisions.

Can I feel up anyone's Soft Top?

[akaFrankCastle]

Sorry to rain on your parade, Oh and Bestop this is for you!
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13529454

I love the BC Broncos Top.

Don't get me started on outsourcing. I just got a box of Dennis Carpenter parts from WH a few weeks ago. Half the bags were stamped "Made in China". The other half were unreadable.

[akaFrankCastle]

The Can-Back is a dream Soft Top but at $1,400 it will likely always remain a dream for me

The other, larger, problem with the Can-Back is that they simply aren't making the Bronco system. I'm not sure what happened after the prototype, but I think I read something about financial troubles within the company or something.

[akaFrankCastle]

Looking at the BC top, I'd say it is pretty damn close to the look I'd like. It's very Land Rover Defender 90-like. Hate to say it, but the LR D90 was one of my choices when I was shopping for a small wheelbase 4x4 a decade ago. Were it not for the astronomical pricetag, I might have had one.

[akaFrankCastle]

Thats how half the Harley crap is made now if you look on a package at your local HD dealer. Fawkers

I often wonder how hard/expensive it would be to start up a small foundry that specialized in "new" parts for Broncos.

[JGZ]

Whatever happened to Kayline?

[Justin]

Became/got bought by (not sure which or how) STC about 10 years ago. They later went out of business.

[Entourage]

The BC Bronco definitely looks like the Can-Back. One complaint on the Can-back is the frame appears to be semi-perminent. I want Full Convertible if the weather is right. It looks like I can get the BC in Grey - OOOOOh I like that.

[ZOSO]

Became/got bought by (not sure which or how) STC about 10 years ago. They later went out of business.

I believe the templates were sold and now they are the rampage top. I had an old kayline on the 74 from 86/87 to 2002 when I cracked a window up elk huntin. Now I have a STC top. The only thing I dont like about the bestop is the small windows.

[Entourage]

The side windows on the BesTop are small due to the diagonal brace running through the center. I do like the full window look on the other tops.

[airbur]

Bestop = Mexico
Rampage = China

If the decision is really affected by country of manufacture......is one really better than the other?

"Marine Grade" = treated with a UV inhibitor.

Mine will be a Bestop....I like the way they look:) And my bikini top uses the same riser:)

[airbur]

Good question. I would imagine (hope, dream, fantasize) that's it's somewhere in the USA....but I'm never that lucky. I'd buy that one but I'm just not a fan of the look....IMO.

[Justin]

I really like the BC top, but it looks like it needs an exo-cage above it and a D90 below it. It looks like it would be really taut and fairly quiet.

[airbur]

I read a thread on ClassicBroncos.com by one of the really mechanical guys on there. It was basically a horror story about installing the BC top and how he ended up uninstalling it and sending it back to them for a refund. I'm not sure if anyone else has had issues but I think it needs a bit more "beta testing" before it's ready for prime time.

[airbur]

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showth ... p?t=170804

He didn't return it but it is a good read.

[Entourage]

He couldn't return the top because he painted the frame and mounting hardware

I have never read the thread - only looked at the pictures. That is one of my favorite Broncos ever.

[akaFrankCastle]

That had to have been one of the most painful threads I have ever read. Some good points brought up by parties on both sides of the issue, but plain to see how emotions can all to often lead to trouble.

[airbur]

That had to have been one of the most painful threads I have ever read. Some good points brought up by parties on both sides of the issue, but plain to see how emotions can all to often lead to trouble.

Agreed...I think the fact that there was $1400 + shipping also added to the emotions.

[dnewman9]

I have a BC top in black with tinted windows comming. It should be here in the next 2-3 weeks.

Can Back still makes tops but they are lowest of priority. Every time I call them they say a few months out. Last they told me was spring time.

I will have pictures when my BC top shows up.
Dennis

[Kinder]

Dennis, when you get your top on I'd love to see it in person, give me a ring so I can swing by. Zack, I'm w/you and the D90 and other old LRs, you can't beat the vehicle but the price is way out there.

[akaFrankCastle]

Should have seen the sweet D110 I saw a few years back. OD Green. No doors. Gun mounts EVERYWHERE.

[hockeydad4-22]

Ok listen, as long as we are hijacking a thread here:

My wife has an o4 discovery SE. In some ways it is a pretty good rig, but in most I can not stand the piece of s*^t. Just yesterday she pulled it into the shop and left it, taking my Excursion home. It will not blow warm air. Ok says I, I will look at it after work. I notice almost right off that I have no idea where the thermostat is on it, but more importantly the stupis pasenger side exhaust manifold is cracked. Wonder how much that damn thing will cost.

I filled the overflow bottle and decided to see how it goes.

At random times all the stupid warning lights come on, no reason, everything is fine, they just come on. They will go off after about 30 minutes only to come back on again.

You have to pull the intake opff to change the spark plug wires (I know this is true, I ended up paying a garage to do this for me)

I love the looks of the D-90's, and even the wifes Disco looks cool, but it is tight to drive. My wiofe is 5-4, I am 6-2. She drive it with the seat all the way back. So do I.

It gets WORSE miliage than the bronco, the Excursion, the 2000 Dodge work truck that has a glass rack and carries tools and materials everywhere it goes...

We buy everything used, so we still owe on the POS for another 8 months and can not wait until it is paid off to dump it on some crappy dealer.

Never again will I own any Loand Rover. Ok, never say never but I doubt I will ever own another.

Ok, end of . I will bring us back on track now. I keep thinking about cutting the sides off a hard top and attaching the roof to the roll bar...... hmmmm

[akaFrankCastle]

I planned to do the same thing once Greg. Even went through all of the trouble of hacking up the crappy hard top I had. Never had the roll bar to bolt it to. I've been thinking about this again lately and have been wondering how hard it would be to have some fiberglass sides made with plexiglass windows. If I did it, I would install spring loaded pins along the top and fixed posts along the bottom. Simply insert the posts in to the existing hard top holes along the top of the rear fenders, tilt in, retract the spring loaded pins, seat them, and bingo. Sides are back on. The rear lift gate would be a little more difficult. Need to figure out a way to make it easily removable and replaceable (easy defined as less than 10 minutes, WITHOUT using a wrench or screwdriver). I cannot think of the name of them right now, but I know there is a slotted twist pin of sorts that might work out for that.

[Kinder]

Zack, I'm sure you've seen the threads on CB.com where folks have done the top section of a hard top only, but I'd love to see what your talking about. I've saved some sections of the tops I've cut up (too far gone to fix) and have thought about doing something with them one day.

[akaFrankCastle]

Actually, I haven't seen any threads on CB.com about a hardtop only build. Never really looked for them. If you've got a top section that is already chopped, I'd love to start projecting this some time. I'm thinking it would be cool too if the entire thing, top, sides, and lift gate were all fiberglass and maybe part of a kit (read: marketable).

[JGZ]

Let me know what you come up with .I've been a pattern and mold maker in the F.R.P industry for 25 yrs.Can offer alot of insight to what does and doesn't work.JGZ