Is taking the top off a two person job?

[Jeepnoob34]

I don’t think I’d try it after hearing how much it was to replace the sliding glass window. I believe it was almost as much as replacing the hard top itself lol.

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[Hockeypilot44]

I still don't understand why people get hard tops on jeeps. My neighbor has a Gladiator with a hard top. I saw his top off once since he bought it almost a year ago. I've had my soft top a month and the top is down almost every day.

 

[bastage]

I still don't understand why people get hard tops on jeeps. My neighbor has a Gladiator with a hard top. I saw his top off once since he bought it almost a year ago. I've had my soft top a month and the top is down almost every day.

Because its cold sometimes.. I wouldnt get a soft top for year round use where I am.

 

[Jdyowa]

I still don't understand why people get hard tops on jeeps. My neighbor has a Gladiator with a hard top. I saw his top off once since he bought it almost a year ago. I've had my soft top a month and the top is down almost every day.

Because the soft tops on gladiators look dumb and open dumber. Some of us aren't afraid to take the tops off.

 

[bastage]

Because the soft tops on gladiators look dumb and open dumber. Some of us aren't afraid to take the tops off.

This is accurate...

I have had my JT for a little over 2 weeks. The freedom panels have been off for almost every drive I have taken when it wasnt raining or cold out & the complete top has been off twice for no other reason then "because" when it was a 20 minute drive.

Its cumbersome alone, but with me & a 13 year old girl (my daughter) it was cake & took just a couple minutes.

 

[adbeck]

I built a contraption that works for my Gladiator...not the prettiest but effective.

Where does the top go?

 

[RatZer0]

I still don't understand why people get hard tops on jeeps. My neighbor has a Gladiator with a hard top. I saw his top off once since he bought it almost a year ago. I've had my soft top a month and the top is down almost every day.

I live in Canada where if it's a semi normal year, October to March are below 50. I had full time soft tops on my last three Jeeps and had the youthful endurance to deal with the winters and the eyesight to pierce the cloudy soft windows. I'm old now, it's worth my time and money to either switch tops seasonally or use a sunrider and take the hard top off occasionally.

 

[Kent5]

I still don't understand why people get hard tops on jeeps. My neighbor has a Gladiator with a hard top. I saw his top off once since he bought it almost a year ago. I've had my soft top a month and the top is down almost every day.

You would be well-served to broaden your outlook.

Consider:
* What if I want a mid-size truck with solid axles?
* What if I want a mid-size truck that can use up to 35" tires bone stock -- without thousands of dollars of lifts and warranty-killing mods?

Because I truly don't care about getting a truck that is a "convertible" and I'll *never* take the top off.

So, given either one of my criteria above, exactly what other choices are there, other than a Gladiator?

Tacoma, Ranger and Colorado may be nice trucks, but are all severely limited by their relatively puny 31" tires (unless you mod, torch or remove safety features, cut body mounts, install expensive lifts, etc.). The truth is, there ARE no real competitors in that segment if you want either solid axles OR a greater than 33" tire fitted without major mods.

 

[bastage]

You would be well-served to broaden your outlook.

Consider:
* What if I want a mid-size truck with solid axles?
* What if I want a mid-size truck that can use up to 35" tires bone stock -- without thousands of dollars of lifts and warranty-killing mods?

Because I truly don't care about getting a truck that is a "convertible" and I'll *never* take the top off.

So, given either one of my criteria above, exactly what other choices are there, other than a Gladiator?

Tacoma, Ranger and Colorado may be nice trucks, but are all severely limited by their relatively puny 31" tires (unless you mod, torch or remove safety features, cut body mounts, install expensive lifts, etc.). The truth is, there ARE no real competitors in that segment if you want either solid axles OR a greater than 33" tire fitted without major mods.

Hell it could be a simple as “I want a mid sized truck my 13 year old daughter comfortably fits in the back seat of”. That right there narrowed my choices down to gladiator or keeping my F150.

 

[tweak89]

Always do mine solo. Off or on, doesn't take more than 15 minutes. As others in this thread have mentioned, having a bed cover makes a HUGE difference (even a soft tri-fold like I have).

Put blanket on bed cover.
Remove bolts.
Lift two corners up and back to free the locator pins.
Flip top up onto the cover.
Flip cover again so the "top" surface is laying flat on the cover.
Open slider window (good place to hold when doing the last step).
Using cover to protect whatever side of the bed I'm using I slide the cover off the bed and onto a movers dolly. And that's pretty much it. I'm only 5'7" and have no issues doing this.

I have a video I meant to post on youtube, guess I need to get that up.

 

[BLK HOLE]

It’s a one person job unless you aren’t very strong or have a medical condition or perhaps aren’t young anymore. I have a lift but this is an example of me not using it. Only weights like 50lbs.

 

[cbl1]

I believe the weight is between 80 and 100 lbs (the full painted may trend more toward the 100).

It's not overly heavy - just rather awkward. I like the way BLK HOLE picks it up - but I would fall down the step off.

I just purchased a J-Barr to make it easy at home and just crank right up in garage.

I would say - its a 1 person job unless are overly clumsy like me.

As far as the why order hard top - I agree with some of the statements above ... I like the look much better of the hard top vs. soft top when on (which is going to be majority of the time). And I don't like the way the softtop folds back to above back of roof (don't like that look at all). I would go sunrider direction before that full fold back method.

But its different for everyone - in Virginia the rain is pretty predictable ... now if I lived in Florida I would be in a panic every time I went to far without my hardtop and would probably have gone softtop or put a sunrider in front. Everyone's situation is different so there are luckily lots of options. The one-touch top would be interesting on Gladiator (as not as long a piece).

 

[bastage]

It’s a one person job unless you aren’t very strong or have a medical condition or perhaps aren’t young anymore. I have a lift but this is an example of me not using it. Only weights like 50lbs.

Yeah you made that look entirely too easy..

I dont think I would do the step down without falling though. Plus my tonneau would be in the way, but I am just a bit jelly of how effortless you made that look

 

[BLK HOLE]

Yeah you made that look entirely too easy..

I dont think I would do the step down without falling though. Plus my tonneau would be in the way, but I am just a bit jelly of how effortless you made that look

I have a soft cover, you can see rolled up there. If it were a hard cover that was only folded and impeding maybe 18-24" I could still grab the top alright.

 

[bastage]

I have a soft cover, you can see rolled up there. If it were a hard cover that was only folded and impeding maybe 18-24" I could still grab the top alright.

Mine is a tri fold soft... So without removing it its still covering a decent chunk of the bed. And removing it takes way longer then grabbing another person to remove the top just because of the nyloc nuts holding it on.

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