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Erievon

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It's been interesting reading about all the weight savings, that's been a different perspective from the norm. Usually these Gladiator builds get quite heavy with overloading setups.
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Erievon

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Wonder what the weight savings of the soft top to hard top might be.
 
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Wonder what the weight savings of the soft top to hard top might be.
I think that is a very interesting question!

So, wondering out loud here, can one convert from hard top to soft top?

The idea of a sub 5,000 lb JT is one I find very interesting
 
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I have been vocally complaining about the JT's lack of power to the frau. The concept here: Prepare her for the eventual ask to drop 30+ on another motor.
Well, she did quite well in psychology, so she isn't buying it at all.
She challenged me to discover just how traveling for days in the JT might feel like. We have a trip planned for July, a vacay thing, not a 4WD outing. Anyway, it's a stretch so she announced we will be taking the JT. She is basically saying, "Show me," and she isn't even from Missouri...
Well, I'm up for it, so in a couple of months we'll beat on that little engine to see if it can do a long road trip. Who knows, maybe I'll learn to live with less.
I trained on underpowered aircraft, so I get the whole managing available power thing. I just don't like it. I'm never happy though. Too much power is just not enough for me.
But if somehow, I could come up with a V6 Jeep Gladiator that could pull something and go the distance, I think it would show personal growth, don't ya think?
 

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I think that is a very interesting question!

So, wondering out loud here, can one convert from hard top to soft top?

The idea of a sub 5,000 lb JT is one I find very interesting
The conversion to soft top is quite easy. The soft top kit will come with everything you need if you buy it new or used, a lot of people switch out the soft top and hard top every spring and fall if you have both.

I don't have the soft top for my JT, but my wife's JL has both tops, its only about a 30 minute job switching between the two, and only have to it twice a year. And a lot of people just run the soft top year round if your winters aren't too bad.
 

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The conversion to soft top is quite easy. The soft top kit will come with everything you need if you buy it new or used, a lot of people switch out the soft top and hard top every spring and fall if you have both.

I don't have the soft top for my JT, but my wife's JL has both tops, its only about a 30 minute job switching between the two, and only have to it twice a year. And a lot of people just run the soft top year round if your winters aren't too bad.
Funny, all the simple things one might miss...I did not know that. New, you say? From Mopar? I might actually prefer the soft top full-time as I only use this JT for running chores and recreation.

So, I suppose the next logical step is to figure out how much that critter weighs and if the (assumed) delta between the hard and soft top is worth the expense.

And

I lose my "I love me" roof panel :-(

DSC01561.JPG
 
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This it?

Mopar Soft Top for 20-21 Gladiator JT | Quadratec


Edit: So, I just did some research and although I did not know earlier, but the hard top is not heavy. The rear section is but 70ish pounds and the fronts around 40. Looks like the total weight is 110ish, so it does not look like a substantial savings for the soft top. However, there is some weight savings I believe based on shipping weight estimates...so...there may be more to this story. I'll need to research some more.

One thing speaking in behalf of buying a soft top is the fun factor. My wife is constantly mentioning, "A Jeep is made to run around without a top, in the open air." My vision of open air is of the intermittent periods between approaching thunderstorms you see around the beach.

I did a tour in Honduras and it was just one towering Q after another, like soldiers marching ashore. Had to time my take-offs and arrivals around the open periods, then hustle to tie the rotor blades down before the next set of tornados tore the place to smithereens again.

Household fact: She is apparently more equal than me. In a two-person household (Now, finally!!!!!) her vote is something like 1.75 whereas mine is hovering around zero point six.

And

Without first thinking it through

I

just

Made the (Colossal) mistake

of marching into the bedroom just now and announcing, "Honey, I just found out I could buy and install a Mopar soft top on the Jeep.

Story will no doubt, continue...
 
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Story, continued: This is unexpected, but it looks as if the soft top actually weighs more than the hard top. Having read a couple of posts/short articles, this JT of ours reportedly has the lightest weight hard top that Jeep has ever produced.
I also found a good curb weight of a low option Rubicon at 5050 pounds. My, as-delivered, JT370 tipped the scales at over 5500 lbs!!!! The factory power-to-weight ratio was hovering around 17.7 pounds for each skinny little horsepower. Loading it up with those cannon ball lights, railroad front bumper, lead-belted 37" tires, and those heavyweight decals pushed that number up 500 pounds.

In my case that reduced that wheezing 17.7 #/hp to a totally anemic 19.5 #/hp
Having reduced the weight of my vehicle by an estimated 250 pounds, I have improved the AEV's class bottom figure to 18.59 #/hp

But wait, there's more...

Remember my installing those Ripp coils?
Well, Actual dyno results after installation of those coils showed a 26hp increase so we can do the math to come out with 311 hp for my motor. I'll adjust that downward to, say 305 just cus, so I believe my real-world horsepower-to-weight ratio lies somewhere around

5300 lbs./305hp = 17.37 #/hp

I guess that is OK since I get to sling 37s with the same zip as a stocker riding around on its 33's.

Now having said that I have not weighed it (Because I like living in my fantasy world, and I'm afraid the truth does not fit in there very well) so where I am really at is still something of speculation...
 

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Yes...that's the one. Two versions, premium twill or standard sailcloth. There are some that insist you must have the premium twill, whereas we have the standard sailcloth on Wifey's JL and think it's perfectly fine.

The premium twill is a thicker heavier material, it's "Blacker" and honestly more of a pain to care for, but it's also probably quieter.

The sailcloth in my opinion folds easier and is easier to care for, but is a little bit thinner and has more of a plastic look (think all jeeps prior to the JL/JT series).

Both are good and convenient, it's a matter of taste.
 

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Woah...ok I would have never guessed the soft top weighed more. That's shocking.
 

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Fiberglass is fairly light, the JT top is half the size of the Wrangler tops, folding tops have a lot of steel bows and moving parts (having replaced the folding top on my roadster, it was surprisingly heavy). I’m not totally surprised.

Have you looked into the rear bumper at all? Notes I have say the Rubi steel rear bumper and side guards is 50 lbs, and the factory tow hitch assembly is another 50 lbs. One piece aluminum bumper could be only 30
 
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Fiberglass is fairly light, the JT top is half the size of the Wrangler tops, folding tops have a lot of steel bows and moving parts (having replaced the folding top on my roadster, it was surprisingly heavy). I’m not totally surprised.

Have you looked into the rear bumper at all? Notes I have say the Rubi steel rear bumper and side guards is 50 lbs, and the factory tow hitch assembly is another 50 lbs. One piece aluminum bumper could be only 30
I have looked at the rear bumper. It is on my list to replace. I was hoping to find a 100% aluminum bumper with a tow hitch, but I do not think there is one actually. Now, having said that a friend of mine less than 5 miles away owns a steel and aluminum fab shop. If anyone could build it, he could. I was thinking about giving him the project when the time came and see if he could CAD one up for me, then build it. The idea would be to save the design and then be able to sell them to others as retail. That is looking down the road a wee bit, though. He and another friend of mine are currently building a super trick 1976 Actual and real crew cab Power Wagon 4WD W200. They are making it into a Cummins powered, with some off-the-wall transmission and the 2022 ram 3500 brakes. The bottom line is that thing is taking up a lot of space and time. That truck will be a SEMA truck in some upcoming year's show.
 

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Something to keep in mind then:
https://www.smittybilt.com/product-skus/smittybilt-jt-rear-bumper-bracket-kit-78701k/

Allows mounting a JL bumper on the JT. So far I haven't found a JL rear alu bumper with an integrated receiver, and if I do I have a feeling it won't be rated for the full Gladiator tow rating... but it's a larger market at least. On the other hand this kit looks like it'll eat up 15-20 lbs of possible weight savings...

I've considered just tossing the factory hitch as it hangs *so* low and I don't tow at all
 
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Woah...ok I would have never guessed the soft top weighed more. That's shocking.
I've been looking at this some more. I found #250 as a "Shipping weight" reference, and now that I really look at it, that number is an exaggerated number based on the enormous and heavily reinforced box that the top comes in. So, I no longer believe the top weighs anything like that shipping number. I have also watched a couple of vids and nothing in that soft top conversion weighs very much at all. Two guys lifted that main top fabric section almost effortlessly. Examining the structure, it is mostly polymer plastic. That stuff weighs nil. I am about to just order one and find out for myself. Heck just motoring around with the sun scorching my cranium may be worth it!
 
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Something to keep in mind then:
https://www.smittybilt.com/product-skus/smittybilt-jt-rear-bumper-bracket-kit-78701k/

Allows mounting a JL bumper on the JT. So far I haven't found a JL rear alu bumper with an integrated receiver, and if I do I have a feeling it won't be rated for the full Gladiator tow rating... but it's a larger market at least. On the other hand this kit looks like it'll eat up 15-20 lbs of possible weight savings...

I've considered just tossing the factory hitch as it hangs *so* low and I don't tow at all
My friend, Dan is a master fabricator. I was thinking about a modular approach. Build a 2" steel receiver tube with a few tabs that bolts into the aluminum bumper structure and as long as that is of proper thickness, you're golden. In years past, he built me an aluminum aux gas tank and made the bottom panel out of full 3/8" aluminum so it would not need any additional rock protection.

Let me check out your link as this is all very interesting. I did, however, plan to pull my off-road homemade tear drop++ "tactical overland camper. That's a separate build starting here:

OverLanding Camper Build (real-man-truckworks-and-survival.com)

Looking at that Smittybilt product, I may be mistaken, but I believe that thing is going to add weight to the truck. The Department of Redundancy department and all that. The simple fix to all that is to just purchase a proper aluminum bumper or build one. Perhaps that product would have been useful before the market had a bunch of good aluminum bumpers to choose from...

Another great point you make is tossing the hitch. With this anemic motor, why tow anything. I do not believe I would tow anything until after first replacing the motor or losing another 1,000 pounds (Which is impossible). So maybe I may be doing the same as well. If I can't reconcile spending 35K on a new motor, then perhaps, I'll toss the hitch as well.
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