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Oasis Supernova

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It would be nice to be able to remove the rear roof piece (i.e. Third panel) and leave the rear window panel in place, but I don’t lose any sleep over that.
Agreed. It just looks a little funky with he top off and those tiny roll bars exposed. Lol
 

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Roll bar covers fix the skinny roll bar issue.

Plus now you can whack your head pain free.


Agreed. It just looks a little funky with he top off and those tiny roll bars exposed. Lol
Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. IMG_7520


Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. IMG_0014
 

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Hard tops are the worst, nobody really wants to hang a fragile fiberglass boat from their ceiling. it’s too heavy, its unbalanced,
It's 60#, it's not that fragile and I can carry it solo
and we shouldn’t need tools to remove it.
Tool. One tool. That comes with the jeep. If we shouldn't need tools, what do you propose instead?
The cheap, minimal hardtop soundproofing is for some reason an option.
Legitimate complaint
The rear sliding window is still manually operated.
Is the top too heavy or not? Because a manually operated rear window is lighter than a powered window. Can't have it both ways
The rear window as a whole can’t be folded or removed for carrying extra long items.
take the top off, problem solved. Or use the 3/4 position for the tailgate. You're again wanting to add more complexity to a system while already complaining it's too heavy. Complexity adds weight.
At the VERY least, Freedom Panels should have been designed for safe, padded on-board storage.
Are they not? What's this bag my gladiator came with? Is it a manpurse?
The basic man-bun design of the soft-tops is ridiculous when compared to any automotive convertible top from the last 20+ years.
Can you show me any other automotive convertible top from the last 20 years designed to be fully removed at will? How about we look at the last (and only other) soft-top convertible truck ever sold, also a Chrysler product, the Dakota Sport? Sure, the top folded all the way down, but you also sacrificed bed space to make that happen. Is that a compromise some people would gladly accept? Yep, but it is a compromise, meaning there is no clearly defined correct answer, just one preference over another.
Even a fully folded soft top is still manual and based on some floppy 19th century baby carriage design.
again you're in a debate against yourself. You want everything to be lighter, removable, and powered. Look at the massive aftermarket for Jeep parts. If such a thing was designable within a reasonable cost where it would be expected to sell, it would have been already.
I understand that some Jeep people hanker for the throwback rugged retro experience in these things. Personally, I urge someone to sell a canvas tarp and rope kit for those, and give the rest of us some reasonably up-to-date options.
I could care less about a retro experience. I didn't buy a CJ7, i bought a 2022 vehicle. But that vehicle also happens to offer a completely unique list of filled niches that no other current vehicle offers. There are only 3 convertible trucks in automotive history. The Dakota Sport, the SSR, and the Gladiator. The gladiator is the only 4 door convertible truck ever. There are only 4 convertible SUVs, and the murano and range rover evoque both sacrifice a TON of cargo space and a set of doors to tuck the roof away. Meanwhile the G650 Landaulet is half convertible at best, and its multi-million dollar price tag still doesn't offer an option better than a wrangler.
 

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Are they not? What's this bag my gladiator came with? Is it a manpurse?
Yeah, that's what Shaq carries around........

Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. 1655828157650


I'm going to guess that it's to keep weight down for CAFE and other testing - like payload, towing, etc. Yeah, what a hoot - what does even the heaviest sound-proofing cost, like HotHeads or even the factory, but still.......... gotta shave it somewhere, and some may not care if it's there or not.
I suspect they did their due diligence marketing research with their psychologists/marketing experts on staff.
 

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100% agree. Hard top is pretty easy to remove. I have pulled it off solo with no hoist. It's a bit awkward, but not heavy.

My 20 JT Sport S is frankly one of the nicest vehicles I have ever owned. Heated seats, heated wheel. Damn steering wheel kept my hands warm on a topless day going over Wilkerson Pass when it dropped to 27 degrees. (was 75 in St. Elmo that day) Comfortable seats. Good AC, good heat. Stereo...meh....but I can upgrade that.

It has road noise, but I'm on 35in mud tires, plus all kinds of off road things. I could pull carpet and add dynamat to everything, but why? I'm looking at Armorlite....

It's not a Mercedes or any sort of luxury car. It's a SFA truck that goes pretty much where ever the hell it wants to go.

I have other cars for precise driving and fast driving. Frankly I won't take the JT over 90.

You take the top off, the doors off, you cruise around and just enjoy the ride.
I had a guy that told me I was making everyone else look bad as I was tooling along with a stupid grin on my face.

I drive to enjoy driving, like many of you on here do. I have loved every quirky car I have owned and hated every practical one.

I'l admit. It is easy to get off road out here. I can take the kids on a trail just for lunch on a random day. I can throw the tent on and be off the grid in an hour.


I could care less about a retro experience. I didn't buy a CJ7, i bought a 2022 vehicle. But that vehicle also happens to offer a completely unique list of filled niches that no other current vehicle offers. There are only 3 convertible trucks in automotive history. The Dakota Sport, the SSR, and the Gladiator. The gladiator is the only 4 door convertible truck ever. There are only 4 convertible SUVs, and the murano and range rover evoque both sacrifice a TON of cargo space and a set of doors to tuck the roof away. Meanwhile the G650 Landaulet is half convertible at best, and its multi-million dollar price tag still doesn't offer an option better than a wrangler.
 

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Solution to noise in Jeep Gladiator - use program I made for hearing aids when my wife is with me and wants to talk (and me listen LOL), or simply move that green slider down. Problem solved.

Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. Screenshot_20220621-112802
 

SpeedNeed

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Well,, I CAN take the hard top off myself, I KNOW how much it weighs, it IS a lot easier to manipulate than my old Wrangler top. Don’t misunderstand my comment on Gladiator Tops as some sort of Gladiator rant, it’s a wonderful vehicle and I absolutely love it! But it can always be better, and in my opinion the tops are now among the weakest links.

Some folks here are making assumptions about hard top removal and storage that I question: That everybody has a house - it was darn hard to leave my Wrangler hardtop anywhere safe when I lived in an apartment and Rausch Creek was an easy day trip. That everyone with a house also has a garage to mount a hoist. Not so. That everyone with a house and garage has room to hang the darn thing - my little garage roof is full. That everyone is happy to make an almost non-reversible choice to use the hardtop or not when taking a longer trip.

The minor wrenching required to pull the hardtop may be no big deal for you or me, but it’s quite distasteful for my wife - and I would assume others. I’m sure FCA has some clasping mechanisms in the parts bin somewhere to replace those pesky bolts.

Lifting the hardtop completely to the ground - safely - without a hoist is beyond my wife’s solo physical capabilities, and these days it challenges mine. Jeep flaunts its removable hard top in their advertising, but does not include (or even offer a MOPAR) hoist removal solution. I suggest they contract or buy the brilliant TopLift Pro people. Storing fasteners under the seats, keeping critical roof panels in a flimsy little vinyl bag - yeah, It all works, but it is the very definition of primitive.

There is no reason to assume that changing the design would come with all sorts of drawbacks like leaky seams or dramatically increased weight or something. I
It doesn’t have to, that would defeat the purpose. Reducing roof weight isn’t an objective per-se, at least within bounds of vehicle engineering. It’s about manipulating the weight, which usually calls for some creative use of leverage - a concept largely absent in the current hard top system.

I suppose if I was dreaming up MINOR changes, I’d start with the rear glass section since that’s where the weight is. Be able to fold it down onto the bed or tonneau, with ability to remove completely. Similarly, let the Freedom Panels flip back , no need to force us to remove them. With panels flipped and glass rear section detached the top would be much lighter and probably fit right into or onto the bed. I haven’t measured, but point is those types of things would be welcome minor changes for some of us. I don’t think roof-hoisters or anyone else would have to use those features if they didn’t want to.

I‘m sure there are much better ways to redesign Gladiator hard (and soft) tops than these minor off-the-top-of-my-head tweaks. I’m not saying that I’m the genius who has it figured it all out, but I am saying that if FCA offered $5million for five forum members to design better ones, I’m totally confident they would succeed with ease. Of course Jeep may already have them in their back pocket, dunno. The patent application shows they’re at least thinking about it.
 

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Quite a few Jeep owners don't have garages capable of handing a roof lift system - either for space or other considerations. There are other solutions. Some have made stands for their tops when removed - that hold and cradle the hard top. A couple of years ago forum members posted such things, pics of their inventions.

There are already systems for sale that allow the panels to flip back - ugh, a lot easier and safer to simply remove them, than to have hinges or things attached to that top that would have to hold the weight of a panel as it's flipped open and back. That's stress on the top, IMO. Leave me out of any thought of attaching the panel to the weak front edge of that rear section and have them flip back. I see trouble in a year or two using those things.

No system is going to be perfect or ideal, and there's plenty of reasons they did what they did the way they did it.

Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. 1655859155352


I can see a transmission jack or engine lift being modified for this one ->

Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. 1655859222483


https://www.google.com/search?q=jee...UEEQIHVhyDFwQ9QF6BAg8EAE#imgrc=wlNJ4hPk02BKNM
 

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The minor wrenching required to pull the hardtop may be no big deal for you or me, but it’s quite distasteful for my wife - and I would assume others. I’m sure FCA has some clasping mechanisms in the parts bin somewhere to replace those pesky bolts.
....................
yeah, It all works, but it is the very definition of primitive.
Sorry, but if it's that much of a hassle to unscrew a handful of bolts in 5 minutes....... well...........
Almost anything else is going to have that top flying off in an accident. It must be secured, and the clamping force measurable. Clasps would have to be mounted in such a way as to pull down on the edge of the roof - rear and front - and in the front, they'd have to clear the panels.
I don't see any of that happening, ever.

And that's one thing we love about these - they are primitive.

Any yes, weight REDUCTION is key. REDUCTION. That's why the frame is high strength steel - so it can be thinner and lighter. Light - weight reduction. They won't do anything that makes it heavier - it's a truck, aimed at the small truck market. Payload - make any part heavier, you lose payload, Increase the weight of the top, you change handing under load, under testing for payload and towing. Add any seams or joints in the roof impacts drag, and noise levels. Anything that disrupts air flow is something to contend with.
 

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With all due respect to MOPAR, BestTop, others, and a special nod to best-of-breed SunRider, the entire engineering and technology of Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator tops is incredibly primitive and frustrating.

Hard tops are the worst, nobody really wants to hang a fragile fiberglass boat from their ceiling. it’s too heavy, its unbalanced, and we shouldn’t need tools to remove it. The cheap, minimal hardtop soundproofing is for some reason an option. The rear sliding window is still manually operated. The rear window as a whole can’t be folded or removed for carrying extra long items. At the VERY least, Freedom Panels should have been designed for safe, padded on-board storage.

The basic man-bun design of the soft-tops is ridiculous when compared to any automotive convertible top from the last 20+ years. Even a fully folded soft top is still manual and based on some floppy 19th century baby carriage design.

I understand that some Jeep people hanker for the throwback rugged retro experience in these things. Personally, I urge someone to sell a canvas tarp and rope kit for those, and give the rest of us some reasonably up-to-date options.
What do you mean we shouldn’t need tools to remove the hardtop? How should the roof be held on? Velcro?
 

NachoRuby

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With all due respect to MOPAR, BestTop, others, and a special nod to best-of-breed SunRider, the entire engineering and technology of Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator tops is incredibly primitive and frustrating.

Hard tops are the worst, nobody really wants to hang a fragile fiberglass boat from their ceiling. it’s too heavy, its unbalanced, and we shouldn’t need tools to remove it. The cheap, minimal hardtop soundproofing is for some reason an option. The rear sliding window is still manually operated. The rear window as a whole can’t be folded or removed for carrying extra long items. At the VERY least, Freedom Panels should have been designed for safe, padded on-board storage.

The basic man-bun design of the soft-tops is ridiculous when compared to any automotive convertible top from the last 20+ years. Even a fully folded soft top is still manual and based on some floppy 19th century baby carriage design.

I understand that some Jeep people hanker for the throwback rugged retro experience in these things. Personally, I urge someone to sell a canvas tarp and rope kit for those, and give the rest of us some reasonably up-to-date options.
The freedom panels are designed for safe, padded, on board storage...in a Wrangler. A lot of what you said negates the fact that the Gladiator isn't really an independent model. It's mostly a wrangler, for better or worse. That means adaptations were made, and costs cut, which is good for us. No wrangler base = no gladiator.

The Wrangler has an available power retractable top. Expensive as heck with that option though. I'd pass. I'll take my primitive top, because I can't afford the alternative. Wranglers/Gladiators (and now broncos), and most miatas keep the basic convertible format alive. It's probably not a coincidence that they are also by far the most popular convertibles out there.

Also, you can get quick release knobs for the top, to eliminate tools. My wife has them on her wrangler.
 
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ShadowsPapa

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Also, you can get quick relese knobs for the top, to eliminate tools. My wife has them on her wrangler.
Are you referring to something like a wing bolt? I've got a jar of them - all English, though, none metric.
Jeep Gladiator Rear roof section. 1655861655311
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