still at a dilmmea what to do with Rubi soft top ?

What I do during the hot summer months, is to leave the soft roof up with no doors and windows except the rear window, this acts as shade and when it rains it keeps a lot of the water out. The rear window keeps a lot of the backwash out when driving in the rain.

I also have a large plastic bag to cover my seat. I also removed the carpets. When expecting rain, I park at work with the windshield facing the approaching weather. I bring a rain suit just in case. I don't whine :-) been doing this with my Jeeps for the last 15 years. If you don't want to remove the carpets I guess you should've got air conditioning and a hardtop. Cheers

dave wrote:

They're no more secured when the top is up are they?

In Ohio, and also suffer from the if you do/don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes problem you mention.

When I put the top down I roll up the rear window and do not remove it. I put the rear side windows on top of the back half of the top. Then when I pull the top back (aka "down") I make sure they all fold/roll as to avoid any really nasty folding and mostly somewhat "roll".

Then I take the top half doors and put them just behind the rear seat (ie between the seat back and the wad of rolled up top/windows. I set them so that the posts that go into the doors are facing each other so they don't poke the back of the rear seat passengers heads (should I have them).

Yes, my windows are "somewhat" (pronounced "alot") scratched up. I gave up on pristine windows pretty early. Plastic cleaner/descratcher does seem to work pretty good about once a year or so to resotore a lot of the visilibity.

The plastic "door frames" go behind the rear seat also (in the trunk, so to speak).

If I have rear seat passengers I stop at this point.

Otherwise then I remove the doors and set them on the rear seat so that the mirrors are near the back roll bar (where the seatbelts are) and use some velcro straps to secure some portion of the mirror assembly to the back roll bar. Recently I've been setting them so that the "latch end" is down in the rear seat footwell, and the hinge end is towards the back. This front/back way seems to work better then trying to put them left and right.

I've long since lost the nuts that are supposed to go on the bottom of the doors. For a while I was using a wrench I kept in the glove box, then my fingers, and now I just leave them off and can't rember where I put them.

I got the dash soaked a few times. Twice bad enough that some of the gauges were a little weird. After about 3 days though, all was fine again, except for the CD player. I've learned to be real careful with that. Both of these times was when I took a hose to the dash to get off all the mud. Mud running in a convertible is a pain to clean up. I did have to drill the missing drain hole in the passenger side back seat footwell. I noticed at an auto show sometime after '99 they musta fixed that defect...

If I leave PePe (yes, I named my jeep, but that's another thread...) all closed up (like neither she no I like her to be) she does start to smell a little (or a lot) like a wet dog. Thus I just leave a window open when I park in my garage (or the door open if I've got that good old #4 fuse pulled, obviously not a problem if the top is down)

That's my deal. Never had any parts stolen, your mileage may vary. Not the lowest crime rate where I am, not the highest either. I guess you could have a bicycle cable lock or something you run through the door handles if you are worried about them. With the other parts hidden "inside the top" I doubt anyone would go to the trouble to remove those parts (it's easiest to just put the top up to get them out!)

If it's going to rain while I'm at work, I put it all up, or watch very close out the window to see if it really does look like rain. Yes, a few times I have had to put the top up will it was pouring. One time I even had to change clothes at work when I was done. Good thing I'm a geek engineer and can wear just about anything legal while at work!

I drive 24ish miles (each way) to work, with a garage at home, so it is fairly common to put the top down on the way home, park in the garage with the top down, drive to work, and then put the top up. Yes, I do mean put the top down on the way home. Usually about 3 or 4 red lights is all it takes for the top and half-door tops. Sometimes doing this I just toss the rear side windows into back.

Did I mention I really like to have the top down?

I carry a windbreaker (easier/funner to just don a jacket than put the top up when the sun goes down in spring/fall), so sometimes I put the jacket on the seat (for rainprojection) and fold both front seats forward. Thus the seats are somewhat sheilded from the rain, as is the dash (though not the CD player!).

Perhaps I should get a marine grade CD player... (or duct tape!)

alan "99 TJ with 110,000 miles" curtis

PS As for mirrors without doors, I got two suction cup mirrors (2" x 4") that I stuck to the top outside corners of the windshield. Never been hassled for this, then again never pulled over for other reasons while doorless either, so who knows what might happen once I "come into the spotlight" for other reasons and don't have "official side mirrors". I think any claim that a jeep with no top and no doors has "reduced visibilty" is nuts, however.

How about one of these:

awesome Jim... but I wonder, do they snap down ? or just pulled tight !? I wonder if they would last a windy night ?

in article Xbtqc.5245$ snipped-for-privacy@news01.roc.ny, JimG at snipped-for-privacy@2muchspam.com wrote on 5/18/04 2:09 PM:

Mine Bestop trail cover works very well, and keeps out all the rain - no snaps, and easy to use. On thing I do is carry a yard stick and coffee cup. I put the trail cover on and if it's going to rain hard, I put the coffee cup on top of the yardstick to hold the trail cover up so the rain runs off. I put the bottom end of the yardstick in my cup holder. The coffee cup keeps the yardstick from punching through the top. Rain will make a very heavy puddle on top of the trail cover, and it will stretch the straps pretty good, although mine have never broken (my cover is four years old).

If your bottom door halves are off, it still keeps most everything dry.

I use the cover more for dust and bird droppings than for rain. Also for keeping the sun from fading the interior.

I live in North Texas, and it can rain very hard here, and the wind can blow in at 70Mph. Wind has not been a problem, but the elastic straps on my cover do show some strain!

Also, if you have something in your dash that shorts out, just remove it and throw it away - it shouldn't be in your Jeep. I've gotten a lot of water on my dash over the years in my three different TJs and never had any problems.

Carpet does smell though - be sure it gets a chance to dry. I spray some very diluted ammonia under the carpets when they get wet.

Paul Nelson 'O3 Rubicon

I have the RainGear cover and it is awesome. I'll leave my top down all the time and just throw the cover on while I'm not cruising around. Keeps the rain out!

Eric

I bought one of those last week and I'm lovin' it. It only takes a couple of minutes to put on or off ........ I forget where my windows are!

Seahag