Stupid OEM bikini question

"EDITED FOR CONTENT Hooligan" ASKED"

Well first off is it a bikini or a thong? second, I hope you bought it for someone of the female gender to wear, not yourself. as for the fit and installation ... this seems like a very informative site

You did NOT buy an OEM bikini. There is no such thing. Any bikini you found is aftermarket.

Snow - Its polka dotted and teenie which is what is causing the trouble.

Jeff - Guy said he got it from DC and the only tags on it say "JEEP" with the trademark symbol (all three pieces). I assumed that would mean OEM but hey...

Bill - If it was the same unit as Bestop's site I would have no questions. It isn't the same.

I was just wondering if someone had the the same type of top and where it was designed to go.

Thanx anyway...

My kid's got one with aa OEM Jeep tag on it also. I got it for him from a Jeep that was traded in where I work. He had to go to the dealer and get the channel, as it wasn't on the Jeep I got the top out of. The channel mounts to the inside of the window frame with a bunch of sheet metal screws, and is different from the header that is part of the soft top. I'd describe it better, but he did the install, and the Jeep's about

-- Old Crow '82 Shovelhead FLTC 92" 'Pearl' '95 Jeep Wrangler YJ TOMKAT, BS#133, SENS, MAMBM, DOF#51, SPUNGER#2

I was not aware that there was an OEM bikini. DC gets its top from Bestop, and it is certainly possible that Bestop might have made a bikini that it sold through Jeep, or sold and Jeep allowed them to put the logo on.

I guess the bottom line is, how do you install the header?

And thats the part I don't know. The header is 2 pieces of brite aluminim with a round channel for the leading edge of the top. Sort of shaped like this when looked at end on:

_____(_)

The flat section has no cutouts like the pictures on the Bestop site to get around the footman loop, ST/HT clamps, etc. The channel does have a small lip on the bottom of both the forward and trailing lengthwise edge. Almost like it should fit over something. If you bolted it to something flat it would bow in in the center.

What started this was that I bought it via email and I wanted to make sure that I got the proper gear from the sale while it was fresh. Not try and fix a problem after several months when I can actually get it on... The canvas parts looks band new, but the the channel didn't look like anything I had seen or could find. The DC dealerships here in Sait John just looked blank. I guess I will have to wait until I can lift the HT and experiment. The hazards of buying summer gear in the dead of winter I guess...

This is a link to Bestop's installation instructions. On my 2004 TJ with the Bikini top (Jeep logo label) the header is the same as the full soft top one.

Tme out!

Have you investigated that you do not even need the new header? If you have a Jeep version of the Bestop bikini, it should take the standard Jeep soft top header connector. You shouldn't even need any additional hardware. Simply take the soft top off and put the bikini on.

I have a Bestop soft top and a Bestop bikini for my CJ, and the header is the same for both. I do not need two different headers for the two different tops.

Rick - Thanx but, as stated earlier, my the header doesn't look like that... at all...

Jeff - I was going to let this thread die because, well, I think I'm going to have to actually lift the hardtop and see. Your thought had me rooting around down in the basement though but no joy. My 2000 factory softtop has no removable header. Fully connected to the fabric. Boy, really had me there tho :-) My CJ gear was all the same as well (supertop)...

On that note, I can't find any factory instructions, the DC guys are, well, DC guys, the guy I got it from doesn't seem to really know (other then "on top of the rubber"). It must fit in some fashion, the top does fit the header. Maybe it does require drilling into the rubber header on top of the windshield. Bizarre but ... Anyhow I'm just going to have to wait until spring (say the middle of March :-) )...

Thanx for the help...

Good luck with it, and let us know what you figure out.

Whatever you find, the header goes on in a manner that does not inpeed the soft top or the hard top. Wherever the header goes, the other tops should be able to go on over it or behind it. In either case, the header should not have to be removed ever again unless you get rid of the bikini top for whatever reason.