DIY Soft Top Window Storage

[Jebiruph]

While waiting for the arrival of the Mopar Soft Top Window Storage Bag, I decided to see what DIYer could do without any sewing required. I actually found some of the same vinyl covered felt used by the Mopar bag at the local Joann fabric store. This is the exact same stuff, same as Bestop uses on their seat covers. The piece shown here is 80". You will also need a couple yards of felt for the pieces between the windows a couple of 5' nylon straps, mine are 2" wide. Vinyl was about $20, felt and straps about $10 each. I'm doing this with JLU windows, a JL will have longer side windows.

First picture is the back window centered on the top half of the vinyl.

Second pic is the side windows centered on top of the back window, with felt between all the windows. The side windows are as close as they can get to each other without risking any scratches. Note the hard plastic corners, when I install the straps in the next pic, the straps are on the plastic corners. The tightened straps are not apply any pressure to any other part of the windows

Third pic is the bottom half of the vinyl folded up and the sides folded towards the middle with the straps holding everything in place. It looks a little sloppy and would definitely benefit from some trimming of the excess vinyl.

It actually holds together pretty good. The fourth pic is to show how well it can stand vertically if you wanted to strap to the back of back seat.

Final pic compares it size wise to the Mopar bag that finally showed up.

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[PapaJoe]

While waiting for the arrival of the Mopar Soft Top Window Storage Bag, I decided to see what DIYer could do without any sewing required. I actually found some of the same vinyl covered felt used by the Mopar bag at the local Joann fabric store. This is the exact same stuff, same as Bestop uses on their seat covers. The piece shown here is 80". You will also need a couple yards of felt for the pieces between the windows a couple of 5' nylon straps, mine are 2" wide. Vinyl was about $20, felt and straps about $10 each. I'm doing this with JLU windows, a JL will have longer side windows.

First picture is the back window centered on the top half of the vinyl.

Second pic is the side windows centered on top of the back window, with felt between all the windows. The side windows are as close as they can get to each other without risking any scratches. Note the hard plastic corners, when I install the straps in the next pic, the straps are on the plastic corners. The tightened straps are not apply any pressure to any other part of the windows

Third pic is the bottom half of the vinyl folded up and the sides folded towards the middle with the straps holding everything in place. It looks a little sloppy and would definitely benefit from some trimming of the excess vinyl.

It actually holds together pretty good. The fourth pic is to show how well it can stand vertically if you wanted to strap to the back of back seat.

Final pic compares it size wise to the Mopar bag that finally showed up.

Caught some quick sewing instructions from my mother via FaceTime today and knocked this bad boy out. Fits PERFECTLY behind the rear seats of my JLU. Thank you VERY MUCH for the idea and inspiration!! BTW, I used some small self-adhesive Velcro square to secure the edges of the vinyl together once folded.

 

[Jebiruph]

Caught some quick sewing instructions from my mother via FaceTime today and knocked this bad boy out. Fits PERFECTLY behind the rear seats of my JLU. Thank you VERY MUCH for the idea and inspiration!! BTW, I used some small self-adhesive Velcro square to secure the edges of the vinyl together once folded.

Looks awesome, you made a swan out of my ugly duckling. I was working on this today too, because I'm still not real crazy about the factory bag, mostly due to the size. I want to be able "store" the windows from inside the jeep and I don't see any way to do it with the size factory bag. With this system, I'm hoping I can layout the cover in back, lay the windows on top and strap them in. Do you mind sharing some more pics of how it's put togather and the measurements you ended up with?

 

[PapaJoe]

Looks awesome, you made a swan out of my ugly duckling. I was working on this today too, because I'm still not real crazy about the factory bag, mostly due to the size. I want to be able "store" the windows from inside the jeep and I don't see any way to do it with the size factory bag. With this system, I'm hoping I can layout the cover in back, lay the windows on top and strap them in. Do you mind sharing some more pics of how it's put togather and the measurements you ended up with?

I pretty much store them as you described in your initial post-- lay down the vinyl and a layer of felt (the interior of the vinyl Jo-Ann's had was not as soft a felt), lay down the rear window centered on the vinyl, layer of felt, one side window, felt, other side window, felt. Then fold up bottom, fold down the top, fold the sides in, then strap closed. You can probably see the Velcro squares I stuck on in these photos, but now that I have some mad sewing skillzzz I'm probably going to buy some sew-on strips of Velcro to really secure it closed. I have a feeling that between the hot sun and the wind from the top being down, the adhesive and smaller squares may not hold. I am also probably going to sew the large Velcro straps to the vinyl. Best wishes!

 

[Jebiruph]

Thanks for the additional information. I think it will be very helpful to any one else trying to do this. I like the vinyl material you used, it looks more flexible, easier to fold than what I used. I purposely went with thick/stiff vinyl because I thought it needed the support, but more flexible looks better. For anyone thinking of doing this, Joann Fabrics frequently has coupons and sales, I bought fleece (for between the windows) on sale for $3 yd, down from $10 yd.

 

[PapaJoe]

Thanks for the additional information. I think it will be very helpful to any one else trying to do this. I like the vinyl material you used, it looks more flexible, easier to fold than what I used. I purposely went with thick/stiff vinyl because I thought it needed the support, but more flexible looks better. For anyone thinking of doing this, Joann Fabrics frequently has coupons and sales, I bought fleece (for between the windows) on sale for $3 yd, down from $10 yd.

Yes, I like how easy this more flexible vinyl was to work with. And once you have the windows secured with the larger straps, they stand up nicely against a wall or your rear seats due to the rigid corner pieces of the side windows. Nice tag-team effort here!

 

[cobaltblu10]

Not a bad idea at all. It looks easy to do.

 

[Jimbo344]

Good morning, it's been a long time and I wish I would have taken pictures. I had a 2007 JLUR and although I know right now nobody has a bikini top or a tonneau cover yet, which in of itself is infuriating! LOL. so back in the day I had four element doors, the bikini top and there was some sort of a clear vinyl let's say rear windshield that velcroed from the top of the rear bar and attached on top of the tonneau cover and I would go out in the pouring pouring rain and I had my son sitting in the back he said he never got a drip on him.so eventually when bestop or somebody gets their butt in gear that's going to be my game plan. no rear window storage for me.(laid 2 piece element/soft doors in back they were fine for years)and it worked great back in the day. so that's what I'm hoping for in the near future.

 

[Jimbo344]

I completely agree !I had the same thing with my JK back in 2007 .I think it was called a Windjammer? Same deal ,my son was in the back, pouring rain element doors ,bikini top, tonneau cover, Windjammer 100% moisture free! Maybe in the next 2 or 3 years when they get their ass in gear and stop just concentrating on the almighty dollar, they'll come up with it!

 

[CreativeName]

Caught some quick sewing instructions from my mother via FaceTime today and knocked this bad boy out. Fits PERFECTLY behind the rear seats of my JLU. Thank you VERY MUCH for the idea and inspiration!! BTW, I used some small self-adhesive Velcro square to secure the edges of the vinyl together once folded.

This is awesome!! Just what I needed! Where do you put the rear bar? Leave it in the Jeep? If you included it in this, would it still wrap up well or would that bar get in the way somehow?

 

[PapaJoe]

This is awesome!! Just what I needed! Where do you put the rear bar? Leave it in the Jeep? If you included it in this, would it still wrap up well or would that bar get in the way somehow?

The rear bar stays connected to the rear window and stored in here as well. When wrapped up relatively tightly with my velcro straps, the plastic corner uprights on the side windows combined with the rear bar provide nice little structure for it to stand upright leaning against the wall in my garage.

 

[jmgrant41]

Caught some quick sewing instructions from my mother via FaceTime today and knocked this bad boy out. Fits PERFECTLY behind the rear seats of my JLU. Thank you VERY MUCH for the idea and inspiration!! BTW, I used some small self-adhesive Velcro square to secure the edges of the vinyl together once folded.

This is really awesome and exactly what I'm looking for! Are your measurements for the Vinyl 52.5" x 77"? If you have them handy, could you share the measurements you used for the felt pieces as well? I'm thinking about attempting this project over the weekend.

 

[sgtmajor138]

I know this is an older thread, but are there any updates? I was hoping to get the measurements for the material. Thanks.

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