WranglerMan
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Will
- Joined
- May 8, 2018
- Threads
- 100
- Messages
- 3,384
- Reaction score
- 2,694
- Location
- Katy Texas
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 Wrangler JLU Sahara
- Occupation
- Gas Pipeliner
- Vehicle Showcase
- 1
- Thread starter
- #1
As some of you may know I recently installed a Bestop SR on my 2018 JLUS and so far am really loving it a lot and I’m not sure if I can even go back to freedom panels but maybe in the winter time.
Anyway after installing the passenger side latch had a pretty fair amount of tension and the driver side had almost none and the latch actually rattled alittle so after chatting with @jludave in several PM’s I took the plunge on adjusting my latches.
I kinda felt like a dog chasing his tail adjusting my latches
I pulled it out of the garage so I could clearly see and proceeded to remove the felt covers off the bolt heads and they are slotted and only have about 1/4” of total movement so not alot at all.
I moved it forward just small amounts and by the time I was done to get the tension even with the passenger side the driver side was all the way forward and after thinking about this I decided that I did not want to leave it that way as it would compress the seal a lot and leave me no adjustment so I proceeded to loosen both sides and started with both all the way back and slowly worked my way forward after testing each time, this took several attempts to get what I thought was the right tension and I’m sure they not exactly the same but I do have some forward adjustment left just incase the seal compresses as it ages.
When I was all done the tension on both sides seem fairly close but again this is just going by feel and I do have some forward/backward adjustment left.
After i buttoned it all up I took out the water hose and proceeded to set the nozzle on stream and sprayed the SR from all possible angles for several minutes then climbed in the Jeep to check for water and there was no visible signs of any leaks and then it started to rain alittle here so I figured why not I’ll take it for a drive and after I got back I again inspected for leaks and found only a few drops on the primary forward seal and this may be normal.
The yellow arrows indicate where there were one or two spots of water and I mean like maybe a drop at each point but only on the front part of the seal but the area in blue had zero water and nothing in the channel.
So now my plan is to leave it alone unless I have leaks and hoping I have none
Here is the primary and secondary seal and the area marked in yellow and had a drop or two at each point and was only on the front part of the seal and the area marked in blue had zero water and no water in the channel, actually it was dusty
I did notice as I was inspecting the seal that there are holes at each end of the channel and upon inspection there is tubing attached to these points that allow water to drain downward, Im sure lots of you may have known this but this was new to me
And lastly I have a sound meter app and wanted to see how loud the SR top was so as i was driving so I moved my phone around in the Jeep and then parked and got a comparison, maybe when and if I put my freedom panels back on I can compare
First one is rolling down the highway at 65-70 and second one is parked and idling, big thanks goes out to @jludave for taking the time to discuss options and how to address and looking forward to our beach outing coming up this weekend
Anyway after installing the passenger side latch had a pretty fair amount of tension and the driver side had almost none and the latch actually rattled alittle so after chatting with @jludave in several PM’s I took the plunge on adjusting my latches.
I kinda felt like a dog chasing his tail adjusting my latches
I pulled it out of the garage so I could clearly see and proceeded to remove the felt covers off the bolt heads and they are slotted and only have about 1/4” of total movement so not alot at all.I moved it forward just small amounts and by the time I was done to get the tension even with the passenger side the driver side was all the way forward and after thinking about this I decided that I did not want to leave it that way as it would compress the seal a lot and leave me no adjustment so I proceeded to loosen both sides and started with both all the way back and slowly worked my way forward after testing each time, this took several attempts to get what I thought was the right tension and I’m sure they not exactly the same but I do have some forward adjustment left just incase the seal compresses as it ages.
When I was all done the tension on both sides seem fairly close but again this is just going by feel and I do have some forward/backward adjustment left.
After i buttoned it all up I took out the water hose and proceeded to set the nozzle on stream and sprayed the SR from all possible angles for several minutes then climbed in the Jeep to check for water and there was no visible signs of any leaks and then it started to rain alittle here so I figured why not I’ll take it for a drive and after I got back I again inspected for leaks and found only a few drops on the primary forward seal and this may be normal.
The yellow arrows indicate where there were one or two spots of water and I mean like maybe a drop at each point but only on the front part of the seal but the area in blue had zero water and nothing in the channel.
So now my plan is to leave it alone unless I have leaks and hoping I have none
Here is the primary and secondary seal and the area marked in yellow and had a drop or two at each point and was only on the front part of the seal and the area marked in blue had zero water and no water in the channel, actually it was dusty
I did notice as I was inspecting the seal that there are holes at each end of the channel and upon inspection there is tubing attached to these points that allow water to drain downward, Im sure lots of you may have known this but this was new to me
And lastly I have a sound meter app and wanted to see how loud the SR top was so as i was driving so I moved my phone around in the Jeep and then parked and got a comparison, maybe when and if I put my freedom panels back on I can compare
First one is rolling down the highway at 65-70 and second one is parked and idling, big thanks goes out to @jludave for taking the time to discuss options and how to address and looking forward to our beach outing coming up this weekend
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