How to Replace Your JL Soft Top Deck and Windows, w/ Pics!

[JP29]

Hey everyone!

Ever since I bought my '20 two door Sport off the lot, I've regretted not getting a tan soft top.

At the time, it wasn't a possibility due to buying a vehicle that was already present, but I thought maybe if I called around I could find the part in stock and have a dealer install. But at the end of the day, Mopar hasn't made the process of upgrading any easier. Not one locally has ever said they had one or that they could order one, and the steep price tag has kept me from buying the parts.

Until now.

I couldn't stomach 250 each for the tan side and rear, so instead I bought Mastertop's fullview tinted repair windows.

The concept is the same for any of these though: for the sides, simply undo the four torx bolts from the C pillar surround, remove the old and slide in the new. The rear window is a complete replacement that will just slide into the channel. And I believe replacing the soft top deck should also be fairly straightforward - it appears to have channels along the crossmembers that a number of polymer slides sit in, along with some help from some more torx bolts. The only thing I have any trepidation about is the very rear channel - it appears to have some fabric rivets holding it in place. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Currently it's all of 20°F out here, and I'm working all weekend, but once it warms up next week expect to see a detailed walkthrough and photo dump - I'm really hoping this will be helpful for anyone like me that has had buyers remorse on the black diamond, or is the unfortunate victim of damage to their top.

Watch this space!

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[Riperoo]

Looking forward to seeing this install, so question, did you pick up the factory top without windows somewhere? Are the Mastertop full views solid or flexible like the factory windows? I like the idea of having full vision windows.

 

[JP29]

Looking forward to seeing this install, so question, did you pick up the factory top without windows somewhere? Are the Mastertop full views solid or flexible like the factory windows? I like the idea of having full vision windows.

Yes sir, the Mopar tan skin is available through a bunch of vendors - I went with Quadratec since they had free shipping and the other Mopar part vendors all had it at a comporable price, either the same with free shipping or discounted but $25-75 to ship. $850 from Qtec. The Mastertop windows are flexible just like the factory windows, maybe even a bit more since they are that pressed vinyl glass almost entirely, and they came in that tall thin box so they are rolled up pretty tight. I didn't unbox them, but I did open the box, and they have a very heavy plastic smell - hopefully a good sign!

 

[JP29]

So today I unboxed my Mastertop windows and got through the rear quarter window replacement. Along the way, I had quite a few hurdles. To start, a word of caution - don't do this on anything other than a hot, sunny day. You will regret it.

I cleaned the salt off yesterday and it was dry out. I brought my current rear quarter windows in and placed them on the rug in the den.

This was a mistake for one reason only - dog hair everywhere. But, a micro fiber wipe down was enough to get them back ship shape, and I wanted to be in a relatively warm, open area with something soft on the floor. Also, remember how I said not to do this unless it's very warm out?

This was the sad state of my full view windows - they were rolled in the tube pretty tightly, and what I should have done was unroll them and weigh their edges the night before, or maybe a day or two ahead. Luckily, the wife had free weights laying around, so I pinned it down and set to work on the matching oem window.

Mastertop provides pretty sparse (and in some cases, wrong) instruction, but they do provide a T15 wrench! I used my own driver after fumbling with the provided one for a bit.

You'll want to flip your current window inside up to access the screws in the C pillar support. Work slowly on these, as I found at least half of mine began to bind as they came out. Once you have it separated into it's two halves, Mastertops instructions will tell you to orient yours the same way as the oem, but this is incorrect - and when you remove the oem one, you can see why - the window skin wraps around the C pillar support. Kind of hard to explain, but here's a picture that may better illustrate.

You lay the window down OUTSIDE up, and sandwich it between the two pieces of the C pillar column. It looks funny, but you have to roll the window over the outside of the C pillar to achieve that same wrapped effect once done. I tried doing it to their instruction spec and was losing my mind until I noticed that in their low res pics, I could make out which way the window was facing, and when I called them they said they would be updating the instructions and confirmed that you have to roll the material around it.

Another reason you'll want to do this when it's warm - these holes are difficult to align, and the material will fight you every step of the way if it's not hot. I recommend starting from the bottom and working your way up, I found mine began to align when I went that direction as opposed to from the top down.

So, assuming you've made it this far with your Mastertop install, it's time to get the windows on! You know the drill - it was a bear for me because it was in the 50s. I also found that Mastertop's material for the locking lip so to speak at the bottom and edge of the windows is quite a bit thicker than Mopars - it is a tight fit no matter what, and a real fight to get in the first time. I'm hoping with use and warmth that abates, but I found a few problem areas still on mine.

That little hard edge sticking out from the bottom of the window is a piece of the lip that I could not get locked in for the life of me on the driver's side.

And this fitment of the top of the C pillar into a little L shaped groove was very tight, as the pressed Full View glass is much thicker than the Mopar black diamond fabric. One area that we probably could have done with a bit of a thinner border - we'll never be able to see out of that material up there, all it does is make install more difficult.

Now for the glamour shots.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't replace that pesky rear window. That's because Quadratec didn't ship it to me! And while they told me they have a ton coming in, they have no ETA, and they marked my order as fully shipped, so I'm going to need to check back with them often to insure I even get what I paid for. All in all, this install would have been about 10x easier if I'd bought these windows in the summer and been provided correct instructions - but now we know. I have been up for about 22 hours straight, so for now I'm going to rest up and we'll see if I get to the tan top in the evening.

 

[JP29]

Well gentlemen, today's the day. I started around 10 am or so - grabbed my hand tools and laid the new skin out to hopefully catch some more sun. I pulled the side and rear windows out so that I could have the full mobility of the top. In some regards, it may have been easier to take the top fully off the jeep, but I didn't have an ideal spot to lay it out, so I kept the armature on the vehicle.

If you flip the soft top halfway to sunrider mode, you'll see along the lip of the top there are I wanna say nine screws. You'll need a T25 bit for these. I started here.

Remove the lip and you can see that it was pinching a bit of a tab at the front of the soft top, holding it onto a framing plate.

From here, you can peel the soft top material off of said plate. Some of the foam will be glued to it, and the skin will be glued to the plate as well - but these both peel away very easily.

When you peel the skin away, you'll see there is a retaining cable that runs from the rear to the front of the skin. This is mirrored on both sides. At this point, you'll want to free it from the front retaining slot, then pull it out the rear.

There are two slots along the sides where it comes out and then threads back in.

Cable pulling out through the rear. Note the position of the spring at the end - the spring will be nesting inside the soft top material. You'll need to reinsert it when you are reassembling with the new material, but it bends fairly easily.

From here, you'll want to start working your way back removing the four T30 bolts that hold all of the cross members to the armature. I actually tried to drill out all the rivets holding the end caps of the crossmembers shut, in hopes that I could slide it off - however, because of their curvature, this proved impossible.

When you get to the rear crossmember, you'll need to remember how the plates are stacked - it goes support arm, crossmember, soft top material, and window support block.

At this point, you can begin removing rivets. There are six along the back crossmember attaching the skin to it, and then one on either end of each crossmember holding the caps on. Drilling the rivets out of the caps is easy, but freeing them from the crossmember was a bear.

Farewell, brave 7/64th bit, we hardly knew ye. You may also find that the rivets begin to chew through their holes on the old soft top. Not ideal, but in that case you can just pop them through and then cut them off with flush cutters.

As you remove the crossmembers from the old top and transplant them onto the new, you'll find...it's damn tight. The further rear a crossmember is, the more curve they have at each end. Removing them from the black diamond material is pretty easy, but getting the new material on is rough. You'll almost have to work the crossmember on by pushing in a curved motion. BE CAREFUL. I tore support material on both the old and new tops doing this, only time will tell if it needs to be repaired further.

You'll know you're aligned when the hole in the center of the crossmember lines up with the notch in the center of the top's support material.

Now, it's time for reassembly. Get the top back on top of the Jeep (not difficult, it's all rather light), and start by tacking in the first crossmember back from the front lip. A helpful tip to keep your screws straight - the shorter ones go on the thinner crossmembers, and the longer ones on the thicker.

Once you're locked onto that crossmember, take the soft top lip and begin to stretch it over the front framing plate. Lock the nine T25 screws in and test fit - may be a little tight, but we won't leave it locked in. Just a test. Once you've done that, continue to work your way back reattaching the crossmembers with their four T30 screws.

This bit began to drive me mad. The very rear support arms need to be stacked onto the crossmember, the soft top skin, and then the window supports. The top will be very tight. Make sure to unattach the front locking latches and fold it back into sunrider mode to get as much material as you can.

Next up is the retaining line. If you happen to have a fish tape or something similar, you will have no problem getting it threaded back up along the sides of the skin.

Here you can see my spring is correctly seated inside the rear pocket of the soft top.

Next up, you'll need a rivet gun set to 1/8", and some 1/8" rivets.

All done in the Ace parking lot, only botched one!

You can also use the 1/8" rivets to reattach your crossmember end caps. I lost one, but I don't think the top is going to move unless under gale force winds.

With that, we're done!

She's still a bit jacked up in the rear, but hopefully once my rear full view window ships, that will change. Hope this is helpful to anyone considering this swap on your own. It's definitely doable - really only need basic tools aside from a rivet gun, and I was done in about four hours. Thanks for viewing, and if you have any questions, fire away!

 

[Cobraa783]

So today I unboxed my Mastertop windows and got through the rear quarter window replacement. Along the way, I had quite a few hurdles. To start, a word of caution - don't do this on anything other than a hot, sunny day. You will regret it.

I cleaned the salt off yesterday and it was dry out. I brought my current rear quarter windows in and placed them on the rug in the den.

This was a mistake for one reason only - dog hair everywhere. But, a micro fiber wipe down was enough to get them back ship shape, and I wanted to be in a relatively warm, open area with something soft on the floor. Also, remember how I said not to do this unless it's very warm out?

This was the sad state of my full view windows - they were rolled in the tube pretty tightly, and what I should have done was unroll them and weigh their edges the night before, or maybe a day or two ahead. Luckily, the wife had free weights laying around, so I pinned it down and set to work on the matching oem window.

Mastertop provides pretty sparse (and in some cases, wrong) instruction, but they do provide a T15 wrench! I used my own driver after fumbling with the provided one for a bit.

You'll want to flip your current window inside up to access the screws in the C pillar support. Work slowly on these, as I found at least half of mine began to bind as they came out. Once you have it separated into it's two halves, Mastertops instructions will tell you to orient yours the same way as the oem, but this is incorrect - and when you remove the oem one, you can see why - the window skin wraps around the C pillar support. Kind of hard to explain, but here's a picture that may better illustrate.

You lay the window down OUTSIDE up, and sandwich it between the two pieces of the C pillar column. It looks funny, but you have to roll the window over the outside of the C pillar to achieve that same wrapped effect once done. I tried doing it to their instruction spec and was losing my mind until I noticed that in their low res pics, I could make out which way the window was facing, and when I called them they said they would be updating the instructions and confirmed that you have to roll the material around it.

Another reason you'll want to do this when it's warm - these holes are difficult to align, and the material will fight you every step of the way if it's not hot. I recommend starting from the bottom and working your way up, I found mine began to align when I went that direction as opposed to from the top down.

So, assuming you've made it this far with your Mastertop install, it's time to get the windows on! You know the drill - it was a bear for me because it was in the 50s. I also found that Mastertop's material for the locking lip so to speak at the bottom and edge of the windows is quite a bit thicker than Mopars - it is a tight fit no matter what, and a real fight to get in the first time. I'm hoping with use and warmth that abates, but I found a few problem areas still on mine.

That little hard edge sticking out from the bottom of the window is a piece of the lip that I could not get locked in for the life of me on the driver's side.

And this fitment of the top of the C pillar into a little L shaped groove was very tight, as the pressed Full View glass is much thicker than the Mopar black diamond fabric. One area that we probably could have done with a bit of a thinner border - we'll never be able to see out of that material up there, all it does is make install more difficult.

Now for the glamour shots.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't replace that pesky rear window. That's because Quadratec didn't ship it to me! And while they told me they have a ton coming in, they have no ETA, and they marked my order as fully shipped, so I'm going to need to check back with them often to insure I even get what I paid for. All in all, this install would have been about 10x easier if I'd bought these windows in the summer and been provided correct instructions - but now we know. I have been up for about 22 hours straight, so for now I'm going to rest up and we'll see if I get to the tan top in the evening.

So i just spent the last 3 hours installing mine before reading this.
I laid mine out on the table after unboxing and put a weight on each side for 2 days before installing. I got them on the jeep however i can not for the life of me get the back window on.. i am going to let it sit in the sun tomorrow and attempt again. While im installing my new soft top deck.

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