Sherifftruman
Member
- First Name
- Lee
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2019
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 28
- Location
- Morrisville, NC
- Vehicle(s)
- 2012 JKUS
- Thread starter
- #1
So, we got a new Sahara with the Sky One Touch. The new grab handles on the A-Pillars are nice, but my wife really liked having roll bar mounted handles on our JK and wants the same in the JL. I had seen a few different threads where people were able to thread some of the fabric straps for various paracord handles through the small gap. Unfortunately my wife really likes the look of the official Jeep handles https://www.quadratec.com/p/mopar/front-grab-handle-pair-jeep-wrangler-jl that mount over the bars. Jeep says they won’t work with the Sky One Touch.
Sometimes it seems like my wife’s purpose in life is to come up with crazy ideas that I have to make work. I’m also the kind of person that doesn’t mind making things work.
Looking in between, there is definitely a gap there, but it’s too tight to slide the pre-bent metal brackets through. Also, part of the front mechanism is in the way of one of the screws I need to remove. If I could lift the sides up, I can get to everything. So, I saw the thread where the guy bought the Sky One Touch off eBay and installed it. Seemed like if that was possible, loosening the bolts that hold it down would be possible.
So, we did it. Needed to loosen the 2 bolts in the front area and three (1 apart and 2 together) in the back seat area. Also, had to take off the screw at the front where the latch is. These are the hex cap screws, not the T-25 for for the trim. We took it slow, making sure nothing seemed to be in tension to make any realignment hard. They were not torqued much, I was able to do all but two with a manual screwdriver style bit holder. The others just needed a small ratchet and little effort. Once they were loose (for whatever reason one of the bolts in the front does not have as much thread engagement as the rest and it came out completely, the others I backed out about a half inch or so) we were able to raise the sides of the hard top up enough to get to everything.
I cut the rubber off the front bracket to give it more room and had to slightly angle the back and it all went right back together. Top works great and seems to be engaging all the gaskets just the same as before.
Screw for attaching front bracket to, under the locking mechanism area.
Here is the bracket with the coating removed
Finshed (two of the cap screws are visible on each side)
Sometimes it seems like my wife’s purpose in life is to come up with crazy ideas that I have to make work. I’m also the kind of person that doesn’t mind making things work.
Looking in between, there is definitely a gap there, but it’s too tight to slide the pre-bent metal brackets through. Also, part of the front mechanism is in the way of one of the screws I need to remove. If I could lift the sides up, I can get to everything. So, I saw the thread where the guy bought the Sky One Touch off eBay and installed it. Seemed like if that was possible, loosening the bolts that hold it down would be possible.
So, we did it. Needed to loosen the 2 bolts in the front area and three (1 apart and 2 together) in the back seat area. Also, had to take off the screw at the front where the latch is. These are the hex cap screws, not the T-25 for for the trim. We took it slow, making sure nothing seemed to be in tension to make any realignment hard. They were not torqued much, I was able to do all but two with a manual screwdriver style bit holder. The others just needed a small ratchet and little effort. Once they were loose (for whatever reason one of the bolts in the front does not have as much thread engagement as the rest and it came out completely, the others I backed out about a half inch or so) we were able to raise the sides of the hard top up enough to get to everything.
I cut the rubber off the front bracket to give it more room and had to slightly angle the back and it all went right back together. Top works great and seems to be engaging all the gaskets just the same as before.
Screw for attaching front bracket to, under the locking mechanism area.
Here is the bracket with the coating removed
Finshed (two of the cap screws are visible on each side)
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