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Would a two door limited top work on a scabler

raser13

Basic User
City
crystal city
State
MO
Hey Ladies and gents, new to the scrambler world, so don't kill me if my wonderings are to ridiculous. I'm just trying to work out extra and possibly cheaper sources of crossover parts. So here's the question. Will the top off of a two door limited work on a scrambler? Or be modified to work? How hard is it to stretch a cj7 top to work?

Thanks for taking the time to look and respond.
 

gr8dain

Old and Slow
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Ashburn
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VA
I would think (i am no expert) that it would be easier to stretch the CJ7 top. I think the LJ top is different lengths and widths and would require more work than to just graft in a section to the center of a top for the swb CJ
 

gr8dain

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Oh and if you want to drool, look for the safari top work that is being done by jscherb. He has done them for the LJ and JKU. The LJ one is available for purchase through gr8tops, iirc. Not a CJ I know, but it will give an idea of the work required.
 

raser13

Basic User
City
crystal city
State
MO
i don't know their designation. they were the long bed versions of the jk. basically what the scrambler was to the cj7. they were only around for a few years. then they got replaced with the four door jeeps.
 

gr8dain

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i don't know their designation. they were the long bed versions of the jk. basically what the scrambler was to the cj7. they were only around for a few years. then they got replaced with the four door jeeps.

The new body from 07-16 is the JK. The long one is considered the JKU (U for unlimited). But those only come in 4 doors. Which is why I assumed you meant the TJ unlimited (commonly known as the LJ) that was built from 2004-2006 (if my memory serves me right).

If you are referring to the one with metal front fenders withe the front turn signals in the fenders, you would be referring to the LJ.

afd98eff996a2ff68a720de2f6d98540-1.jpg
 

jerseyjeeps

Crazy about AMC Jeeps
Lifetime Member
City
Landing
State
NJ
My apologies when you said limited I thought perhaps there was a limited version of the JK. And a 2 dr has a little bit longer version of the top then the 4 door so if you were talking about stretching that I would start with that cause the side window is actually kinda large. I am no JK expert at all, but the shell of a top is laying here , and it had me thinking about what I thought you were asking :wave:


 

gr8dain

Old and Slow
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Ashburn
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If you are thinking about the newer body JK (2 door) top, i think the width might be a problem. As well as the more angular back corners. I will measure the width. I have a JKU in the driveway so I can get that measurement.

But if you can get the JK top to work, that would be interesting since it has the freedom panels in the front that allow the front seats to be uncovered (think Targa).

I just measured. The JK top is 62 inches wide and the Scrambler bed is 59 inches. So modification of the width is necessary. Also, here is a pic of the angle of the rear corner of the JK top and body. Something to consider.

d62bcb5b9135576289ecd69c8c3eb2fa-1.jpg
 
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jscherb

CJ-8 Member
City
Elmira
State
NY
About 6 months ago I got an email from someone making a longer top and his experience may help here. He lengthened his YJ to roughly LJ length (so about 9" shorter than a Scrambler, but the info in this post still applies to lengthening a top for a Scrambler). He cut two YJ hardtops in half and spliced them together into a longer top. A YJ or CJ top would be a reasonable choice to modify for a Scrambler because it fits in all the important places - at the windshield header, around the doors and across the back.

Here's a photo he sent me of the spliced top:

YJLTop1_zpsqabwq9iz-1.jpg


He also sent me this next photo, which shows what happened after he painted the top and then had a glass place cut new longer glass for the sides - I guess neither he nor the glass place realized that the factory windows in those hardtops are curved, so when you make glass for the longer openings it needs to be curved too.

YJLTop2_zpsibfr2pkt-1.jpg


Custom curved glass being out of the question, the reason he sent me the email was to ask what to do about it.

I sent him a long email explaining how to modify the window opening so it would accept flat glass. I told him the steps required to modify the window mounting surface so that it would follow the yellow dashed line in the illustration below. I also sent him several other possibilities he could consider, but modifying the window mounting surface to be flat is the one I thought was the best approach.

YKLTop3_zpsodw9votn-1.jpg


I don't know how his project ended up, I sent him the detailed email about 6 months ago and haven't heard back.

One other complication with lengthening factory hardtops, which I've highlighted with the red line in the illustration above, is that the top of the roof is curved from front to back. If all you do is cut and splice two hardtops together, you'll end up with strange humps in the middle unless you do a good deal of bodywork to smooth things out, something that doesn't seem to have been done on the hardtop above. Now that I've pointed out the bulge with the red line, look back to the first photo in this post and the bulge should be obvious. The same would be true if you tried to lengthen an LJ hardtop the 9" necessary to make it fit a Scrambler - lots of bodywork on the roof to make the curves look right.


I'll also comment on the idea of modifying a JK/JKU hardtop to fit a Scrambler - besides the fact that the JK tops are too wide at the tub, there are virtually no straight lines on a JK top - the sides are curved, the back and tailgate are curved, the roof is curved, it's curved at the windshield... to make a JK top fit not only would you have to section it to make it the right length and width, you'd have to change pretty much every curve on it into straight lines. Having just spent a lot of time designing and building a custom JK hardtop I can tell you it is quite challenging to deal with all the curves - for this project it would be a lot easier to start with a CJ/YJ hardtop than a JK hardtop - I think it would be less work to make a completely custom top for the Scrambler than it would be to modify a JK top to fit and look good.

My advice is to start with a YJ or CJ hardtop if you want to work in fiberglass, or start with postal Jeep body parts if you want to work in metal, like this project that apparently never got finished: https://www.cj-8.com/forum/showthread.php?44713-DJ5x2-Metal-Hard-Top

Whatever route you might take, there's no "quick mod" that makes a hardtop from another model Jeep fit and look right.

Having built custom hardtops for YJ's through JK's, I'm happy to answer any detailed questions you might have about various options for modifying/building hardtops to fit.
 

gr8dain

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Listen to that man ^^^^^^^

He is THE expert I was mentioning.
 

raser13

Basic User
City
crystal city
State
MO
The LJ is the one that I was thinking of, I do believe. I've only seen them driving down the roads. They seemed close so my cheap, modifying mind went hmmmm wonder if it will work? I knew some people swaped out newer tubs onto cj7s so I didn't know if the lines were close enough. Looks like may answer is not just no, but heck no. Lol. I have no problem with fiber glass fabrication. When I was younger I did a lot of cowl hoods, custom spoilers, and body kit mods on my mustangs. So I would have noticed that bump.and fixed it along the way.

The windows definitely would have cought me. Any reason that a good plexiglass or lexan couldn't have been used? A lot cheaper. Just heat to gently bend and can be cut with simple shop tools. Not safe for the roads?

I've just seen the price of scrambler tops. And keep thinking to myself there has to be a cheaper way. Looks like I'm searching for two really cheap cj7 tops or starting to frame up a custom glass top.

Jscherb, thank you for the info. It was very clear, very concise, and really easy to understand. Great use of illustrations. Really made it easy to understand what you meant. Not a lot of people can convey info that well. Thank you sir.
 

jscherb

CJ-8 Member
City
Elmira
State
NY
The windows definitely would have cought me. Any reason that a good plexiglass or lexan couldn't have been used? A lot cheaper. Just heat to gently bend and can be cut with simple shop tools. Not safe for the roads?
Using lexan for the windows was one of the suggestions I made to the guy with the YJ hardtop problem. He didn't want to do that because acrylics/polycarbonates are so prone to scratching. I wouldn't do it either for the same reason, but it would work and with enough heat an acrylic/polycarbonate sheet could be bent to the proper curve. For accurate results you'd probably want to make a curved form to bend the sheet over, but that wouldn't be too difficult.

I've just seen the price of scrambler tops. And keep thinking to myself there has to be a cheaper way. Looks like I'm searching for two really cheap cj7 tops...

This is a concept drawing, not an engineering drawing, so I can't guarantee that this illustration is 100% accurate, but it gives an idea of the mismatch involved. There will also likely be a slight width mismatch at the upper part of the joint because most CJ-7 tops taper slightly in width at the top near the back. Some aftermarket tops are easier to splice than the factory tops because they're a little straighter, but finding two that are cheap and match would probably be a challenge.

HardtopHack_zpsgblvpyhh-1.jpg


...or starting to frame up a custom glass top.

Since cost seems to be the #1 driver, to give you an idea of the cost of a custom fiberglass top I can tell you it costs me around $500-$600 in materials (resin, gelcoat, fiberglass) to mold a complete set of parts for a Safari Cab. The parts below are for an LJ, but molding a set of Scrambler-length parts would cost only a bit more. That doesn't include the cost of making molds for the parts, it's just the incremental cost of molding another set of parts once the molds are made.

AllKit1-1.jpg


SafariScrambler-1.jpg
 
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tower210

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Olathe
State
KS
If cost is the issue, I think you would be better served by a really vigilant search and some flexibility to drive to pick up a top. Search tempest is your friend.

I have seen (2) good acme tops (one in KC and one in Michigan) where the sellers were only asking $150, because they wanted to get rid of them and were not willing to ship. I wasn't able to drive for the Michigan one in a timely manner, and the KC one sold before I got to the seller; but they do pop up for cheap from time to time.
 

Polarfire

Jeep Aficionado
Lifetime Member
City
Columbia
State
MO
I have seen (2) good acme tops (one in KC and one in Michigan) where the sellers were only asking $150, because they wanted to get rid of them and were not willing to ship. I wasn't able to drive for the Michigan one in a timely manner, and the KC one sold before I got to the seller; but they do pop up for cheap from time to time.

I saw that KC top, passed it on to another Scrambler owner in KC and he picked it up. Super deals are out there but it takes patience to find them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A
 

jscherb

CJ-8 Member
City
Elmira
State
NY
I agree. If price is the main consideration, being patient in monitoring Craigslist and being willing to drive a bit to pick it up will be less expensive than splicing two CJ hardtops or building your own from scratch.
 

raser13

Basic User
City
crystal city
State
MO
price and availability were my main motivators. also that the jeep is sitting there with out a top right now. i'm not trying to find fancy but i'm trying to do cheap and fast so i can button up the inside so i can start patching it up, running wiring, and putting some interior in. with out all of it getting wet all the time and getting ruined or corroded. but i think i need to calm down try to step back and start getting things the right way. i just have that new project high going on and i want to go,go,go. but i'll start hunting around. travels not a huge thing as long as the deal equals out to what gas is going to cost. shame i didn't get to see the kc one that's only a couple of hours for me. i'd have run for that one.
 

tower210

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Olathe
State
KS
price and availability were my main motivators. also that the jeep is sitting there with out a top right now. i'm not trying to find fancy but i'm trying to do cheap and fast so i can button up the inside so i can start patching it up, running wiring, and putting some interior in. with out all of it getting wet all the time and getting ruined or corroded. but i think i need to calm down try to step back and start getting things the right way. i just have that new project high going on and i want to go,go,go. but i'll start hunting around. travels not a huge thing as long as the deal equals out to what gas is going to cost. shame i didn't get to see the kc one that's only a couple of hours for me. i'd have run for that one.

PM me if KC is viable and what you budget is....I think I know where one is in KC for$650 ish.... I want one, but have decided it is lower on my list than 2 or 3 other major items....

KK.


 
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