Why does everyone keep the hardtop on (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 20, 2018
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6
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22
Location
Menlo Park
I continue to search for the right FJ for myself. Once I buy the car I envision taking the top off through the summer. Why do photos always show the FJ’s with the top on? Is it uncomfortable when the top if off?
 
Because people think it's a Jeep without the top on.
 
@Ken Friedman

If you have a truck without any top standing outside in a bit dusty area for a couple of days, you beter take the dust out of the tub first before you start to drive it

If you take the top off and also fold the window frame down, it's a lot of fun to drive like that but it's better not to drive it around on the road a long time with your eyes unprotected on "higher" speed
 
Personal experience (based mostly on years owning a sports car) is that, most of the time, driving with a convertible roof down or removed sounds better than it actually is. At lower speeds, in pleasant weather, not in traffic it can be great...but as a daily driver, on the road at higher speeds, in changing weather it's just not as comfortable or as pleasant as some folks seem to imagine. Even under pretty ideal conditions, I found it hard to have a conversation with a passenger or listen to the radio (unless blaring loudly), the wind blew my hair (of which I had more, then) into a tangled mess...and, of course, my car was easily burgled. That said, those limited times when I was focused just on the joy of driving itself...just me, the car, and the road...it could be a really great experience. That is, however, lamentably seldom...guess I gotta find a way to change that!
 
To take the top off or put it on takes 2 to 3 people or a hoist or winch. Tops, I think are over 300 lbs.

Tops are great in the winter when they help the heater keep the inside warm.

Storage of a top is a pain unless you have the space and the means to keep it inside.

I use a soft-top in spring and fall to protect me from weather. Sides and rear can be rolled up on balmy days.

I use a bikini top in the summer. Keeps the sun at bay and allows for that open air feeling without all the buffeting.

Too much salt or worse on the roads for it to see winter driving. Maybe after a big rain storm that washes the salt off the roads and they are dry, it will get a bit of a work out to keep it's juices flowing.

But, my 40 is not a daily driver.
 
Mine is a daily driver 8-9 months a year .
I like to be to keep stuff in it and be able to lock it....and after dd a soft top for a decade I had enough.
 
You live in the southwest- pretty much everywhere else its likely to rain in the summer...sometimes for days. Here in the humid south we get a afternoon rehumidification shower nearly every day in July-aug
 
My 2 cents... I take the top off at the start of the summer piece by piece so I can do it as a one man job. Takes around 3 hours if I really hustle. I have an aftermarket center console that I can lock the radio and a few items in. Awesome to drive around until it gets into the upper 80's (in Atlanta). Once we start getting temps in the 50's later in the year the top goes back on... ect..
 
Slower speeds around town nothing is better than the top off or bikini top to keep from getting fried from the AZ sun ☀️. Cool factor is off the charts but you will get more “nice Jeep” comments. However some will give that comment even with the top on🙄. Of course they also probably drive around with no one else in the car with a mask 😷 on too🙄
 
For all of the reasons posted above plus, my top is 51 years old. I don't think it has ever come off, so the seals are 51 years old and will never seal again. Yes they are very heavy @firefighterjed and I removed his top one summer growing up and I remember it was crazy heavy, but then again I was 13. I personally love the look of a white roof on the 40's contrasted with what ever color it just makes them look iconic. If I am going to take it off it will be off for a while and I don't want to have to worry about the weather. For instance here in SoAz the sun is brutal and even though it makes it a rolling easy bake oven with the top on I don't want to be made into a chipotle pepper all sun dried and shriveled up. I have always said that 40 series look funny with out a top and wranglers look funny with a top on.
 
I've never had a top on mine, it just gets driven on sunny days only. 60mph isn't terribly windy, unless you have really long hair or have the windshield down ( the windshield down is brutal, unless you're on a slow trail). My wife doesn't want me to buy a soft top for fear that it will never come off...
 
I've my 68 FJ40 for forty six years. With the help of a couple neighbors use to take the top and doors off regularly. In the nineties picked up some factory bows and soft doors. Bought a new Kayline top when they were still available and switched back and forth seasonally. Now all my neighbors have gotten old. Guess I have too. Plan is to do something with this one I've been sitting on for twenty six years.
IMG_20200505_165605643_HDR.jpg

Getting the Kayline top off the factory bows is not as easy as some aftermarket tops but am still able to do it by myself.
 
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I've my 68 FJ40 for forty six years. With the help of a couple neighbors use to take the top and doors off regularly. In the nineties picked up some factory bows and soft doors. Bought a new Kayline top when they were still available and switched back and forth seasonally. Now all my neighbors have gotten old. Guess I have too. Plan is to do something with this one I've been sitting on for twenty six years.
View attachment 2387301
Getting the Kayline top off the factory bows is not as easy as some aftermarket tops but am still able to do it by myself.
Well at lest the bezel police aren't going to be called on you.
 
I have a bikini top and If been a three season fj40 driver. I put my hard top on 8 years ago and I did some snow wheeling that winter. Other than that I took my top off 30 years ago and I like so much that It wasn't worth it to put it back on just because it was winter.
I just built an overhead hoist system that will let me just drive under it and lower the top down. I just may start playing in the snow a little more now.
 

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