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Soft-top not straight in the back

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  whitebomber 
#1 ·
I've had the JKU for about 6 weeks. When I picked it up I noticed the back hatch would hit the soft-top material. The salesman gave it a little tug and it was mostly ok. Figured when we took it down for the first time we could make it fit properly. Well that's not the case.

What I noticed the other day is viewing down the side of the Jeep you can see the top narrows toward the back (which I'm assuming is normal). However on my driver side it narrows more toward the middle. I'm thinking that's why the material is getting in the way when latching. I've attached a few pics and it's kind of hard to capture but if you come straight down from the corner of the top the driver side lines up about two inches further toward the middle, then the passenger, using the brake light as the gauge. Two pics are from the back looking down each side at the same angle. It does kind of capture the driver side being in further. The other two pics show the material at the hatch where it closes versus the other side.

Unfortunately for over a week I haven't seen another 4-dr with a soft-top to compare. Any thoughts? Thanks!
 

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#3 ·
Makes sense. Will be interesting to see how the Service Dept responds ... bummer too as I had many issues with the 2014 Cherokee, I was in there plenty of times. Other then this issue the Wrangler has been awesome and was hoping not to have to pursue any warranty issues.
 
#5 ·
I agree. If you pull down on the top of the left sail panel you should be able to shift it to the left. Do the same on the right until it is centered. Once you take the top down a few times youll figure out where the sail panels need to be seated in order for the window to be centered.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for all the responses. We have tried adjusting with the sail panels etc and it's ok until you drive around for awhile, then it ends up back in the original position.

So I will check the positioning of the frame with the roll-bar etc. That would be nice if I can actually slide it some to correct the situation.
 
#9 ·
I had the same problem with my '13 JKU, found that a strap on the soft top frame on the driver side had warped around the very back bar of the soft top frame and that was pulling everything off center, simply unwrapped it and things were better. It gets wrapped around every now and then, just something I have to keep an eye on.
Not sure if you're seeing the same thing
 
#10 ·
Resolved

Here's what seems to have fixed the issue. Put the top in the sun rider position and got into the cargo area. From there is was clear the two bars going from the roll bar toward the rear connecting to the softtop were skewed toward the passenger side. I tried loosening the screws connecting the top to the roll bars but this made no difference, as there really wasn't any play to work with.

At this point it was clear things were just bent toward the passenger side. So then I grabbed both of the bars and simultaneously gave them a shove toward the drivers side, not too hard that I would break anything. Did this a few times and things were noticeably more centered. Gave the bars a couple more tweaks toward the drivers side until everything looked totally square.

Outside the vehicle things also looked perfectly even on both the passenger and drivers side. Even though it looked great I was wondering if it would slowly make it's way back to being off center. Well after about a week and having the top down and up a few times, it's still perfectly aligned.
 
#12 ·
It wasn't the look so much, it was the fact that the fabric was getting clipped by the door and started tearing it. Although I am happier now that it's all straight : )
 
#13 ·
One other thing I noticed. My rear window is now perfectly smooth. Previously, since new actually it has had a couple diagonal wrinkles caused by the top not being square. It's amazing how nice and flat it is now.
 
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