A sure sign that summer is over - the top is back on the Jeep...:(. This is the Bestop CJ6 “Tigertop”, one of two options for the CJ6’s. The other option is the Specialty Tops (the old Kayline) version for the CJ6’s.
I didn’t really get to choose - SSDutch came with this top, and it’s pretty new and in overall nice shape. The top retains the “classic” design, with the doors still having lower windows:
The main functional difference between this top and the Specialty Tops version is the way the side windows are designed to roll. Mine roll back, and the Specialty version side windows roll up.
There are some fitment issues, some which I can deal with and others I can fix:
The upper rear corners of the doors have gaps, even though the door bottom is fitting nicely into the body. I can’t really see a solution to this one:
The vertical rods that the doors latch to aren’t long enough to fully engage the horizonal bars that run above the doors. I plan to make some longer versions:
The rear window is plain too long—putting the snaps in this location (vs. the tubular top of the tailgate) means the screws would stick out on the inside of the tailgate, right where you’re always carrying stuff. I haven’t mounted the snaps to my new tailgate yet, but will probably put them into the tube and just let the vinyl of the top have a bit of a droop.
An unfortunate side effect of moving the seats back - you end up sitting behind the door, and have to lean forward to see out the door windows:
Interior clearance is great - the CJ6 tops are about 1.5” higher in the middle than a CJ5 top, so I had the rollcage designed to take advantage of this for more headroom. You can see the tight fit:
Rear Visibility and seat access is pretty good too:
Here’s the top “Safari Style”:
Here’s how the side windows roll back:
October 11, 2005
That Tigertop has the nicer door handles that I like. I don’t care for the paddle handles on the Tigertop of my CJ-5. Or the elbow biters that they latch on.
October 11, 2005
And it has the lower windows in the doors. The CJ-5 Tigertop doesn’t have that. I really liked those to things.
October 12, 2005
I can relate with the Tiger top Mike.
But SS Dutch looks great!
November 03, 2005
As always another top notch job by Mike. An example for us all! Whenever I get around to installing mine I may need to view this again since I think I’m missing a few pieces.