Rampage TrailView Soft Top for Wrangler JKU

June 23, 2017

12:00 AM

Rampage TrailView Soft Top for Wrangler JKU

Words & photos by Perry Mack and Mitchell Campagnolo

I’ve been in love with convertibles for years. On the sport car side, my 1994 BMW 325i provided open skies at the touch of a button. The old 1978 Suzuki Samurai snapped on and off with relative ease and stored easily – at least that’s how I remember it. Enter the soft top from my new (then) 2015 Jeep Wrangler JKU. Painful is how I describe it. Opening the sunroof is a two-man job involving getting out of the Jeep. Removing and re-installing the windows is a chore and storing them is always a concern. Unlike most convertibles, whose tops disappear when retracted, the JKU top sits over the tailgate like a discarded accordion.

And if you are concerned about height, it adds another 3 cm over the hardtop. Look out parking garages.

No wonder Jeepers dream of a better soft top. The Rampage Frameless TrailView caught my eye with the claim of a one handed retractable sunroof. Other attractive features were the tinted rear and side windows (with their own storage space and remove to create a Safari Top), UV and mildew resistant 30 oz sail cloth, and a great aerodynamic fastback styling.

The quality and design are superb. Driving down the road with the sunroof open it remains securely in place even at highway speeds. With the sunroof closed, interior noise is comparable to every soft top on every vehicle I’ve ever owned. We hadn’t had significant downpour by deadline so we did the next best thing - drove through a high-pressure touchless carwash. I’ll admit I was nervous as water blasted at the Jeep from unnatural angles. It’s not often that torrential rain comes at you horizontally. The good news is not a drop entered the Jeep. I’m kicking myself for spending the money on the factory top – any takers?

Installation

The written instructions are clear, however the pictures lack detail. It took two of us 2.5 hours to get it installed, stopping to take video and photos. We essentially assembled the door frames twice given the number of errors we made. This was due in part to my Christmas suggestion. At Christmas I buy a half dozen small Lego sets (under 100 pieces). Everyone gathers around the table, when possible each with a different vehicle to assemble, and the timer starts. First one to finish wins, with bragging rights for an entire year. Slowest person is berated and humiliated for a similar length of time. Although you are technically not allowed to throw the other persons instructions on the floor, steal parts, and look at a similar vehicle for clues when you are behind, the rules are enforced with the same attention as during playoff hockey. Which is to say – barely, if at all.

In theory, two guys should finish the job in half the time of one, however we were using Christmas rules. The lengthiest part of the installation is assembling the door surrounds. We each took a side and started the clock. No doubt you will be much faster not using Christmas rules and having this issue of the mag with clearer images.

Here are a few tips:

The bags are green for driver side and left for passenger. Do not rip everything out of the packages without keeping the piles completely separate
Lay the soft top out in the sun if at all possible so it heats and softens. Rampage makes the tops with a nice snug fit, a hot top will be more pliable and make installation easier
Assemble one side and then the other. That way you’ll only make a mistake once. The second side will go much faster.
Follow the written instructions reading every sentence to the end. Rampage did not make a mistake in the instructions – no you don’t have a better way (Mitchell).

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