Ursa Minor Pop-Top Jeep JK

[OldCrow]

Got mine!

Thanks again to Dan for taking some photo's of the build process for my top. It's the all white one in post 1247 above.

The finished product can be seen below. It'll get its maiden voyage tonight!

John and Ursa Minor were great through the whole process. Really excellent customer service including dealing with a pain in the butt car shipper.

 

[drapnea]

Got mine shipped up to the NW and installed. Install was pretty straight forward, but plan on at least 4 people to make things easy lifting it on and getting it lined up perfectly. After that it is a one man job. Still working out a few minor bugs. Overall I am very satisfied with the J30. I took my girls camping for a couple overnights, and really like the setup.

 

[32vsnake]

^Nice looking set up

 

[Presto88]

Got mine shipped up to the NW and installed. Install was pretty straight forward, but plan on at least 4 people to make things easy lifting it on and getting it lined up perfectly. After that it is a one man job. Still working out a few minor bugs. Overall I am very satisfied with the J30. I took my girls camping for a couple overnights, and really like the setup.
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Hey Drapnea, did you paint the entire cap black? I don't see the white center that is usually on these tops.

 

[nwoods]

nice

 

[drapnea]

Yup. All black. It cost a few extra $$$ to have them blackout the entire thing. It is listed on the standard options when ordering. My thoughts were that heat from the top won't matter when the top is down since it has 2 inches of insulation plus another structural layer to go through before you would feel it in the cab. And when the top is up, the sides will be open if it is hot anyway. It may make a bit of difference if sitting up there during the day, but once the sun goes down it shouldn't matter once it cools back to ambient temps. Plus I like the looks better. I thought about adding on windows and paint match, but realized that would just make it harder to transfer to another jeep later on (sale, new jeep, etc), and the windows I rarely look through, so I'd be wasting my money. I'd rather just have a wall I can store things against. Opted for the Yakima rails and front mounted podiums. Now need to look for a low profile rack. On a side note... I just noticed I took these pictures between hacking the bumper (stock stubby mod before and after mounting the end caps from the pieces I cut off) and mounting a light bar. I may have to rewire the lights though. I used a relay which switches the light on with the high beams. It started flickering the light bar on while driving the other day despite no high beams on, and wouldn't stop even when the light switch was placed in the off, auto, or running lights position. I had to place it in "on" and keep it on low beam. I'm thinking there is either a canbus issue or the thing is getting a voltage leak triggering the relay to turn them on and off. Either way I think I will hold off on some of my plans to wire things further into the J30 until I figure it out.

 

[Presto88]

Thanks for the clarification, drapnea.

I'm just a few days away from taking delivery of my new Firecracker Red JKUR and the J30 is going to be one of my first mods. I'm with you as far as windows and I'm definitely going to have them install rails and podiums for a rack system - just in case I decide to put something up there some day. I've been going back and forth on the cap color. Perimeter paint (black) or Red. I inquired about the possibility of getting the black perimeter and having the center part painted to match the Jeep, but John (UrsaMinor) says that the cost would be the combined total of the two options because they have different shops do each part. That's over $1200! (maybe even over $1300, I don't remember exactly)

I like your reasoning for going all black. Hmmmmm. I'm usually a form-follows-function kind of guy, but I may make an exception here. Thanks for the input.

 

[JDaPP]

I painted mine all black after having it on for a while (tired of people almost hitting me trying to figure out the white upper top). Since then I have discovered plastidip, and I think I might consider that as it can be recoated, peeled off if you change your mind/gets scratched, etc. Just a thought

 

[Presto88]

I painted mine all black after having it on for a while (tired of people almost hitting me trying to figure out the white upper top). Since then I have discovered plastidip, and I think I might consider that as it can be recoated, peeled off if you change your mind/gets scratched, etc. Just a thought

Well, there you go! I could go all black, like drapnea, and then, if it does get too hot, I could plastidip the top with a color similar to the red color of the jeep.

I'm glad we're having this conversation. I've been going back and forth on this issue for the past few weeks, but I think I'm ready now.

 

[drapnea]

Just get it all black. Unless you are in it during desert days, it won't make a difference from what I can tell. Plus there are too many colors on most Jeeps with white, black, body color, and any accessories, chrome, lights, jacks, trax, etc. It starts looking like a rainbow. I'm with you on form follows function. I wish I had a white JK. Then it would have been the best of both worlds with black and white and perfect functional choices for color, but since I don't, the simple look of the all black topper blends in and draws less attention.

BTW. Great looking setup Don

 

[Presto88]

Just get it all black. Unless you are in it during desert days, it won't make a difference from what I can tell. Plus there are too many colors on most Jeeps with white, black, body color, and any accessories, chrome, lights, jacks, trax, etc. It starts looking like a rainbow. I'm with you on form follows function. I wish I had a white JK. Then it would have been the best of both worlds with black and white and perfect functional choices for color, but since I don't, the simple look of the all black topper blends in and draws less attention.

BTW. Great looking setup Don

Yep. That's what I'm going to do. My Jeep is supposed to be here by this weekend. I figure I'll give it a couple of weeks....just to be SURE that I like it as much as I think I will and then I'll place the order. I've been wanting a Jeep since I was a kid (I'm 53) but never had one before, so I figure a couple of weeks won't hurt. Thanks for the advice.

 

[SLOfizz]

Just get it all black. Unless you are in it during desert days, it won't make a difference from what I can tell. Plus there are too many colors on most Jeeps with white, black, body color, and any accessories, chrome, lights, jacks, trax, etc. It starts looking like a rainbow. I'm with you on form follows function. I wish I had a white JK. Then it would have been the best of both worlds with black and white and perfect functional choices for color, but since I don't, the simple look of the all black topper blends in and draws less attention.

BTW. Great looking setup Don

I think it looks great white on white. Check out my rig vs. one of the cleanest tacoma rigs I have seen. I look almost stock but have more comfort:

 

[drapnea]

Spring camping

 

[Dan Grec]

Spring camping

I've been doing that too. Sunny days, cold nights. I froze my water system a couple of nights in a row, so far there doesn't appear to be any damage.

-Dan

 

[mad4dirt]

Love everybody's photos of their rigs. Earlier this month my wife and I drove 4,625 miles from the Canadian border to the Mexico border and back to pick up a J30. We hit up Anza-Borrego Desert SP, Joshua Tree NP, Mojava NP, Deathvalley NP, and Yosemiti NP on our way home. Love the quick set up and take down especially for road trips.





On the way down from geologist cabin.