When I purchased the Jeep at the dealer, I got the dual top option. I also got the Gobi Roof Rack, but I never considered how the two would work together. I had a big "DUH!" moment when I tried to install the soft top for the first time. The factory soft top uses an internal framework and the top folds up and down. As it folds, it requires quite a bit of vertical height for the arms of the frame to swing back. With a roof rack you only have about 4" between your top and the bottom of rack, no where close to enough room to fold the top back. So.... Gobi thought of this, and they designed the rack to fold back also. But you have to unbolt it at the windshield frame to fold it back, not exactly what you want to do just to run to the grocery store! I decided to sell my soft top while it was still unused and in the box. I got $650 for it on craigslist, so I broke even since the dual top option was about that much when I bought the jeep. I decided to use the money to buy a Bestop Trek Top. It uses the roll bars as its internal framework (except the door surrounds) and the top just rolls up like a roll of carpet. So, you can put it on and off under the rack. Problem solved! Or so I thought... Here is what the Trek Top looks like with the part over the driver's cab rolled back:
The next challenge was getting the header bar to seat properly on the top of the windshield frame. It has a bow to it to keep things tight, but its SO tight I had to use gloves and literally HANG on the header with all of my weight just to get it to seat down far enough for the screw to thread. I drove the top for a couple weeks and it never got any easier. Here is how the header connects through the footman loop above your sun visors:
The next product I have decided to try is the Offroad Heros (California Tops) JK Whisper top or Cargo Top. They are essentially the same as a Trek Top, but the windshield header is built differently. We'll see how it works. I've heard the wait times for these can be insane, like 3 or 4 months.
