How compact is the soft top when removed? Can I carry it inside my Bronco, with a hard top installed?

[Bob Blaylock]

So, I've ordered my Bronco with a soft top, to get it faster, but I really want a hard top.

I live in Sacramento, and the two likely sources that I have identified for possible hard tops are in the Los Angeles area.

I was thinking, rather than fuss with shipping, that I might just make a two-day trip, to drive to whichever place has the top I decided to buy, get it installed there, spend the night at a motel, and drive home the following day.

So, what to do with the soft top?

My initial thought was to just remove it and leave it at home, but my wife, @Seanette is very much opposed to making that long a drive without a top, and I'm not particularly fond of the idea either. I'm a cranky old man who likes the inside of my vehicle to be quite and peaceful, which is a large part of why I want a hard top in the first place, and @Seanette is similar.

So, the big question is this: If I drive down to the Los Angeles area, with my soft top installed, get it removed there and replaced with a hard top, will I be able to fold the soft top in some way that will make it possible to carry it home in the Bronco? Just how compact can it be, removed and folded?

Alternatively, I am wondering if I can also get a roof rack installed on my new hard top, while I'm in the LA area, and safely carry my soft top on that.

I don't really want the soft top, but it seems like too valuable a thing just to abandon or throw away, and that I should hang on to it in the hope that, at some later point, someone will buy it from me.

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[TKFIVE]

There was a dealership that used a soundmeter on the Broncos in various configurations and made a video about it. The hard top was negligibly quieter. Might be a disappointment if that’s the primary driver behind a hard top.

That said, I saw that the soft top is something like $2400 direct from Ford, so I bet there is some value for you there.

 

[BlueBronco]

If you fold one of the seats down the soft top should fit inside no problem.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

There was a dealership that used a soundmeter on the Broncos in various configurations and made a video about it. The hard top was negligibly quieter. Might be a disappointment if that’s the primary driver behind a hard top.

That said, I saw that the soft top is something like $2400 direct from Ford, so I bet there is some value for you there.

When we test drove a Wildtrak, that was one thing I very specifically was interested to see (hear) was how bad road/wind noise would be with the soft top. As bad as Bay Area traffic is, I did manage to get it up to about 80+ MPH in short bursts, enough to verify that at that speed, the noise level was something I could live with.

Patriot fastbacks seems to make a big deal of how good the acoustic insulation is in their hard tops. If their claims are anywhere close to true, then I can probably expect that it'll be quieter inside my Bronco with one of their tops installed than with either of Ford's tops.

Of course, a big part of the start of this conversation was about the idea of driving for 6-7 hours with no top at all, in order to avoid having to deal with hauling the soft top back once I had the hard top in place.

 

[JaxGtc]

If you fold one of the seats down the soft top should fit inside no problem.

Approximate width of the soft top is 60 inches, with a U shaped depth of 41 inches. Diagonal rear cargo is about 43 with the roll bar, and more if you U around it. Rear seat down depth is 60+, so yes, depending how thick the accordion is in the down position, it should work.

 

[Jest3rd]

So, I've ordered my Bronco with a soft top, to get it faster, but I really want a hard top.

I live in Sacramento, and the two likely sources that I have identified for possible hard tops are in the Los Angeles area.

I was thinking, rather that fuss with shipping, that I might just make a two-day trip, to drive to whichever place has the top I decided to buy, get it installed there, spend the night at a motel, and drive home the following day.

So, what to do with the soft top?

My initial thought was to just remove it and leave it at home, but my wife, @Seanette is very much opposed to making that long a drive without a top, and I'm not particularly fond of the idea either. I'm a cranky old man who likes the inside of my vehicle to be quite and peaceful, which is a large part of why I want a hard top in the first place, and @Seanette is similar.

So, the big question is this: If I drive down to the Los Angeles area, with my soft top installed, get it removed there and replaced with a hard top, will I be able to fold the soft top in some way that will make it possible to carry it home in the Bronco? Just how compact can it be, removed and folded?

Alternatively, I am wondering if I can also get a roof rack installed on my new hard top, while I'm in the LA area, and safely carry my soft top on that.

I don't really want the soft top, but it seems like too valuable a thing just to abandon or throw away, and that I should hang on to it in the hope that, at some later point, someone will buy it from me.

Did you end up getting aftermarket hardtops?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Did you end up getting aftermarket hardtops?

I still don't have my Bronco (estimated middle of 2022), and as far as I can tell, no aftermarket hard top is yet available for it.

The top that is looking most likely is the offering from Patriot Fastbacks (pictured below). Having released a rendering of what their proposed top for the Bronco will look like, and actually having a very similar one on the market for the J**p, on which their proposed Bronco offering is based, seems to make it most likely that they will be the soonest to have something, anything, on the market for the Bronco. In any event, it puts them way ahead of what few other companies I know of that have indicated any intent to produce a hard top for the Bronco.

 

[Daktari]

I would think, since before all these constraints dual top was an option, that the soft top would have been in a box or boxes in the back upon delivery, like with a Wrangler. Rear seats folded down of course. So you should be just fine. I just measured, cargo area with seats folded down is around 10 inches deeper than the soft top is wide, I'm sure it all fits just fine. Bring some cheap moving blankets or something like that with you to put in between the side and rear windows.

 

[da_jokker]

I still don't have my Bronco (estimated middle of 2022), and as far as I can tell, no aftermarket hard top is yet available for it.

The top that is looking most likely is the offering from Patriot Fastbacks (pictured below). Having released a rendering of what their proposed top for the Bronco will look like, and actually having a very similar one on the market for the J**p, on which their proposed Bronco offering is based, seems to make it most likely that they will be the soonest to have something, anything, on the market for the Bronco. In any event, it puts them way ahead of what few other companies I know of that have indicated any intent to produce a hard top for the Bronco.

So am I looking at this wrong, or is there no openings? So you have to take the entire thing off if you want "open air"?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

So am I looking at this wrong, or is there no openings? So you have to take the entire thing off if you want "open air"?

I think you're seeing it correctly. I think it's one piece, and not meant to be particularly easy to take off and put back on. Not intended for the sort of customer who wants an “open air” vehicle.

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