EarlyCJ5.com Technical Library

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Kayline Luxair F3A Top

By Jim Johnson (jpflat2a)

Being the son of a Jeep dealer in the late 60s and 70s brings back many fond memories. Imagine a 12 year old kid running around the Jeep lot and playing in all the brand new Jeeps. One of my vary fondest memories was sitting in a brand new CJ5 on the showroom floor, and taking in the brand new smell of a Kayline top. The smell of a brand new vinyl top is like, well, no other smell in the world. If you ever got to enjoy this, you know what I am talking about.

Kayline Manufacturing Company was a top manufacturer located in Colorado. As this is written, they are currently out of business

The Kayline representative called on us once or twice a year. I believe it was the owner who came around, and his name may have been Ray, I do not recall. Anyway, my dad believed Kayline had the best looking top for CJ models at that time. We sold a lot of Kayline tops. New Jeeps in those days did not come with soft tops from the factory; they were either dealer or customer installed.

This article discusses a Kayline soft top, model F3A Luxair. It will show, thru picture and descriptions, the hardware used, the top and doors, and the installation process. Please note that this top has already been installed, so the snaps and some brackets are already on the Jeep body.

Please note also that the Jeep is a model CJ2A with a M38/CJ3A frame installed. The steps and procedures here are very similar to top installations on other CJ models of Jeep as well.

The most important step in any soft top installation, is to check your measurements and make sure your windshield frame is the proper distance from/to the rear body tub corners. The instructions that come with the top will tell you what that measurement should be. Both sides must measure the same distance for the top to be square. Adjustments are commonly made thru the adjustment of the windshield frame via the clamps that secure the frame to the body cowl. These clamps are adjustable. In some cases, the weatherstrip under the frame may have to be replaced as the weatherstrip may compress over time.

Before we begin, we must have a Jeep body that has rear bow pockets. These pockets are what the rear bows are going to drop into. On my Jeep, they are externally mounted on the rear corners of the body tub. If your Jeep does not have these, the Kayline top kit would include one pair that you would bolt to your body.

With the bow pockets in place, you can know mate the two rear bows halves together to make one large rear bow. This is accomplished by a sleeve inserted into one end of the bows.

The front bow is actually mounted in the middle of the Jeep, usually right behind the door opening.

On my model, small hump shaped brackets mount directly right on top of the body seam; on some Jeeps, you may have internal bow pockets in this area if I recall.

Your instruction sheet will tell you what the measurements for the installation of these brackets are to be.

Anyway, place the open end of the bow over the small bracket, or into the pocket.

You now have both support bows in place.

Also, we must have a channel for the top to slide into across the top of the windshield frame. Once again, my frame came that way, with the channel installed; most Jeep frames had this channel; if not, one was provided in the top kit.

Start out by laying the top upside down and spread out on the hood of the Jeep. It is best to do this on a warm day, as the vinyl fabric can/will expand and contract due to weather temps. My Jeep top had been stored all winter, so a quick warming up of the vinyl is needed.

From either end, feed the front seam up into the channel and slide the whole top all the way across the front of the Jeep, carefully feeding the seam into the channel. The top should have some type of rope or cord sewn into the seam that makes this possible. Sometimes it is best to have a helper help you with this step.

Your top should now look something like this and ready to be flipped over and towards the rear of the Jeep.

The next step may require a helper as well, each on one side of the Jeep.

Now pickup and "walk" the top up and over the top of the Jeep and towards the rear of the Jeep. Watch carefully and lift as need to clear any obstacles. Be careful with the windows to avoid scratching them. The top should now be loosely mounted up and over the bows and starting to take shape.

This is another good time to let the top just sit there and soak up some sunshine before we go any farther. You can do everything we have mentioned inside a garage or shop as well if it is cold and rainy outside; try to heat and warm the inside of the building as best you can. It really does help to stretch and install the top. Remember, the tighter it fits in the summer, the tighter it will be in colder weather.

On most tops, the rear curtain has 4 straps that secure the curtain to the tailgate. On the tailgate, you will notice four raised areas or pads. The top kit will include four footman loops that are to be centered and installed by the drilling of holes on those four pads. The straps from the rear curtain will thread thru the footman loops and allow you to pull down gently on the curtain and top. We need this tension to assist in the marking of the body where the holes will be drilled for the snaps to be installed along both sides of the body.

Before we can apply tension to the straps, we need to install a few support rods, three to be exact.

Two of the support rods, one on each side, fit into the holes supplied on the front and rear bows. This keeps the bows equal distance from each other.

At the front bow, we have one support rod that fits into one supplied hole, near the center of the bow.

The other end of this support rod, drops into another footman loop that needs to be installed in the inside middle of the windshield frame. This end of the support rod is bent over, drops into the loop, and is secured with a hitch pin clip.

This keeps the front bow from moving or giving in to the pressure exerted on the rear bows. In effect, we now have a strong "cage" support for our top.

Secure the rear curtain straps thru the loops. This exerts needed tension on the top.

For my top, I now move towards the front and need to install the horizontal door opening support rods. This top has stitched and reinforced pockets along the edges that the horizontal rods slide thru into.

We start with the overhead horizontal rod and thread it thru the pocket and align it thru the hole in the bracket on the windshield frame and secure it with another hitch pin clip. These brackets are part of the frame; if yours are missing, they are easy to fabricate.

At the other end, I guide it into the supplied hole in the front bow. I do this on both sides.

To finish off our door opening, we have two vertical rods that will extend from a pre-determined point on the body, and intersect with the overhead horizontal rods we just installed. I slide the vertical rods thru sewn in pockets. The green caps are to prevent rattling inside the bow; mine are shot as you can see. Loops are furnished on the horizontal rods for these vertical rods to slide thru.

On the body seam, holes are drill and using inserts, the vertical rods are seated once they have been installed thru the loops up above. In the end, we now have a framed and finished door opening, and the vertical rods serve as the latching point for our door handles.

We can now start at the rear corners of the top, pull down the vinyl, measure and mark the location for the snaps to be installed on the body. You would start ta the rear and work your way forward; do each side just a little at a time, maybe 4-5 snaps, then go do the same on the other side. My Jeep already has the snaps installed, all that is needed is a little stretching and they snap on. An occasional shot of silicone spray keeps them lubricated.

Once the body snaps are installed and the top secured, installation of the main top is complete.

To finish the doors. We start by lifting the door as high as necessary, and threading the bottom edge of the door into the door channel on the windshield frame; this channel is part of the windshield frame and should be there already. The edge of the door that you are feeding into the channel has the same type of rope or cord sewn into it to hold it in place inside the channel.

At the bottom of the door edge, a supplied channel needs to be installed to support the lower fabric of the door. These are supplied by Kayline and in the kit.

Once installed, the front edge or door seam is now like one continuous hinge for the opening and closing of the door, as well as a seal to keep the weather out.

We slide the upper door pin into the bracket, and drop the lower door pin into a hole in the body. The door pins pivot inside these holes.

The last step would be to install the handles on the doors.

The door frames can be tweaked or bent slightly to match more closely the door opening if necessary. It should not take much tweaking at all, the fit is pretty good.

You now have a completed top installation and it should look something like this.

The Luxair can always be spotted due to the square or straight back rear curtain. The small side and rear windows are also good clue.

Always keep in mind that the more you take the top off and on of the Jeep increases the wear and tear on the top fabric and snaps.

A feature of the Luxair model is that the rear curtain and two side curtains can be rolled up separately if desired. Two straps are attached on the rear curtain for this purpose. You simply roll the curtain up and secure it to the snaps already provided for this and installed in the top. On the side curtains, straps are furnished that include snaps; once rolled up, simply install the straps. This feature allows ventilation inside the Jeep on those warm days, without having to remove the whole top.

Good care will make the top last a long time.

Top care: The windows should be kept as clean as possible at all times. Do not use paper towels, newspaper or even shop rags to clean the windows; they scratch very easily. Use soft clean cotton diaper or other suitable cloth; try not to use circular motions, and change the cloth side after every wipe to keep accumulated dirt on the cloth from scratching the window. If the windows have been rolled up during driving dusty trails, wash them thoroughly first to remove as much dirt/dust as possible before final cleaning.

Nylon zippers require very little care, big improvement over the old brass zippers. I have found that a good flushing with silicone spray cleans out the dirt and lubricates as well.

In closing I would like to say that the top currently on my Jeep was purchased in the late 70s, when Kayline announced they were going to discontinue the Luxair line of tops. This top was in storage all that time until 2002 when I pulled it out to replace the old top. Other than some specs in the windows, the top was like new, and the smell of that vinyl was...WONDERFUL !

These instructions would apply to CJ5 and CJ6 models as well. Only the measurements would be different due to the different body styles. Always re-check and double read your instructions before any top installation. Also a good idea to make sure all the parts and pieces are there as well.

I have seen NOS Kayline tops appear occasionally on ebay. Keep your eyes open.