"Hard" Doors

[JeepCJ5]

So I bought a CJ5 full roll cage off a local guy over Craigslist a few weeks ago. He had two CJ7's - one for him and one for the wife. Anyways, on his, he had soft doors, but took the canvas off and welded sheet metal to the soft door frame. Then he had them painted to match his jeep. I thought that was pretty cool.

Is this a common practice? I am thinking about doing that also.

Edit: Of course I failed to get photos!

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Haven't ever seen it in my area.
LG

 

[mtnwhlr]

Haven't ever seen it in my area.
LG

Me either. What did he do about a window?

 

[BajaEdition]

I have seen this done, the hard part is finding half doors nowdays as the tiger top is now a full door
however if you can weld, well then that is not an issue
I am thinking of doing this to my CJ5 just have a bit of trouble right noe getting atound

 

[mtnwhlr]

I have seen this done, the hard part is finding half doors nowdays as the tiger top is now a full door
however if you can weld, well then that is not an issue
I am thinking of doing this to my CJ5 just have a bit of trouble right noe getting atound

I don't think he was talking about a half door. He's talking about using the factory soft door frame.

 

[JeepCJ5]

Yes, these were full soft doors. He took off the lower canvas and welded on the sheet metal. His jeep had a flame job, so the flames went down the door. I forgot to mention this guy was of "impressive stature" he said he needed the extra space he would have lost with thicker hard doors.

 

[Peanut Butter]

What was the window like?

 

[BajaEdition]

anything is possible, but using a full door means he has to modify the cloth upper.

I would think getting hold of an old set of half doors with uppers would be easier as you would only have to put in the shafts for the upper. Then mod the door opener from a full door into it.

How heavy of sheet do you want to use and are you familiar with welding sheet to prevent it from wrinkling? That would be the problem I see. other than that it sounds like a killer idea. I love half doors, you get the protection of the bottom but do not get the closed in effect of the full door, you want the closed in, you simply put on the uppers. I ran a TJ for years with half doors and if I ever get one again will do the same thing.I ran a safari top with a tonneau cover and a rack on top of that. plus the divider behind the seat. all I did when it was cold was add the uppers and turn on the heater, besides that they never went on.

 

[JeepCJ5]

I think they were Bestop full doors. I took a look at mine and it looks like it would be pretty easy to do. The soft top part of the door doesn't need to be changed at all. I has the two posts that slide into the tubes, and then velcro that goes on the outside of the door. I'd have to cut the stitches around the canvas to remove it and leave a hole in the sheet metal for the handle. I've been welding up a bunch of sheet metal on the back, fixing all the rust damage, so I think I've developed the skills to do it. Once I get back on the road, I'll give this a try. If it turns out nice, I'll post the results.

Edit: I will probably use 16 Gauge. That's what I've been using so far since they had that at Lowes. I might go to the metal store and get some 18, but that is the thinnest I would attempt since I am still very new to welding.

Also - to clarify, these weren't true half doors. They were the lower half of a full door, so the door profile doesn't follow the curve of the body like true half doors. Hope that makes sense - it is hard to describe!

 

[BajaEdition]

I think they were Bestop full doors. I took a look at mine and it looks like it would be pretty easy to do. The soft top part of the door doesn't need to be changed at all. I has the two posts that slide into the tubes, and then velcro that goes on the outside of the door. I'd have to cut the stitches around the canvas to remove it and leave a hole in the sheet metal for the handle. I've been welding up a bunch of sheet metal on the back, fixing all the rust damage, so I think I've developed the skills to do it. Once I get back on the road, I'll give this a try. If it turns out nice, I'll post the results.

Edit: I will probably use 16 Gauge. That's what I've been using so far since they had that at Lowes. I might go to the metal store and get some 18, but that is the thinnest I would attempt since I am still very new to welding.

Also - to clarify, these weren't true half doors. They were the lower half of a full door, so the door profile doesn't follow the curve of the body like true half doors. Hope that makes sense - it is hard to describe!

I have seen a lot of doable doors that were self made, bottom line is to just use some cardboard till you get it right, remember the metal does not need to follow the door frame line and can follow the opening line, you can reinforce the edges of the doors with some other metal

now a bit on welding thin sheet metal, do not do a constant bead, the metal will warp, do a series of spot welds 2 inches apart, wait till it cools and then fill in with a series of spots in the middle, now you have a spot every inch, now do another pass till you have spots every 1/4 inch or so. Not doing such will cause the metal to warp and deform and look like caca

 

[JeepCJ5]

Thanks for the tips Baja.

I've actually gotten pretty good at welding sheet metal. I've just finished replacing all the rotted metal around the corners of my rear tub.

I did notice one other thing I need to take into consideration though: The bestop doors have a rubber gasket around the perimeter. The gasket is connected to the fabric part, so if I cut that off, I'll lose that. I'll have to keep an eye out for gasket material.

 

[BajaEdition]

do a craigslist search, saw a set of hard doors for sale out of Los Angelus area the other day

 

[JeepCJ5]

Yeah, I check craigslist almost every day. I just found a jeep junkyard not too far from me. I have to head out there soon.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

I've had good dealings with these folks.
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LG