Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

A neighbor kid just bought a used Rubicon so I had to wander over to OOH and AHH around it. I noticed that the paint was peeling off of the door hinges and mentioned the corrosion issues to him. "Nah, paint just doesn't stick as well to aluminum". Whatever Scott.

The corrosion between the hinges and the body sheet metal is an issue that Jeep has acknowledged. In 2013 they issued TSB 23-021-13 about it and in mid-2015 they changed the details of the door hinges by adding a plastic overlay to the back of the hinges to combat the issue.

 

[jscherb]

I'm outfitting the JK Safari for my upcoming RTT camping trip in Death Valley and since it is a desert and there's soft sand on some of the trails I'll be doing, I'm bringing the sand ladders. I'm going to mount the RTT on top of the Garvin rack, which leaves a perfect space under the RTT for the sand ladders.

I made up some simple brackets out of some u-bolts and a short piece of steel angle; welded together, the angle hooks around the bottom of a floor rail of the Garvin and the legs of the u-bolt are spaced perfectly to go through two holes in the sand ladder.

A view of a bracket installed.

The nuts on the brackets are easily accessible by reaching through the side of the Garvin/under the RTT, and once the brackets are removed, the sand ladders slide out through the side of the rack.

Also in the above photo - one Rubican for water is mounted (I'll stack two up there for the trip), my DIY awning is installed off the back to cover the pull-out kitchen, and a hinge step is installed on each rear door.

I'll install the RTT next to verify the fit of everything together.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Hey Jeff,

Just got to thinking. Since this Jeep is the Misses' ride, what are her favorite mods that you've done?
There is so much cool stuff you've done that makes this rig more capable for every use, it would be fun to get her perspective on all your hard work. :beer:

 

[jscherb]

Hey Jeff,

Just got to thinking. Since this Jeep is the Misses' ride, what are her favorite mods that you've done?
There is so much cool stuff you've done that makes this rig more capable for every use, it would be fun to get her perspective on all your hard work. :beer:

She prefers the Suburban to any Jeep, so she's driving that now, all three Jeeps are now mine. But hands down her favorite improvement to the Jeep was the barn door - it makes using the Jeep for daily errands so much easier - one action opens up the back.

 

[jscherb]

For my upcoming trip I don't need the rear seat and I could use a little more cargo space, so I removed the seat. It frees up a lot of space, and saves 91 lbs. (I weighed it).

The seat is bolted to the Jeep with nine 12mm bolts, all very tightly secured with thread locker. There are also two 12mm nuts, but it appears there is no thread locker on those. You'll need an 18mm socket and as long a breaker bar as you've got, I had to put a pipe on the end of my 18" breaker bar to get the three most stubborn bolts out. It took a lot of muscle to get all the bolts out, but when I replace the seat I'll use new bolts and I'll chase the threads in the holes with a tap to clean out any remaining thread locker, so future removal/installation will go much easier.

 

[southpier]

I may have asked before (as a general question), but if jeep factory payload is 1,000#, how much "stuff" can be added (either as equipment, bumpers, bars, you know, or as consumable & passengers) without seriously compromising the total vehicle carrying capacity?

 

[jscherb]

I may have asked before (as a general question), but if jeep factory payload is 1,000#, how much "stuff" can be added (either as equipment, bumpers, bars, you know, or as consumable & passengers) without seriously compromising the total vehicle carrying capacity?

Below is a page from the 2013 Owner's Manual. While the text below doesn't specifically say it, if you added a bumper that weighs 80 lbs. more than the factory bumper it replaced, that 80 lbs. counts towards the total capacity.

 

[jscherb]

An alternate configuration for the DIY awning on the JK... I've posted about the guy lines I made up to anchor the awning to the ground with stakes, but here's another way to do it - on the JK the guy line can be slipped between the bumper and the rear fender, eliminating the need to push the stakes into the ground.

This should work the same with factory fenders.

 

[jscherb]

Installed the roof top tent to verify that everything fits properly, this is the first time I've installed the tent on the Garvin rack basket. All is good. This is the configuration for my upcoming Death Valley expedition.

 

[southpier]

really clean set-up.

 

[jscherb]

One of the reasons I removed the rear seat was that I like to carry a second spare on off road expeditions. The reason for an extra spare is that if I do have a tire problem in a remote location, I don't have to disrupt my plan to search around for a repair or replacement - I can keep on my schedule and still have a spare. Normally I carry the extra spare on the rack, but this time with the RTT up there I don't have room, so I'm putting it in the cabin. To keep things clean I've put a Tactical Spare Cover on it; I won't hang Molle stuff on it in the cabin but I probably will use the inside pocket on the spare cover to store something.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Really like how you tied off the awning. Keeps the cords well out of the way of everything.

Numero uno importante question:
With that awesome fridge, I am wondering what type of micro brew you'll be carrying on this trip?
:beer:

 

[jscherb]

Really like how you tied off the awning. Keeps the cords well out of the way of everything.

Numero uno importante question:
With that awesome fridge, I am wondering what type of micro brew you'll be carrying on this trip?
:beer:

Haven't planned the provisions yet. Probably won't buy cold stuff until I'm leaving Las Vegas, I think the kitchen (and fridge) may have to be in the SEMA show, so won't be able to keep cold things in there over the SEMA week. Waiting to hear from the company if they'll need my kitchen in the show or if they'll have their prototype done in time.

 

[jscherb]

I was in one of my favorite military surplus outlets and I came across a nice bag for the Tactical Spare Cover. It's got one large padded compartment and two smaller pockets.

This: https://colemans.com/shop/pouches-bags/u-s-g-padded-carry-bag-acu-digital/

It's not intended to hang horizontally on a Molle grid, so I had to cut the three straps on the bag and install snaps on them, but that only took a few minutes.

I can also use it on the Molle Bars sleeves on my roll bars, shown here in the LJ:

 

[toyotech]

Here's a little project I thought up a few days ago... a DIY awning. When I have the RTT installed to open off the back, it provides shade from the sun for the kitchen area. I was thinking it might be nice to have some shade on the trail for the majority of the time when I'm not carrying the tent, so I made this. to provide shade for the rear kitchen area. It's self-retracting like a window shade (because that's what it is ). I've got about $45 invested in it. I still need to finish up some details like some paracord tie-downs with tent stakes to keep it from moving around too much in a breeze.

Did you make the bag for it too or can this be purchased?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk