Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[Comanche Scott]

Sounds like a great way to get a break from the crazy winter weather! :beer:

Have you ever seen the ladder racks which have the arm to lower the ladder over the side before removing the ladder from it's perch on the rack?
Always thought that would be a great idea for a bike rack. Especially for tall vehicles like pickups and Jeeps.

 

[GadgetPhreak]

Can you send me the dimensions on the ammo can holder and Molle riser, I want to see how close it is to fitting a space in my Pinzgauer. It would be over a tranny access panel so I need to keep it easily removable or attach fixed parts to the removable sections.

Here's a couple pics of the rig.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

Sounds like a great way to get a break from the crazy winter weather! :beer:

Have you ever seen the ladder racks which have the arm to lower the ladder over the side before removing the ladder from it's perch on the rack?
Always thought that would be a great idea for a bike rack. Especially for tall vehicles like pickups and Jeeps.

I haven't seen that type. If anyone has a link to one please post it so I can check it out.

 

[jscherb]

Can you send me the dimensions on the ammo can holder and Molle riser, I want to see how close it is to fitting a space in my Pinzgauer. It would be over a tranny access panel so I need to keep it easily removable or attach fixed parts to the removable sections.

It bolts to the top of the tub and has feet that go on the floor, that's a distance of about 15". From the tub rail inboard to the inside of the fender where the feet sit on the floor is about 11". The ammo can tray "notches" into it roughly 7" from the vertical Molle panel and 3.5" below the top of the tub.

The trays will be available separately, so if the mount/Molle grid part doesn't work maybe you could do something with the tray.

 

[Comanche Scott]

I haven't seen that type. If anyone has a link to one please post it so I can check it out.

Hi Jeff,

here is the Weather Guard Roof Rack I was thinking of:
http://www.weatherguard.com/products/van-storage-equipment/roof-racks?ipp=24&cp=1&sort=default&tts=1482862313895

 

[GadgetPhreak]

It bolts to the top of the tub and has feet that go on the floor, that's a distance of about 15". From the tub rail inboard to the inside of the fender where the feet sit on the floor is about 11". The ammo can tray "notches" into it roughly 7" from the vertical Molle panel and 3.5" below the top of the tub.

The trays will be available separately, so if the mount/Molle grid part doesn't work maybe you could do something with the tray.

Thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

Hi Jeff,

here is the Weather Guard Roof Rack I was thinking of:
http://www.weatherguard.com/products/van-storage-equipment/roof-racks?ipp=24&cp=1&sort=default&tts=1482862313895

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

I'll have to try lifting the bike up onto the roof before I invest in a bike rack for up there. Being 6'6", I think I can l lift the bike up onto the Jeep roof while standing on the ground, but I'll have to give it a try.

 

[jscherb]

Thank you!

Let me know if you think it will fit or not.

 

[jgaz]

Did you ever pursue a bike carrier that would bolt to your spare tire mounted, universal plate, that had the multiple hole pattern?

I don't remember what you called that project but I thought it had possibilities.

 

[jscherb]

Did you ever pursue a bike carrier that would bolt to your spare tire mounted, universal plate, that had the multiple hole pattern?

I don't remember what you called that project but I thought it had possibilities.

The working name for that project is the Saddle Rack, because it sits over the spare a little like a saddle. It works much better than you might think, and I did do a rough prototype of a bicycle carrier for it. The one thing about it that's nice for a bicycle is the bike swings with the barn door/tailgate, so you don't lose access to the cargo space when carrying a bike.

I put it aside because other higher priority projects demanded my time and haven't gotten back to it yet. I plan to resurrect it as part of my decision to implement a more practical bike carrier than the one I've got.

 

[jgaz]

I think this saddle design would work real well. I'm currently using a borrowed bike carrier that mounts over the spare on my LJ. I find it more convenient than using a hitch mounted carrier which prevents opening the rear door/tailgate as you mentioned above.

I have put off buying my own bike carrier while waiting to see where your design went. I like the flexibility of your design. I had forgotten the "Saddle a Rack" was located in the ammo can thread. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[jscherb]

I think this saddle design would work real well. I'm currently using a borrowed bike carrier that mounts over the spare on my LJ. I find it more convenient than using a hitch mounted carrier which prevents opening the rear door/tailgate as you mentioned above.

I have put off buying my own bike carrier while waiting to see where your design went. I like the flexibility of your design. I had forgotten the "Saddle a Rack" was located in the ammo can thread. Thanks for the reminder.

The prototype Saddle Rack has worked very well in my testing, and the flexibility to configure it for different gear is one of the things I like about it as well. I've tested it carrying a bicycle, a HiLift, shovels, a small jerry can, additional ammo cans. I haven't decided if I should try to get it into production - when I first posted photos it seemed to me that people were skeptical about it, so maybe it wouldn't be well received as a product.

Next I'm going to try it with the new container samples I picked up at SEMA, I'll post photos of these mounted on the rack when I get them installed on it.

I did take one step towards production though - the jerry can trays that mount to the JKU inner fenders have the necessary mounting holes in them to be used with the Saddle Rack, so if the Saddle Rack ever makes it into production all of the ammo can trays that are out there will be compatible with it . The rows of holes along the top and bottom of the trays are for the Saddle Rack (these are my prototype trays, the production trays are done in black powder coat)...

 

[jscherb]

Back in November I posted about some interesting LED lights I saw at SEMA: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...tops?p=2195385&highlight=sema+led#post2195385

I introduced a Jeep accessories company to the manufacturer and they decided to test some of the lights. The company is testing two of their preconfigured light bars, and they've sent me five of the individual lights to experiment with.

There are three beam spreads available; I asked for two with 10-degree beams (the ones with silver bezels) and two with 20-degree beams (black bezels). The bezels are interchangeable and come in several colors - Gold, Black, Red, Blue and Silver., I picked black and silver so I could tell the different beam spreads apart for now. Each light comes with a mounting base, I've removed one for the photo.

The lights can be stacked in a bunch of ways, so I'm thinking of a universal mounting system that allows you to pick the number of lights you want and the way they're stacked.

These 20" and 50" light bars come preconfigured from the manufacturer:

A 20" light bar installed the the hood hinges:

I'll be experimenting with the individual lights over the next few weeks; shortly I'll post some mounting ideas I'm working on.

 

[jscherb]

I did a quick test after dark last night. This is one LED sitting on the fender with clip leads to the battery. The light from just one LED is impressively bright and I can easily believe the manufacturer's 1000 lumen spec claim - it looks as bright to me as one of the JK's headlights. This is one of the 20-degeee beam lights - the beam is very focused, check out the shadow on the upper left corner of the garage door - that's the shadow of the hood latch on the fender in front of the light. It's very well-defined, which to me says that the beam is well focused and no brightness is being wasted due to poor optics.

I'm very impressed, especially considering the price I believe these will be able to retail for.

 

[Comanche Scott]

LEDs have come a long way from rubbing test leads on rocks. :beer: