Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[Comanche Scott]

For a long time I've been sourcing parts and planning to do what I've been calling the "Retro Rhino" grille kit for the JK. Styled like the old Gladiator "Rhino" front end, this would be a bolt-on set of parts to backdate the styling of the JK to the Gladiator "Rhino" look. I've written about it from time to time in this thread.

Now that the flat fender project and a few other projects are done, I've finally got some time to work on the Retro Rhino project. I'm doing a scaled-down version that will use the stock JK fenders, so the front panel will be slightly narrower than the JK grille. The original FSJ front hood and panel are about 70" wide (roughly 10" wider than the JK tub), so scaling is very necessary which makes some of the original components way too big, so I've sourced scaled down and updated components.

This next photo shows the components I will be using - original JK headlights, scaled-down turn signals, a scaled-down Jeep grille emblem, and modernized/scaled "pie plates" (these are actual grilles with openings rather than being solid like the originals).

The drawing the components are sitting on shows the scaled-down front panel width compared to the red JK hood at the top of the photo - the panel is a bit narrower than the JK grille.

There will be 3 fiberglass components for this kit - a hood, a grille panel, and a center grille. The reason the center grille will be molded separately from the grille panel is so that it can easily be finished differently - chrome plated perhaps. The first component I'm working on is the hood.

I'm making the hood by splicing parts of an original FSJ hood together with a JK hood. The result will be a hood that bolts up perfectly to the JK and matches the curves of the side of the JK but has the raised center section and front profile of the FSJ hood. The first step is to narrow the FSJ hood so that the raised center section will be the correct width for the scaled-down grille. I'm taking 9" out of the center. In the first photo the 9" to be removed is marked; in the lower photo the hood has been narrowed and welded back together.

I also needed to narrow it on each side of the raised section in the center, and since the FSJ hood will be spliced into the JK hood, a lot of the FSJ hood won't be needed, so I cut most of it away. In the next two photos, the narrowed/cut FSJ hood is sitting on top of the JK hood. You can see the weld seams from additional narrowing I've done on each side. The lines of the JK hood and the sectioned FSJ hood are starting to flow together pretty nicely.

This is very much a background project, so I won't be posting regular updates.

Pretty awesome to see you making progress on this! Even if it is just a background project, it is still a very cool background project.

 

[jscherb]

Pretty awesome to see you making progress on this! Even if it is just a background project, it is still a very cool background project.

Thanks. I made a little more progress on the hood this morning, but now because of three trips coming up I won't get a chance to work on it again until mid-October, and even then I won't get much time to work on it because of a trip starting at the end of October to SEMA. That, plus other more pressing projects, is why it's a background project. I can have the hood pretty much completed with only about two days work, but I won't get those days for a while.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Man, all this retirement stuff makes me think you should probably go back to work, so you can have more time to relax and enjoy life... :elkgrin:

A good friend of mine was really concerned that when he retired he'd be bored. After about 3 years I asked him how it was going. He said, he's as busy as ever, but now it's on "his schedule".
You guys give me hope!

 

[jscherb]

Man, all this retirement stuff makes me think you should probably go back to work, so you can have more time to relax and enjoy life... :elkgrin:

A good friend of mine was really concerned that when he retired he'd be bored. After about 3 years I asked him how it was going. He said, he's as busy as ever, but now it's on "his schedule".
You guys give me hope!

When I was working my schedule had me on three continents every month, living in London with responsibilities for Europe, as well as responsibilities for the company globally (that part of my job was based in Chicago), and in India. Hard to say if I had more or less time then, but gave that up in my 40's to enjoy my very busy "retired" life. I did do a lot of design work on airplanes - pretty much all of the parts for my Retro Wrangler pickup were designed while traveling, for fabrication and assembly when I stopped working. Also was able to source an extremely rare export-only CJ-7 World Cab hardtop in Wales which became the basis for the half cab hardtop on the Retro, so I still found a way to be productive on my projects while living that crazy life.

 

[jscherb]

Outfitted for a trip tomorrow to Boston. Two of the kids live there and both are moving this week so I'm bringing a trailer and the roof rack to help them.

 

[danraposo]

Hey Jeff,

Any idea if Retro plans to expand their Rubican line or if someone else is picking them up? It seems they only have the water cans at this point. Any insight would be appreciated.


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[jscherb]

Hey Jeff,

Any idea if Retro plans to expand their Rubican line or if someone else is picking them up? It seems they only have the water cans at this point. Any insight would be appreciated.

Retrofit's original plan was to introduce the 10-liter black container for water and see how it does in the market before adding other sizes/colors. I haven't spoken with them about it since then so I'm not sure what the status us.

The containers can be manufactured in a range of colors, including blue, white, yellow, red and orange, and in several different sizes. I've got a 5 liter (1.25 gallon) and two ten-liter (2.5 gallon) containers here in red for testing:

I've also been testing a 20-liter (5-gallon):

What colors/sizes/options are people interested in? I can pass the info along to Retrofit.

 

[jscherb]

Didn't end up needing the roof rack, was able to load everything in the trailer and the inside of the Jeep. A $5.00 Harbor Freight tarp and $10 "heavy duty trailer net" (that's their description) on the trailer keeps everything in place and dry - can't move in until tomorrow so the stuff has to sit in the trailer overnight.

 

[jgaz]

Very nice!
Question: how did you find that much on street parking in Boston? Must be clean living. Lol!

 

[jscherb]

Very nice!
Question: how did you find that much on street parking in Boston? Must be clean living. Lol!

Well it's wasn't technically legal parking, but there was space on the street so I used it. Alex was very organized, we had everything out of the apartment and ready to drive away in about 45 minutes (BTW the Boston Police "No Stopping" sign was for today, the photo was taken yesterday). The move-in today was in Somerville, there was plenty of room on that street.

 

[jscherb]

On Tuesday I'm picking up a preproduction set of the new HD Door Hinges for testing. I plan to build prototypes of a number of accessories to mount to the hinges, including steps for reaching roof racks.

One thing that would be possible is a door-width mounting grid. It could be used for mounting tools, perhaps ammo cans, or maybe a Rubican water container or Rotopax.

I don't know if anyone would find this useful. Bad idea or good idea? If you think it's a good idea, what else might you mount on it?

 

[thechadwick]

These seem like a very viable product to me, given how many people already purchase trail armor for their trucks. Adding functionality to the protection they would offer seems like a win especially since it wouldn't necessarily raise the price of what people already pay terribly. I am pretty sure the door handles attach with 2 x 8mm studs (at least on the full-door models, not sure about 1/2 doors), would it offer any additional strength/rigidity to the design to tie in there? (can't really tell how you're supporting the panel on the end away from the hinges) Another winner in my book. Paired up with your proposed molle system for the rear window panel earlier, I bet that would make a very attractive display truck for a SAR or overland targeted vendor.

 

[jscherb]

These seem like a very viable product to me, given how many people already purchase trail armor for their trucks. Adding functionality to the protection they would offer seems like a win especially since it wouldn't necessarily raise the price of what people already pay terribly. I am pretty sure the door handles attach with 2 x 8mm studs (at least on the full-door models, not sure about 1/2 doors), would it offer any additional strength/rigidity to the design to tie in there? (can't really tell how you're supporting the panel on the end away from the hinges) Another winner in my book. Paired up with your proposed molle system for the rear window panel earlier, I bet that would make a very attractive display truck for a SAR or overland targeted vendor.

Thanks for the input. Using the door handle holes to secure the back end of them isn't the best way to do it - try yanking in and out on your door handle with the door closed and you'll see there's lots of movement which would translate to metal stress of the door panel over time. This design has a different way to secure the back end that doesn't require the use of the door handle and also doesn't require drillling.

 

[danraposo]

I think the 5 and 10 gallon sizes would probably be most popular, along with red, blue and black for colors, maybe yellow for people running diesel.

I think they're a great alternative product for people familiar with rotopax, at a lesser price and more easily mountable as you've shown in the thread. My concern at this point is that Retrofit is the only place I have seen selling them and they only sell the one size and color. While I'm sure they would rather spend less to only bring in one test product, I'm a little hesitant to pull the trigger on them because I would prefer red for gas and blue for water and would want to know they aren't going to disappear from the market in case I want to get different containers or mounts in the future.

I guess it's kind of a chicken/egg type situation for them bringing a new product to market.


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[bluehash]

Didn't end up needing the roof rack, was able to load everything in the trailer and the inside of the Jeep. A $5.00 Harbor Freight tarp and $10 "heavy duty trailer net" (that's their description) on the trailer keeps everything in place and dry - can't move in until tomorrow so the stuff has to sit in the trailer overnight.

Big fan!
I'm 20 mins away from Boston. If you are coming here again, let me know! i'd love meeting you(and the jeep)

On Tuesday I'm picking up a preproduction set of the new HD Door Hinges for testing. I plan to build prototypes of a number of accessories to mount to the hinges, including steps for reaching roof racks.

One thing that would be possible is a door-width mounting grid. It could be used for mounting tools, perhaps ammo cans, or maybe a Rubican water container or Rotopax.

I don't know if anyone would find this useful. Bad idea or good idea? If you think it's a good idea, what else might you mount on it?

I have the Jerry can holders(http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...-build-thread-2013-JKUR?p=1928883#post1928883)
I love the door grid. The only thing that the driver needs to be alert about is things getting snagged in there on the trail. Especially branches.