Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[rubicon91]

Probably will be in SW FL the second two weeks of Jan, haven't set the exact dates yet. Likely to also make a side trip to Key West or somewhere.

Never go wrong with key west. He'll take the ferry from fr myers beach and be down there in no time. I'm gonna pm you now my contact info. Would love to check out the LJ and offer you up your beverage of choice or two on me just for giving at least me hours of reading enjoyment on here.


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[rubicon91]

Nevermind it will not let me send you a pm. Here is my email I can respond to you with my cell if you would like. Donny.hodges@alescodata.com. Take care!!


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[jscherb]

Never go wrong with key west. He'll take the ferry from fr myers beach and be down there in no time. I'm gonna pm you now my contact info. Would love to check out the LJ and offer you up your beverage of choice or two on me just for giving at least me hours of reading enjoyment on here.

Nope, won't take the ferry. Will either drive the Jeep, or, my wife will drive the Jeep and I'll ride my bicycle from Key Largo to Key West, haven't decided yet. It is a bike trip I'll make someday, just not sure I want to cart the bike to Florida and back and subject it to winter weather on the bike carrier.

 

[rubicon91]

What kind of bike are we taking about? My buddy just got hit this weekend down here on his. Sucks this time of year. He was going 35 and car tried to turn and didn't see him. He will be ok bruised and messed his ankle up. Also with FL being a no helmet state makes it all the worse. The new Harley dealership just opened on the interstate. Is unreal I heard. They had tig and juice from SOA down for the final episode showing and meet n greet. Tickets were well let's just say too much. I imagine the 2 lane road down the keys would be great to ride and enjoy. That drive is always nice I just get spoiled by the 2 hr ferry vs 6 driving when you look at it from a weekend stand point.


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[jscherb]

What kind of bike are we taking about? My buddy just got hit this weekend down here on his. Sucks this time of year. He was going 35 and car tried to turn and didn't see him. He will be ok bruised and messed his ankle up. Also with FL being a no helmet state makes it all the worse. The new Harley dealership just opened on the interstate. Is unreal I heard. They had tig and juice from SOA down for the final episode showing and meet n greet. Tickets were well let's just say too much. I imagine the 2 lane road down the keys would be great to ride and enjoy. That drive is always nice I just get spoiled by the 2 hr ferry vs 6 driving when you look at it from a weekend stand point.

Bicycle, not motorcycle. Schwinn LeTour 12-speed. Old enough that it was made in the U.S.A. I've done about 20,000 miles on it.

 

[rubicon91]

Bicycle, not motorcycle. Schwinn LeTour 12-speed. Old enough that it was made in the U.S.A. I've done about 20,000 miles on it.

Nice well I have a trek 4300 that does not get anywhere near the use it should that you are welcome to if you don't want to haul your bike down. I also have a bike carrier in the garage that you can use as well to tow it down. It is yours to use if you need/want to. Just let me know. No problem at all. Not on same level I know by any means as yours but might make difference in bringing yours down.


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[AllAmericanInfidel]

More about the JK Safari Cab hardtop:

The JK Safari Cab is a design project I'm currently working on. It's a modular design, so that it can be configured in the different ways shown in the concept drawings in this thread - with removable side panels that can be replaced with roll-up soft side panels; with a removable roof panel that can be configured as a tilt-up camper top or replaced with a soft roof. It's got a side-swinging "barn door" on the back for easy access to the cargo area. It's got more visibility than the factory hardtop because it's got more windows - windows on each side of the barn door in the back, and "Alpine windows" in the roof. There's more interior room because the roof is taller than the factory hardtop roof. It also has integrated roof rack support, so things like roof-top tents can easily be installed on top without resorting to an exocage-style rack like you might have to use on the factory hardtop.

There are lots of concept drawings of the JKU and JK versions of the Safari Cab in this thread showing some of the possibly configurations like the soft sides, the tilt-up camper roof, roof-top tent, etc.

So far I've made molds for 4 components - the barn door, the rear panel, and the side panels. Next I have to make the roof mold; I've made a 1:10 scale model roof mold as a design test but haven't started work on the full scale roof mold yet.

The barn door, which is the original subject of this thread, is part of the Safari Cab project but is also compatible with both the factory hardtop and the Ursa Minor JK camper, so it could be used with those without the complete Safari Cab hardtop.

Is it going to be available?

I don't know if it will be available commercially, I just do projects like this as a hobby, I am not in business to sell anything. A number of my prior fiberglass designs have been licensed by companies and are on the market, so it is possible this one will get licensed as well.

For now I'm just planning to build one for my own use (I don't have a JK so I can't even test the Safari Cab yet, someday I'll have to get a JK to put under my Safari Cab ), and possibly a second one for someone else.

Thanks for the response. I would love to have a top like this, and I hope someone is smart enough to pick this up from you. I run a jump seat in the back of my Unlimited and this top with the barn door, as I am sure many would agree, is perfect! You sir, do some outstanding work. Ill be keeping an eye out for this!

 

[jscherb]

Thanks for the response. I would love to have a top like this, and I hope someone is smart enough to pick this up from you. I run a jump seat in the back of my Unlimited and this top with the barn door, as I am sure many would agree, is perfect! You sir, do some outstanding work. Ill be keeping an eye out for this!

Thank you!

I ran jump seats in my Scrambler years ago, and I had a barn door on that one too. The jump seats folded up when not in use. Very handy...

 

[jscherb]

So back to the hardware project that started as an outgrowth of the barn door project, I got an update yesterday from MOR/Ryde, the company that signed up to market the heavy-duty hinges and the jerry can carriers - they're very close to finalizing things with one of the Jeep catalogs to carry the products. Hopefully that'll get wrapped up very soon. I think the holidays have slowed progress a little.

I've been working on additional accessories to go along with the hinges; I've posted photos of the hinge-mounted Hi-Lift carrier and CB antenna mount before, and I'm about to send the engineering drawings for them over to the MOR/Ryde engineers so those parts could be manufactured:

I'm also finalizing the design of a jerry can carrier that mounts to the hinges. Since MOR/Ryde is already manufacturing the spare-mount jerry can carriers, I'm re-using the can trays from that design, and adding two brackets to mount the tray to the hinges. I made up this composite photo to show what it might look like:

It's a simple set of brackets - shown here are a pair of brackets mocked up in black poster board, along with the two can trays MOR/Ryde is manufacturing. Either the low-profile or the higher can tray can be mounted on the hinges using these brackets.

Which would people prefer to run? A hinge-mounted jerry can carrier as shown above, or the spare-mounted carrier below? One benefit of the spare-mounted carrier is that it's very quickly removed/installed - there's a stud that sticks out of the center hole of the wheel, and one bolt secures the can carrier to the stud. The stud can stay on the Jeep all the time, and the can tray/can can be installed only when needed.

 

[AllAmericanInfidel]

Thank you!

I ran jump seats in my Scrambler years ago, and I had a barn door on that one too. The jump seats folded up when not in use. Very handy...

Very Nice! When I got rid of my CJ7 I was actually looking for a CJ8. I run the jump seat in my JKU the same way as your Scrambler was.

 

[jscherb]

About the heavy-duty hinges and jerry can carriers I posted about earlier in this thread, the company that's bringing them to market (MOR/Ryde) sent an update email out today to people who had contacted them through their website "Contact Us" link. Here's what they said in that email:

At SEMA, a catalog company that specializes in Jeep accessories expressed interest in working with us to bring the products to market. We provided samples for their review and are now finalizing the installation instructions. They are very pleased with the products and believe it will strike a nice chord with Jeep owners. We anticipate the products being added to their catalog in the very near future. In addition, we will be working with another company who works with Jeep owners and sells via Jeep forums.
We anticipate bringing the products to the market in late January. Thanks for your interest and your patience with these new products. We're excited to be able to serve the Jeep market and their owners. "

For the record: I am not an employee of MOR/Ryde.

 

[jscherb]

A JK Safari Cab concept view I haven't posted before.

 

[AllAmericanInfidel]

A JK Safari Cab concept view I haven't posted before.

:drool: I sure hope someone picks up this project from you and makes it available for purchase!

 

[jscherb]

:drool: I sure hope someone picks up this project from you and makes it available for purchase!

Thank you.

Two companies have contacted me to express interest in it, but it's way too early to predict how those conversations might develop.

 

[kojackJKU]

We should get a "look at the interest" petition going to help you out! HA ha ha!