ihatemybike
Explorer
Was going through my YouTube subscription this morning and etrailer.com had posted a video of your/MORryde tailgate hinges with installation.
Barn Door for JK factory hardtops
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks for sharing, I hadn't seen this yet.
It is a true statement to say that tens of thousands of these hinges have been sold since they've been on the market, I think that's enough to call them a Jeep market best seller.
MORryde tells me eTrailer is one of their best retailers and I think they're the leading seller of the MORryde Trail Kitchen.
I'm about the leave Flagstaff heading for the Hualapai Indian Reservation in the LJ to drive to the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and after that detour on to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show, which starts tomorrow. Stay tuned for reports from the Canyon and SEMA this week.
DCH109
Adventurer
I can say two things about the hinges and the tire carrier.
Both are solid and both are awesome. I have the hinge support as well.
I was rear ended at about 25-30mph (was was not moving). The tire carrier had to be replaced, but the hinge support saved my rear door from being replaced as the only thing damaged was the tire carrier. Even then it was only bent down but unusable.
Had it been the factory unit, the door would have had to be replaced.
Both are solid and both are awesome. I have the hinge support as well.
I was rear ended at about 25-30mph (was was not moving). The tire carrier had to be replaced, but the hinge support saved my rear door from being replaced as the only thing damaged was the tire carrier. Even then it was only bent down but unusable.
Had it been the factory unit, the door would have had to be replaced.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Same thing happened to me in 2018. Destroyed the bicycle and the bike rack, bent the receiver up a bit, but no damage to the tailgate or the MORryde spare carrier because of the reinforcement.
I posted about it here: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...factory-hardtops.127687/page-224#post-2490158
DCH109
Adventurer
Yes they are beefy, well done on the design it really is the real deal.
The 4Runner that hit my tire hit on the lower portion of the tire and some scuffs to the rim. the tire (a 33") was not damaged and took the brunt of the impact force making it like a giant rubber bumper.
That saved my son and I from what would have been whiplash.
However that was a downward force causing the tire carrier to slightly buckle and more importantly the wheel studs for the tire to be bent down. That moved the tire on about a 10-15 degree angle. Nothing major but looked bad.
I just replaced the carrier and all was back to normal. The big thing here was the door was saved because of the hinge support. The carrier after looking at it, took a massive amount of force to be bent the way it was.
I have a AEV 2.5" lift on the Jeep so I sit a little higher than stock.
The 4Runner needed a new grill and hood as it buckled. And yes I believe she was on the phone as well.
So anyone who is in doubt do not be. Now it is by far the best upgrade (and it is an upgrade) to my Jeep.
The 4Runner that hit my tire hit on the lower portion of the tire and some scuffs to the rim. the tire (a 33") was not damaged and took the brunt of the impact force making it like a giant rubber bumper.
That saved my son and I from what would have been whiplash.
However that was a downward force causing the tire carrier to slightly buckle and more importantly the wheel studs for the tire to be bent down. That moved the tire on about a 10-15 degree angle. Nothing major but looked bad.
I just replaced the carrier and all was back to normal. The big thing here was the door was saved because of the hinge support. The carrier after looking at it, took a massive amount of force to be bent the way it was.
I have a AEV 2.5" lift on the Jeep so I sit a little higher than stock.
The 4Runner needed a new grill and hood as it buckled. And yes I believe she was on the phone as well.
So anyone who is in doubt do not be. Now it is by far the best upgrade (and it is an upgrade) to my Jeep.
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jscherb
Expedition Leader
More from the SEMA Show.
This is Quadratec's "JTe". It started life as a 4-door JL, and custom builder Greg Henderson turned it into this 2-door pickup.
Greg called me a couple of months ago and the result was this cargo system that mounts on the rear wall of the cab. It's a cab-width MOLLE panel with 4 MOLLE pouches, plus bags that can either hang on the bottom of the panel or zip to the seat back. The bags are still a little crushed from shipping, I suspect Greg installed them at the last minute.
The seat-back bag is visible in this photo:
The storage system is compatible with the Gladiator as well, assuming the rear seat is out. OO does sell a similar but different Gladiator Storage System that works with the rear seat in place. I'm not sure if the version shown above will become a production product, I guess it depends on how many Gladiator people run without their back seat.
Outside the West Hall is the annual Quadratec Giveaway Jeep. Every year now they build s Jeep using products from many of their suppliers; this year's includes a range of products that I designed for Overland Outfitters. This video is a summary of the many products that went into that Jeep; the link below starts at the Overland Outfitters section but you can rewind it to the beginning to see everything that went into the Jeep.
When I was taking the photos above Rob Jarrell (QT's video guy) saw me and came over to compliment me on the on the general design of the OO products. I thanked him for doing great videos and he said "it's easy to sell such nice products". A nice compliment to hear
Here's another one of his product videos.
More SEMA stuff to come, just wanted to cover all the Quadratec action I was involved in. I've got a lot of overland-related photos to sort through, those coming soon.
This is Quadratec's "JTe". It started life as a 4-door JL, and custom builder Greg Henderson turned it into this 2-door pickup.
Greg called me a couple of months ago and the result was this cargo system that mounts on the rear wall of the cab. It's a cab-width MOLLE panel with 4 MOLLE pouches, plus bags that can either hang on the bottom of the panel or zip to the seat back. The bags are still a little crushed from shipping, I suspect Greg installed them at the last minute.
The seat-back bag is visible in this photo:
The storage system is compatible with the Gladiator as well, assuming the rear seat is out. OO does sell a similar but different Gladiator Storage System that works with the rear seat in place. I'm not sure if the version shown above will become a production product, I guess it depends on how many Gladiator people run without their back seat.
Outside the West Hall is the annual Quadratec Giveaway Jeep. Every year now they build s Jeep using products from many of their suppliers; this year's includes a range of products that I designed for Overland Outfitters. This video is a summary of the many products that went into that Jeep; the link below starts at the Overland Outfitters section but you can rewind it to the beginning to see everything that went into the Jeep.
When I was taking the photos above Rob Jarrell (QT's video guy) saw me and came over to compliment me on the on the general design of the OO products. I thanked him for doing great videos and he said "it's easy to sell such nice products". A nice compliment to hear
Here's another one of his product videos.
More SEMA stuff to come, just wanted to cover all the Quadratec action I was involved in. I've got a lot of overland-related photos to sort through, those coming soon.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
This is the MOPAR Jeep area at SEMA, there's also a Dodge area in the central hall.
There really wasn't much to see and in this area, nothing new, so I didn't take too many photos. They were featuring their electric concepts, including the stretch CJ-5 "Surge" concept.
The Magneto JL 2dr concept was also on display but since there are so many photos if it floating around on the internet this is the only photo I took of it:
I did find these Rotopax mounts on one of the other concepts curious, they're part of the roll bars, permanently welded in place. I wonder why they did that? Has anyone welded mounts to their roll bars?
Sorry that's all the photos I took in the MOPAR space but there really wasn't anything new.
There really wasn't much to see and in this area, nothing new, so I didn't take too many photos. They were featuring their electric concepts, including the stretch CJ-5 "Surge" concept.
The Magneto JL 2dr concept was also on display but since there are so many photos if it floating around on the internet this is the only photo I took of it:
I did find these Rotopax mounts on one of the other concepts curious, they're part of the roll bars, permanently welded in place. I wonder why they did that? Has anyone welded mounts to their roll bars?
Sorry that's all the photos I took in the MOPAR space but there really wasn't anything new.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
A few new and products and other interesting things at SEMA this year.
A company called ProjectX has a new line of refrigerators. This 99-quart model is huge(!) and I don't think would have a place in a Jeep:
That one is $1649.99. They also have a 41-quart model at $999.99 MSRP:
I've got two Dometic 35-quart fridges so I compared the dimensions of those to the 41-quart. In Dometic's case, their 40 is just taller than the 35 but with the same length and width. ProjectX has made their fridge two inches longer than the Dometic, but it's pretty much the same height and width. I'll have to measure but I don't think I have that extra 2" in my Jeeps so if I wanted to upgrade to a 40-qt, I'd probably have to stick with Dometic, although I do like the design of the ProjectX fridges.
ProjectX has also introduced LED headlights with integrated 4k UDH cameras:
Maybe a nice idea, but it doesn't look like they are aimable. I did a lot of design and testing in the process of developing the TrailVision camera system that Retrofit Offroad picked up and marketed and I don't think cameras in the headlights is the optimal place - in my experience, cameras focused on the outside of the front tires are most useful - here's a screen shot from the camera system in my LJ; a camera in the headlight would not give you an accurate enough view to closely miss this boulder.
The headlights/cameras are $1699 per pair and rated at 3000 lumens.
Rhino Rack was showing a prototype changing room.
There are a number of changing rooms on the market but Rhino has come up with a very simple mounting system for the rails and I like their idea better than the others I've looked at. The rails simply slip onto posts that mount to the rack. They weren't sure if this will become a product, but I do like the design idea.
Attica was showing side-mount fenders with removable storage boxes for the JT Gladiator.
A storage box removed:
Not sure if something like that will catch on but it does add storage in a place that typically isn't used for storage. I've heard this idea before - some years ago someone contacted me on one of the forums with the idea to build front fender flares for the TJ that had storage boxes behind the wheel arches/in front of the door opening. He wanted me to make molds for them but it wasn't an idea I was interested in and I don't to work for hire anyway so I declined to take part. I don't think he ever got them made.
Attica was also showing a tailgate cargo box. This one is for a Bronco, they didn't tell me if they planned it for Jeeps.
Not sure if that will catch on either, where do you put the spare that it displaces?
A company called ProjectX has a new line of refrigerators. This 99-quart model is huge(!) and I don't think would have a place in a Jeep:
That one is $1649.99. They also have a 41-quart model at $999.99 MSRP:
I've got two Dometic 35-quart fridges so I compared the dimensions of those to the 41-quart. In Dometic's case, their 40 is just taller than the 35 but with the same length and width. ProjectX has made their fridge two inches longer than the Dometic, but it's pretty much the same height and width. I'll have to measure but I don't think I have that extra 2" in my Jeeps so if I wanted to upgrade to a 40-qt, I'd probably have to stick with Dometic, although I do like the design of the ProjectX fridges.
ProjectX has also introduced LED headlights with integrated 4k UDH cameras:
Maybe a nice idea, but it doesn't look like they are aimable. I did a lot of design and testing in the process of developing the TrailVision camera system that Retrofit Offroad picked up and marketed and I don't think cameras in the headlights is the optimal place - in my experience, cameras focused on the outside of the front tires are most useful - here's a screen shot from the camera system in my LJ; a camera in the headlight would not give you an accurate enough view to closely miss this boulder.
The headlights/cameras are $1699 per pair and rated at 3000 lumens.
Rhino Rack was showing a prototype changing room.
There are a number of changing rooms on the market but Rhino has come up with a very simple mounting system for the rails and I like their idea better than the others I've looked at. The rails simply slip onto posts that mount to the rack. They weren't sure if this will become a product, but I do like the design idea.
Attica was showing side-mount fenders with removable storage boxes for the JT Gladiator.
A storage box removed:
Not sure if something like that will catch on but it does add storage in a place that typically isn't used for storage. I've heard this idea before - some years ago someone contacted me on one of the forums with the idea to build front fender flares for the TJ that had storage boxes behind the wheel arches/in front of the door opening. He wanted me to make molds for them but it wasn't an idea I was interested in and I don't to work for hire anyway so I declined to take part. I don't think he ever got them made.
Attica was also showing a tailgate cargo box. This one is for a Bronco, they didn't tell me if they planned it for Jeeps.
Not sure if that will catch on either, where do you put the spare that it displaces?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
A few more new or interesting products...
Seasucker was showing a suction cargo mount system. They let me play with one of the mounts and I can say they're easy to stick in place and impossible to pull off as long as suction is maintained. They say the 6" mounts grip to withstand 200 lbs. of pull. One of the variations they were showing was is a Rotopax mount:
They also were showing a roof rack, a table, tool mounts and a number of other accessories.
Until I can test something like this myself on the trail, I'l remain slightly skeptical, but they assure me they're secure. In general I like the idea (pending proof through testing).
If you're wondering about the name "Seasucker", they got their start in the marine business.
Overland Vehicle Systems was showing a jumper cable bag.[/img]
It caught my attention because I just started using a $5.00 military surplus gas mask bag for the same purpose:
The OVS bag is a nice option if you can't find a surplus gas mask bag.
They were also showing a new compressor kit.
Like every other compressor bag on the market, you need to take the compressor out to use it because inside the bag the compressor won't see enough airflow to keep it cool. What I like about my current compressor bag is that because it opens on the diagonal so the compressor can stay in the bag when being used because there's plenty of airflow. MY compressor is mounted to the bottom of the bag so not only do you not have to remove it to use it, it stays in place when the bag is open. I'll stick with my bag.
Hazard4 was showing a Molded Storage headliner for the JL and Gladiator.
I sat in their display Jeep and it wasn't in the way of my head (I'm 6'6") so maybe it would be a useful place to store things.
They also were showing a mounting system for storage bags, using metal clips instead of the more traditional MOLLE straps.
More SEMA reporting to come.
Seasucker was showing a suction cargo mount system. They let me play with one of the mounts and I can say they're easy to stick in place and impossible to pull off as long as suction is maintained. They say the 6" mounts grip to withstand 200 lbs. of pull. One of the variations they were showing was is a Rotopax mount:
They also were showing a roof rack, a table, tool mounts and a number of other accessories.
Until I can test something like this myself on the trail, I'l remain slightly skeptical, but they assure me they're secure. In general I like the idea (pending proof through testing).
If you're wondering about the name "Seasucker", they got their start in the marine business.
Overland Vehicle Systems was showing a jumper cable bag.[/img]
It caught my attention because I just started using a $5.00 military surplus gas mask bag for the same purpose:
The OVS bag is a nice option if you can't find a surplus gas mask bag
.They were also showing a new compressor kit.
Like every other compressor bag on the market, you need to take the compressor out to use it because inside the bag the compressor won't see enough airflow to keep it cool. What I like about my current compressor bag is that because it opens on the diagonal so the compressor can stay in the bag when being used because there's plenty of airflow. MY compressor is mounted to the bottom of the bag so not only do you not have to remove it to use it, it stays in place when the bag is open. I'll stick with my bag.
Hazard4 was showing a Molded Storage headliner for the JL and Gladiator.
I sat in their display Jeep and it wasn't in the way of my head (I'm 6'6") so maybe it would be a useful place to store things.
They also were showing a mounting system for storage bags, using metal clips instead of the more traditional MOLLE straps.
More SEMA reporting to come.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
An electric CJ-8 Scrambler.
The motor assembly looks like a nice replacement for a V-8:
Battery:
The dash. Gauges are (left to right) battery level, speedo/tach/several temp gauges, power level and volts.
BTW notice how there's nobody in the show? I have a badge that lets me onto the show floor before the show opens, it's the best time to see things - no crowds ot get in the way of photos.
Lots more SEMA stuff to come.
The motor assembly looks like a nice replacement for a V-8:
Battery:
The dash. Gauges are (left to right) battery level, speedo/tach/several temp gauges, power level and volts.
BTW notice how there's nobody in the show? I have a badge that lets me onto the show floor before the show opens, it's the best time to see things - no crowds ot get in the way of photos
.Lots more SEMA stuff to come.
pith helmet
Well-known member
so, i take it the stick is just a hand rest now? make a good phone holder.An electric CJ-8 Scrambler.
The motor assembly looks like a nice replacement for a V-8:
Battery:
The dash. Gauges are (left to right) battery level, speedo/tach/several temp gauges, power level and volts.
BTW notice how there's nobody in the show? I have a badge that lets me onto the show floor before the show opens, it's the best time to see things - no crowds ot get in the way of photos
Lots more SEMA stuff to come.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I didn't look under the Jeep to see the transmission, but I believe it's still a manual. Check out the photo of the motor that shows the back - looks like it's set up for an ordinary bellhousing to bolt up. And everything is so nicely done on this Jeep that I'm pretty sure they would have eliminated the stick if it wasn't to be used to shift the transmission. If I get back to the center hall tomorrow I'll check it out, but at this point I believe the stick is functional.
pith helmet
Well-known member
that sounds interesting.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Yesterday morning I posted about the suction cup cargo system from SeaSucker. Later yesterday I found this one from Taiwan, similar but better:
The cups are electric. Instead of pumping a button to increase the suction, you push a button and an electric pump inside the cup does it. And what's really nice about them is that they sense if suction is being lost and automatically pump when needed. Two AA batteries inside.
I can think of a bunch of ways to use these cups on an overland/camping Jeep.
I've got over a hundred more photos to go through but not much time right now, I'll post more soon.
The cups are electric. Instead of pumping a button to increase the suction, you push a button and an electric pump inside the cup does it. And what's really nice about them is that they sense if suction is being lost and automatically pump when needed. Two AA batteries inside.
I can think of a bunch of ways to use these cups on an overland/camping Jeep.
I've got over a hundred more photos to go through but not much time right now, I'll post more soon.
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