Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

The hatch installed in a Safari Cab driver's side panel, in both hinge-up and hinge-down orientations:

 

[rubicon91]

Ha I know it's hard with multiple threads. I even though I don't have a hardtop yet love all these windows and get sidetracked on which thread I am in posting. The flip down windows are awesome looking and mounting a root pax on them is awesome also. I like these as you could also get stuff in rear of jeep w/o dealing with tailgate as well. I think you need a locking mechanism as well for this reason if it has not been addressed yet.

 

[jscherb]

...The flip down windows are awesome looking and mounting a roto pax on them is awesome also. I like these as you could also get stuff in rear of jeep w/o dealing with tailgate as well. I think you need a locking mechanism as well for this reason if it has not been addressed yet.

The hatches do lock - if you take a close look I've left the key in the lock in these photos .

 

[Haf-E]

Looks good - so is that a off-the-shelf size and not the one you would if they were ordered in volume?

If they are available in black on the outside that would look good as it would look more like a window that way and would work with any color top...

 

[jscherb]

Looks good - so is that a off-the-shelf size and not the one you would if they were ordered in volume?

If they are available in black on the outside that would look good as it would look more like a window that way and would work with any color top...

I've been a little opportunistic in sourcing the test windows and hatches - the ones I've got are fairly close to the size I'd do if I were doing custom-fit windows, but these came from production runs and surplusses from the window manufacturers so they're close enough for test purposes but not exactly the size I'd do if I were doing these for production. For example, in talking with one of the window companies about the sliders I learned that they were just about to do a production run for an RV company in a size that was close enough for my test purposes, so asked them to do me a favor and add two more to the run for me.

The hatches could be made in generic black, or they could be painted to color-match to the hardtop.

 

[jscherb]

I made a mockup storage compartment in cardboard. The compartment extends wider than the hatch opening, and below the hatch opening, so there's a pretty good amount of room in there. Inside I've got a gallon can and a 2-liter bottle, and on the back wall I mounted a Molle water bottle pouch. I'm working on other ideas, like shelves, a Molle grid and a cargo net, not sure what would be best in there yet.

 

[Haf-E]

Very cool - the larger size inside of it is great - makes the size of the hatch not as important and keeps some things from falling out.

 

[libarata]

I think shelving would reduce the overall utility for some.

 

[jscherb]

I think shelving would reduce the overall utility for some.

The idea is that the compartment would be a simple fiberglass box, and any cargo accessories like shelves, Molle grids, tie-down points, etc would be added by the user. The goal is to make it configurable to exactly what your needs would be.

 

[jscherb]

I assembled the Safari Cab side and end panels in the workshop to play with the various window options.

First shot is the fixed window with the kick-out vent.

The crank-out window:

Cranked open:

The slider:

Slider open:

 

[jscherb]

Cargo hatch:

Inside the cargo hatch is a mockup of a storage compartment.

 

[rubicon91]

The hatches do lock - if you take a close look I've left the key in the lock in these photos .

Ha! See if I was looking on computer and not phone I would have caught that. Silly me for thinking it was not there. Lol. I like the compartment. Question is it basically the depth of the dead space between roll bar and side? Hard to tell.

 

[jscherb]

Ha! See if I was looking on computer and not phone I would have caught that. Silly me for thinking it was not there. Lol. I like the compartment. Question is it basically the depth of the dead space between roll bar and side? Hard to tell.

I put a bulge in the back of the compartment to go around the roll bar, so the back of the rest of the compartment can go to the inside edge of the roll bar. That makes the depth of most of the compartment about 7".

 

[jscherb]

A few weeks ago I showed this photo of a curved fixture I built to test installing these flat RV windows in the curved JK hardtop. The curve of this fixture matches the curve of the factory hardtop mounting surface. The window in this photo is just setting in place, it hasn't been fastened in yet, but you can see how there's a gap between the corners of the window and the mounting surface. If you fasten the window in place and attempt to bring those corners down to the hardtop, the slider will bind.

To make the test a better simulation of the hardtop, the other day I painted the fixture and added trim around the window mounting surface so it looks a little more like the real hardtop.

In this next photo, the window is secured in place with a prototype of the retrofit kit, which adapts the flat window to the curved mounting surface.

Here's a video of the window in operation, it slides very smoothly:


This is a proof-of-concept test for the retrofit kit concept, and as such, it does prove that the concept is practical. With this kit, pretty much any standard RV-style windows could be installed in the JK factory hardtop. If this kit were to be manufactured, there are a few details to work out, but one of the window companies I've been talking to is interested in working on those details with me.

 

[stomperxj]

Jeff - Where are you sourcing the bonded glass windows?