Barn Door for JK factory hardtops
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
This is a way better Christmas present for the wife, than jewelry. 
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I'll have to check with her and see what she thinks about thatThis is a way better Christmas present for the wife, than jewelry.
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jscherb
Expedition Leader
I finished installing the Alpine windows and test fit the full Safari Cab on the Jeep today. I've got just a very few minor adjustments to make to perfect the fit, which I'll get done tomorrow. In these photos, the barn door hasn't been bolted to the tailgate yet, it's just sitting on top of the spare carrier so if it looks like the door gap is a little large, that's why.
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Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
That really suits the Jeep great! Would look very cool in a reddish brown saddle leather color (like the King Ranch seats on the F Series Ford trucks).
Have you thought about finishing out the inside yet? I've seen some nice spray flocking that is easy to use, and has a quality appearance.
Supposedly does a good job on sound, and light reflection.
Have you thought about finishing out the inside yet? I've seen some nice spray flocking that is easy to use, and has a quality appearance.
Supposedly does a good job on sound, and light reflection.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks! Since this Jeep is Heather's daily driver, she gets most of the votes on the color scheme. So far she's said "no white". I'm going to do a series of colorized images to show different color schemes, when I do I'll post them here to get everyone's thoughts. I do like a saddle leather color, that's a good idea.
The inside of the roof panel will get a cloth headliner. I haven't completely decided on the inside of the side panels yet, but I'll either glue on thin carpet-type material, or spray the panels with bed liner. Still thinking about that.
Here's an inside view of the unfinished fiberglass panels...
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks!
I think it will end up slightly heavier than a factory hardtop, maybe by 15 pounds. A lot of that due to the extra glass, which weighs more than fiberglass.
Yes - three companies have expressed interest in it. I've talked to all three, and ruled out two of them for various reasons. The third company that's interested is well qualified for this project, and they're interested in both the full hardtop and in making just the barn door available as an option for factory hardtops. I spent several hours with them a week ago at SEMA discussing the design details of the top and what it would take to manufacture it in quantity. But I haven't decided yet if I want this to be a commercial product, or if there would be enough demand to make it worth my time to help a company get it into production. Maybe I'll just decide to finish up this one example and move on to my next project.
About the tent, there's a third option - early in the project I posted this drawing, and said that part of the Safari Cab design is for the roof rack to be tied into the roll bars, so no weight is borne by the fiberglass. Because of that, a roof top tent can be carried on the roof rack easily - no need for an exocage-style rack like the factory top requires.
When I designed the LJ Safari Cab I designed in the same roll-bar tie-ins, and it's worked out very well. No special racks or hardware required...
tweenerlj
Adventurer
Here's an inside view of the unfinished fiberglass panels...
Wow, that certainly lets a lot of light into the back. Seems like this would make riding in the back seat a much better experience.
