Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[Comanche Scott]

filler panels ******!

My initial thought (being the selfish kind of guy I am), is that it would be nice to have the bigger window, in a one piece door. But in looking at the Ursa Minor J30 top, it uses the smaller hatch window.
So, the smaller door with filler panels would be what would work best for me. This way the Barndoor can be used with either the J30 or the stock 2014 hard top (with filler panels).
Since the entire universe revolves around me, I'm sure you can see the significance here...
So mark me down as a "filler panel convert". LOL

 

[jscherb]

I ran across some photos of the Jeep J8 military version of the JK, and the angle of this photo one reminded me of a photo of my LJ taken at Engineer Pass in Colorado...

My JK Safari Cab will have a raised roof instead of the J8-style flat roof, but it will have roll-up side curtains like the J8, along with swappable with hard sides like my LJ Safari Cab.

 

[jscherb]

I've been away for the past two days so I wasn't able to get the barn door bonded together until this morning.

It'll be clamped together until this afternoon while the fiberglass I used to bond the skins together cures. Later today I'll remove the clamps and trim the two skins to match. More photos later.

 

[jscherb]

A few shots of the assembled barn door; it's bonded together, trimmed very close to final size, and the window opening is trimmed close to final size, although the opening will be slightly larger when it's finished. I'll do the final trimming after it's mounted to a tailgate.

Next for this project is molding a second barn door for Tom's Jeep; that one will be trimmed wider to fit his later model wide hatch opening.

Still to be done is the hardware for mounting the uppers to the tailgate (more about that soon), installing the windows and installing the wipers/wiring.

 

[jscherb]

Here are some barn door simulation drawings on a JK with a color-matched hardtop. First the unedited photo:

The first illustration shows a wide barn door with the early model narrow window. This one uses the molds I've already made, it just involves trimming the fiberglass parts wider to fit the wider late model hatch opening. This is what we'll be making for Tom's '14 JKU.

Next is a narrow barn door with filler panels fitted in the hatch opening to reduce the opening size to match the early model hardtop. This one is exactly the size of the first barn door I finished up yesterday.

Next is a wide barn door with a wider window. This one would need a different inner skin mold to support the wider glass.

And this one is the same as the first simulation above - a door made in the current molds using the narrow window with the fiberglass panels trimmed wider, but I've "painted" the roof panel black.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Your photoshop skills are exceptional. :victory:
That's the same model, and color, Jeep I have. :beer:

 

[jscherb]

Your photoshop skills are exceptional. :victory:
That's the same model, and color, Jeep I have. :beer:

I wish I had Photoshop and knew how to use it . I did the illustrations mostly with Microsoft Visio, with a little help from Paint Shop Pro.

 

[JCDriller]

Man I want this with an Ursa Minor top so bad! Have you contacted that company yet about purchasing your molds?

 

[jscherb]

Man I want this with an Ursa Minor top so bad! Have you contacted that company yet about purchasing your molds?

No, I haven't contacted them.

But I did draw a new concept view of an Ursa Minor with my barn door...

 

[jscherb]

Tom and I molded a second set of barn door parts today. We'll pop the parts out of the molds tomorrow morning and bond the two skins together.

This one will go on Tom's '14 JKU.

 

[Comanche Scott]

No, I haven't contacted them.

But I did draw a new concept view of an Ursa Minor with my barn door...

Goes together like Stars and Stripes! :beer:

Looking forward to seeing how Tom's Barndoor comes out. Please keep in mind the filler pieces for those of us looking to make it work with the '14 hardtop, and the J30.
Something else to consider would be to integrate a table with the door brackets. Since the current door tables won't work with this kit.
Thank you Sir!

 

[jscherb]

Goes together like Stars and Stripes! :beer:

Looking forward to seeing how Tom's Barndoor comes out. Please keep in mind the filler pieces for those of us looking to make it work with the '14 hardtop, and the J30.

I don't think I'll make the molds for the filler panels unless some company signs up to bring the barn door to market and wants to offer them as an option. For my proof-of-concept purposes, and my JK Safari Cab project, the current early model narrow window molds are just what I need, and they'll do fine for Tom on his '14 as well. And they will fit the Ursa Minor .

Something else to consider would be to integrate a table with the door brackets. Since the current door tables won't work with this kit.
Thank you Sir!

I've got a table that's compatible with the barn door. I call it the StoreGate. There are two versions, one version with a table and one without:

I have the cargo net version on my LJ with my barn door, for my use of the Jeep I don't need a table back there:

A few weeks back we tested one on Tom's JK, it fits the JK perfectly and will clear the JK's subwoofer (Tom's JK doesn't have a subwoofer but it's pretty clear to see the space the subwoofer would occupy).

In addition to the above, Tom's got a different design for a table to go along with the barn door, he'll post drawings of it next week some time, stay tuned.

 

[jscherb]

Tom at work this morning trimming and fitting the inner skin we molded yesterday to his '14 JK.

When he finished fitting, we bonded the inner and outer skins together. This afternoon when the resin has cured we'll remove the clamps and do a final fitting of the assembly to his hardtop.

 

[Comanche Scott]

This is moving right along!

Looking great guys!

I can understand about the filler panels. I'm probably one of very few people, who this would be really helpful for. I used to work with carbon fiber, so I can make them up myself.

Your table looks awesome. So I'll have to wait and see the finished Barndoor mounting brackets to visualize how it will fit.

Since Ursa Minor, is a company specializing in fiberglass products, I hope you guys can work out an amicable deal.

Scott

 

[jscherb]

...
Your table looks awesome. So I'll have to wait and see the finished Barndoor mounting brackets to visualize how it will fit.

My StoreGate table won't look much different on the JK than it does on my LJ - in the photo of the LJ with the barn door open the stakes are in place and the StoreGate mounts with them in place just fine. It will be the same way on the JK.

Since Ursa Minor, is a company specializing in fiberglass products, I hope you guys can work out an amicable deal.

Scott

I haven't discussed this with Ursa Minor, I have no idea if they'd be interested.