Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

You're doing a great job with this. While the fiberglass isn't, the soft frame is completely within my skill set. Would you be ok if I borrowed your idea for personal usage in the months to come? I'd rather buy one, but I know your plans aren't set in stone yet.

Sure, feel free to take any ideas I post and implement them for your personal use.

It looks like you've got a later model JK, which means you have a hardtop with the wider hatch. Before you start your own barn door project you need to know that on the later model hardtops the width of the opening a barn door doesn't work with the geometry of the stock tailgate hinges. The reason is that because the opening is wider, part of a wider barn door will be outboard of the stock hinge pin location, so when the door swings out that part of the barn door swings in and contacts the door jamb. To do a barn door (soft or hard) for a later model hardtop you need wide-swing hinges that have the hinge pin moved outboard, like these HD hinges a friend and I made when we installed a hard barn door on his '14 JKU (photos taken before the hinges were painted). Compared to the stock hinges you can see the difference in the hinge pin location...

In this next photo you can see how the outboard hinge pin location of the wide-swing hinge lines up with the edge of the hatch opening:

These hinges were made in my home workshop, so if you're a DIY-er making a soft barn door, perhaps you could make hinges too.

 

[fructose]

very nice, I hope if I could have a car like it

 

[jscherb]

I found a Rugged Ridge spare tire cover in Spice for only $18 so I picked it up to compare to the Spice fabric I'll be using for the soft sides/soft barn door and the Spice paint. It's not a bad match.

The fit is pretty good too.

Yesterday I took it down to the local decal/tshirt place along with a full-size PDF of the logo to see if they can add the Safari logo and they told me they'd charge $25 to do something like this:

I left it with them and it should be ready on Monday. I'll post photos after they finish it.

 

[Comanche Scott]

That is going to be awesome! :victory:
I had a place in town that does ball caps embroider head rests for another vehicle. They did a great job and it was a very reasonable price.
Really like to support local folks when I can. :beer:

 

[jscherb]

That is going to be awesome! :victory:
I had a place in town that does ball caps embroider head rests for another vehicle. They did a great job and it was a very reasonable price.
Really like to support local folks when I can. :beer:

I've been using this local shop for years - I've had them do finishing touches for most of my projects, like the embroidered logos for my LJ Safari Cab soft sides. I've had them do vinyl decals for pretty much every one of my projects, including big decals for my military replica trailer. They're nice people and do high quality work at a very affordable price, all I do is take them a PDF and tell them what I need and a few days later I'm all set. I'm looking forward to picking up the tire cover tomorrow, it's the first time I've had them do a heat-applied design to fabric so I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Living in a small town like I do, you get to know the local businesses personally. Many of them take a personal interest in my projects, and they always go the extra mile to help me out. Elmira Auto Paint, for example, taught me how to paint and always makes the time to advise me on my projects. They mixed up a small sample of Spice base coat for me to test for this project for no charge. When I had a paint problem on the fiberglass hood for my CJ Grille Kit project, they came out to my house to look at the problem, and gave me replacement paint (the paint was bad). Cedar Street Manufacturing always drops what they're doing when I come in and ask for a piece of metal for a project, and they let me use their big bending brakes when I need to bend something I can't do at home. I could go on about other places in town... I would have a lot more trouble doing my projects if I lived in an impersonal big city - I really get a lot of support and help here.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Pretty awesome! :beer:
I live in a fairly large community, and there are still local places that take the time to go out of their way. I've found it best to go during the week when things are slow. Weekends are a totally different ball game around here... lol

 

[jscherb]

Got the tire cover back from the print shop. It looks nice, although the heat press they used to bond the logo to the cover left a slight impression on the not-too-premium Rugged Ridge fabric. I don't mind it too much, and I can probably blend it in with a household iron. Over time if it bothers me I can sew a new cover from the premium soft top fabric I've got on hand.

 

[jscherb]

In my pile of interesting old Jeep parts I've got a Lund windshield visor that was designed to fit a CJ, it's probably from the 70's or early 80's at the latest. It adds a retro look to a vehicle, so just for fun I tried it with the Safari Cab. With only some minor modifications it could be mounted on the JK Safari...

 

[Comanche Scott]

Looks great Jeff.

I also just noticed how good the color of the spare tire carrier looks with the body color. Very nice! :victory:

Is the Jeep due up for shocks?
In the pictures it looks like some choppy tire wear.

 

[jscherb]

Looks great Jeff.

I also just noticed how good the color of the spare tire carrier looks with the body color. Very nice! :victory:

Is the Jeep due up for shocks?
In the pictures it looks like some choppy tire wear.

I agree, I think the hardtop done in Spice is going to look very good on this Jeep.

Shocks are good, they're cheap tires put on by the prior owner and probably never have been rotated. I haven't rotated them either because I don't care to extend their life, as soon as they wear a bit more they're coming off and some decent quality tires are going on.

 

[Jakes01234]

Have any interested parties for buying/building that top? Picked up a soft top jku recently and would rather not buy the mopar top.

 

[jscherb]

Have any interested parties for buying/building that top? Picked up a soft top jku recently and would rather not buy the mopar top.

Yes but I'm leaning towards not licensing it to a company for production.

 

[Jakes01234]

Yes but I'm leaning towards not licensing it to a company for production.

Interesting.
Well keep us up to date please. No other top has the nice sliding window feature I'm looking for.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Saw your photo in JP magazine and said, "Hey! I know that guy from Expedition Portal!"

 

[StayDirtyMyFriends]

Yes but I'm leaning towards not licensing it to a company for production.

Darn... that's too bad, was hoping I'd see this come available at some point, it's exactly what I want.