Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
It always amazes me just how many curves and slants there are on a box shaped vehicle. lol
The frame looks good!
The frame looks good!
Barn Door for JK factory hardtops
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks, I'm very happy with the frame so far. I won't get to installing it for a few days, I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how it fits. So far it looks like it'll fit well.
There are basically no straight lines on a JK. That fact made the JK Safari Cab hardtop at least an order of magnitude more challenging than the LJ Safari Cab - getting all the curves and angles to fit perfectly in a set of modular parts done without CAD-enabled tooling was quite a challenge. And I'm glad that part of the Safari Cab project is over... the fit is perfect but it took a lot of work to get there.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Here's one more photo of the prototype window frame, this time it's being held in front of the hardtop… it's a bad photo for a lot of reasons - the hand holding the frame, the reflection of the camera in the other hand, the frame isn't being held exactly in the correct position, etc… but it should give a little more idea of how the final window might look.
capnjackcanon
Observer
@jscherb I've been following your posts for about a year now and your work is amazing! I've got a 2008 Black JKU and would love to buy a Safari Cab for mine... any manufacturer's jumping on that option yet?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thank you very much.
At this point in time I'm not interested in licensing the JK Safari Cab to a company for production, sorry.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Progress on the slider retrofit kit for factory hardtops: here's a peek at what the installed slider window looks like. It's installed with the retrofit kit that adapts the flat RV-style window to the curved window mounting surface of the hardtop. The parts are just sitting in place because the installation isn't completed yet, hopefully will get the window fastened in place tomorrow.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
A few photos of the prototype window frame installed.
An inside view. This isn't a factory hardtop panel, it's a panel molded quickly just to do preliminary installations tests before a test is done on a real hardtop, so the inside is just rough fiberglass, but it does show what the inside clamp ring looks like.
An inside view. This isn't a factory hardtop panel, it's a panel molded quickly just to do preliminary installations tests before a test is done on a real hardtop, so the inside is just rough fiberglass, but it does show what the inside clamp ring looks like.
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
Looks good Jeff.
So will there be an adapter band on the inside as well?
So will there be an adapter band on the inside as well?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
No. The retrofit kit goes on the outside; nothing is required on the inside other than the standard clamp ring as shown in the photo.
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
Didn't realize the inside of the flange was already flat. That makes for a much nicer install. 
jscherb
Expedition Leader
It's not flat, but the clamp ring easily conforms to the curve. The window cannot conform to the curve, which is why the retrofit kit goes on the outside.Didn't realize the inside of the flange was already flat. That makes for a much nicer install.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Design question...
When the factory bonded-on hardtop window glass is removed, the panel looks like this:
There's a raised lip around the inside of the window opening, it's a little less than 1/2" wide and 1/8" high, it's white in the above photo. The current prototype window frame requires that this lip be trimmed off before installing the window. The reason for this is so the window frame can completely fill the window recess in the panel (except for the corners). Notice in this photo how the frame fills the recess:
Another option would be to make the window frame slightly smaller so no trimming is required. In that case there would be a roughly 1/2" margin all the way around the frame, it would look like this digital simulation.
To me, the larger frame looks a bit better than the smaller frame with the margin around it.
The design question: What's more important - filling the recess completely with the frame at the cost of a little trimming, or eliminating the need to trim but having the visible margin around the window?
When the factory bonded-on hardtop window glass is removed, the panel looks like this:
There's a raised lip around the inside of the window opening, it's a little less than 1/2" wide and 1/8" high, it's white in the above photo. The current prototype window frame requires that this lip be trimmed off before installing the window. The reason for this is so the window frame can completely fill the window recess in the panel (except for the corners). Notice in this photo how the frame fills the recess:
Another option would be to make the window frame slightly smaller so no trimming is required. In that case there would be a roughly 1/2" margin all the way around the frame, it would look like this digital simulation.
To me, the larger frame looks a bit better than the smaller frame with the margin around it.
The design question: What's more important - filling the recess completely with the frame at the cost of a little trimming, or eliminating the need to trim but having the visible margin around the window?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Here are a few reasons:
1. It's a lot more cutting so a much more involved/risky job for the DIY-er.
2. Since the window frame wouldn't be in a recess as it is now, in order to have the window to be flat the corners of the window frame would have to stick out over 1/4". That's true also in the current design, but being in the recess that difference is not really visible; with the window sitting on the outside surface with no recess the corners sticking out would not look right.
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
I think this will only affect the few people like me, who want the ability to go back to factory glass on resale.