Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

[jscherb]

Ground anchor parts bolted together. I'll call it a "no tool assembly" because the bolt heads are 3/4" and can be tightened with the Jeep's lug wrench, so no additional tools need to be carried.

I've bolted it to two stacked sand ladders. Each one is 1/4" aluminum, so together they're 1/2". One is probably enough but two will be more rigid; I'll do some testing when it's done to see how it performs with one or two.

One stake is done so far. It's 3/4" diameter and 24" long. A large nut with the threads drilled out is welded near one end, that's to aid in removing the stake from the ground. The I.D. of the drilled nut is just over 3/4", so another stake (or the Jeep's lug wrench if all stakes are in the ground) can be inserted and used to twist the stake out of the ground.

I plan to do a total of 8 stakes, that's next.

 

[jscherb]

Factory Series and Defender hardtops are metal, but some military versions have glassfibre (British for fiberglass) hardtops:

There are two versions of the fiberglass hardtop - on the one below the sides bulge out to give more room inside.

This version doesn't bulge out at the sides:

The Land Rover top wouldn't fit any Jeep, but I think the basic design would look very good on a Jeep. Here's a photo-edit of the bulge version on an LJ:

I edited the LJ image to see what a top like this would look like on a shorter TJ:

This is a very tempting fiberglass project.

 

[jscherb]

A concept with windows - slider windows on the sides and Alpine windows up above:

Or cargo hatches (known in the U.K. as "Gullwings"):

 

[Florida Native]

What do you think the inside width would work out to with the bulge out on a TJ/LJ?

-Mike

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[jscherb]

What do you think the inside width would work out to with the bulge out on a TJ/LJ?

-Mike

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Since this would be a new mold, not a modification of the Land Rover top, it could be whatever the designer thought looked good. The inside dimension of a TJ/LJ hardtop is about 58" and I think a 3" bulge on each side would look nice, resulting in an inside dimension of 64". Could be more than 3" but that's where I'd start in making a mockup to use in making the decision.

 

[Vinman]

A concept with windows - slider windows on the sides and Alpine windows up above:

Or cargo hatches (known in the U.K. as "Gullwings"):

Good afternoon, I’d like to place an order for one LJ bulged hardtop with the cargo hatches please.?

 

[jscherb]

Good afternoon, I’d like to place an order for one LJ bulged hardtop with the cargo hatches please.?

I meant when I said it was a tempting fiberglass project, I think it would be fun to do. Problem is, I don't have any extra Jeeps here to put it on - I wouldn't swap the Safari Cab off my LJ for it. If there was someone nearby who wanted it on their Jeep and wanted to participate in the project and learn fiberglass along the way maybe I'd do the project with them but I can't convince myself to do it by myself with no Jeep here to put it on.

 

[Vinman]

I meant when I said it was a tempting fiberglass project, I think it would be fun to do. Problem is, I don't have any extra Jeeps here to put it on - I wouldn't swap the Safari Cab off my LJ for it. If there was someone nearby who wanted it on their Jeep and wanted to participate in the project and learn fiberglass along the way maybe I'd do the project with them but I can't convince myself to do it by myself with no Jeep here to put it on.

I’ve thought about removing my rear side windows and making gullwing doors with inner compartments like your picture shows. Just haven’t gotten the nerve to do it yet.

 

[jscherb]

I’ve thought about removing my rear side windows and making gullwing doors with inner compartments like your picture shows. Just haven’t gotten the nerve to do it yet.

I'm working on a post for tomorrow morning on exactly that subject - stay tuned.

 

[Vinman]

I'm working on a post for tomorrow morning on exactly that subject - stay tuned.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for sure.

 

[jscherb]

Gullwing windows

The last hardtop concept image in my post from yesterday morning has "gullwings", a.k.a. cargo hatches/windows in place of regular windows. These are pretty common on overland-equipped Land Rovers...

Before the pandemic stopped progress with the RV window company I was working with, I had just about finished up cargo hatch/windows for the JK/JKU/JL/JLU. A few work-in-progress photos.

On a JK 2dr (this one is a window):

On a JKU with a Molle panel inside (this one is a solid hatch):

The Molle grid inside the compartment attaches to the roll bar and things can be hung on the panel on both sides - accessible through the swing-up hatch and/or accessible from inside the Jeep.

I was doing these for a Jeep accessories company, hopefully they'll get to market when manufacturing gets back to normal.

 

[Vinman]

Gullwing windows

The last hardtop concept image in my post from yesterday morning has "gullwings", a.k.a. cargo hatches/windows in place of regular windows. These are pretty common on overland-equipped Land Rovers...

Before the pandemic stopped progress with the RV window company I was working with, I had just about finished up cargo hatch/windows for the JK/JKU/JL/JLU. A few work-in-progress photos.

On a JK 2dr (this one is a window):

On a JKU with a Molle panel inside (this one is a solid hatch):

The Molle grid inside the compartment attaches to the roll bar and things can be hung on the panel on both sides - accessible through the swing-up hatch and/or accessible from inside the Jeep.

I was doing these for a Jeep accessories company, hopefully they'll get to market when manufacturing gets back to normal.

Any chance of you making them for the TJ Unlimiteds as well?

 

[jscherb]

Any chance of you making them for the TJ Unlimiteds as well?

I don't think there would be enough demand for an LJ version to make it worthwhile for a company to bring them to market.

A few years ago I designed replacement slider windows for JKU and JK factory hardtops: https://www.retrofitoffroad.com/product-category/jeep-wrangler-jk-factory-hardtop-slider-window-kit/. The kit includes RV-style slider windows and a "retrofit kit" which makes it possible to mount the flat-flange RV windows on the curved window mounting surface of the factory hardtops. The use of RV-style windows means that custom tooling isn't necessary to make the windows so the kits are reasonably affordable and demand for the sliders has been very good according to the company. The cargo hatch/window kit uses the same retrofit kit and RV-style hatches so it would also be reasonably affordable.

A retrofit kit for the TJ and LJ hardtops is possible but because of the way the window mounts on those hardtops a different type of retrofit kit is required. I've done a design for those retrofit kits but I haven't made a prototype since I don't have a factory LJ hardtop here to work with.

The TJ and LJ kits would be a little more difficult installation than the JK and JL hardtops and the retrofit kit would be a little more involved to manufacture so the kit would have to cost a bit more. I doubt there would be enough interest in the market to make it worthwhile to bring that kit to market but if demand were proven a kit could be done.

 

[rnArmy]

I'm loving these ideas Jeff. Keep'm coming!

Bulldawg Manufacturing makes fiberglass tops for TJs with the side windows that open up.

Jeep LJ Hard Top With Sliding/Discovery Side Windows 2004-2006: Bulldawg Jeep Tops and Doors

The LJ Hard Top!! Introducing our all new highly anticipated Jeep Wrangler LJ Hardtop. The most customizable, functional, most technologically advanced LJ hardtop ever made!! Because of its limited numbers, the Wrangler LJ is one of the most sought after Jeeps on the market. Coming in at a...

www.bulldawgmfg.com

I've got one of their regular tops (and their hard upper door halves) on my 98 TJ and have been happy with it. I considered getting their top with the opening side windows when I got my top, but opted not to. Sometimes I wish I had spent the extra money and got that option.

Of course, this isn't a retrofit to your existing fiberglass top - you gotta buy the whole top!

 

[jscherb]

I'm loving these ideas Jeff. Keep'm coming!

Hey Paul,
Thanks, I've been wondering if people are finding this info interesting or useful. I'm just getting started, lots more ideas to come if people are interested. I've got a huge stack of these magazines and almost every one has something in it that as a Jeep person I find interesting.

Bulldawg Manufacturing makes fiberglass tops for TJs with the side windows that open up.

Jeep LJ Hard Top With Sliding/Discovery Side Windows 2004-2006: Bulldawg Jeep Tops and Doors

The LJ Hard Top!! Introducing our all new highly anticipated Jeep Wrangler LJ Hardtop. The most customizable, functional, most technologically advanced LJ hardtop ever made!! Because of its limited numbers, the Wrangler LJ is one of the most sought after Jeeps on the market. Coming in at a...

www.bulldawgmfg.com

I've got one of their regular tops (and their hard upper door halves) on my 98 TJ and have been happy with it. I considered getting their top with the opening side windows when I got my top, but opted not to. Sometimes I wish I had spent the extra money and got that option.

Of course, this isn't a retrofit to your existing fiberglass top - you gotta buy the whole top!

When companies like Bulldawg make molds, they usually make the window mounting surface flat so they can install flat glass (or RV-style windows or hatches). That's what Bulldawg has done so they can easily and affordably offer slider windows or cargo hatches. Unfortunately the TJ factory hardtop window mounting surface is curved in both directions, which means that simple solutions like installing an RV-style slider or hatch won't work, and either a curved window is necessary (expensive custom window frame/manufacturing tooling) or some sort of "adapter" (which I called a "retrofit kit" in my earlier post) is necessary which mounts to the curved window mounting surface and provides a flat mounting surface for an affordable window or hatch.

For the JK/JKU and JL/JLU the design of the hardtop allowed me to come up with a fairly simple laser-cut aluminum retrofit kit to allow inexpensive RV-style windows to be installed. Unfortunately due to the way the TJ/LJ window openings curve, an aluminum retrofit kit wouldn't be simple and would probably require custom tooling to produce.

The design I've done for the TJ and LJ uses a fiberglass retrofit kit, which is easy to make, even for a one-off project, but it would be more expensive to produce than the JK/JL retrofit kits. But I just don't think there would be enough demand - I mean, look at your decision Paul, you decided that for the reasonable upcharge the cargo windows would involve and the fact that it would come installed from the factory it still wouldn't be worthwhile for you to have them (I'm not criticizing you, just using you as an example of someone for whom having cargo windows would be easy and you decided it wasn't worth it).