[fast64]

I was reading Sharpie's thread about going doorless in a 97+ here. When I got to thinking "why can't we just cut the bottom on the hinge off like on the earlier models, so that going doorless on a 97+ is a one man job?", so I went outside and looked at the hinges on my 99 and my 88. It looks like the hinge on the 88 sticks out from the body a little further than on the 99 which allows the 88's door to be pulled straight up. The 99's door, however interfers with the A-pillar just enough so that you can't pull it straight up and off.

After coming to this realization, I thought maybe a "short" hinge pin on the top hinge and a "full length" hinge pin on the bottom hinge will allow me to pull my doors straight off and on by myself. I decided to try it, and this is what I came up with:

Remember, modifying your hinges will never allow you to have factory hinges again without buying brand new ones and welding them on.

First, I took the doors off following Sharpie's instructions, making sure to undo the wiring behind the kick panel and also to take out the hinge pins.

This is what the the part of the hinge thats left on the Jeep should look like:


I then unbolted the hinge from the door (remember to mark where they were bolted, this will make door alignment much easier). After this, I cut the bottom of the hinge off so that the hinge looked like this:


The extra pieces from the hinge that you won't need anymore should look something like this:


Next, I took some 4" long 5/16" bolts and cut them down to act as new hinge pins. The bottom hinge pin needs to be long enough to go through the entire hinge. The top hinge pin only needs to be about to the blue line:


After I cut the bolts, I welded them to what is left of the hinge. This is the bottom hinge, remember the top one will need to be shorter (Please ignore the crap looking welds):


All thats left now is to bolt the hinges back onto the door and slide the door back onto the Jeep. You may need to do a little bit of aligning, but take your time, it will be worth it to have nicely sealed doors.

After some aligning, I got my door to have almost factory gaps and sealed perfectly:


Back doors:
The back doors are done using the same method as the front. However, they are really easy to do compared to the fronts though do to the extra room you have to work with (no fender right there by the door). Also, if you don't have power windows or locks there are no wires to disconnect for the back doors


The last step is to take your doors back off, enjoy how easy it is, and then go drive around and watch the crazy looks you get.




Also, for anyone who is interested the weights for the doors on a non-power 4 door are:

68 lbs/ea for the front doors
42 lbs/ea for the rear doors

This is using an old bathroom scale, so it may be a little off, but should be in the ballpark atleast.

[sharpie]

interesting design. I may actually try this, only because I hate having to remove four pins every time.

[XJK]

that looks like a pretty good idea, how does the door lign up with the door lock? does it sag at all?

-Kyle

[fast64]

Originally Posted by Kyle Deidrick

that looks like a pretty good idea, how does the door lign up with the door lock? does it sag at all?

-Kyle

I meant to post this info, but forgot to. When I open the door, I can feel it drop down a tiny bit, but its not enough so that the striker and latch don't line up anymore. Its such a small amount that I don't have to lift the door up to close it (it closes just like normal).

And thanks for the inspiration Sharpie

EDIT: Kyle, I was just out finishing up the front passenger door, when I noticed that the holes in the Jeep side of the hinge are bigger than the 5/16" bolt. I bet if you drilled out the door side of the hinge to accept a 3/8" bolt, you would get a nice, snug fit and alleviate the sagging completely.

[jeepjack1995]

gotta keep this in mind its a good idea.

[Prosonic]

I have to say I was a little sceptical about the doorless thing on 97+, but after seeing how nice this one went, I'll definately be considering it.
Props to Sharpie and Fast64 on this one.

[sailgclass]

Nice job. I have thought about this, but came to the conclusion that it might be a good idea to have another load bearing connection at the hinges because of how significantly smaller the 97+ hinges are compared to -96. If it works for you though that's great and I may switch over my current 4 pin setup to that.

Also, the holes on the jeep side of the hinge are indeed larger that 5/16" but they have small sheaths in them that hold 5/16" quite nicely. I took them out on one door, and it has had alignment issues ever since but the other door where i left them faired much better.

but who cares about alignment of doors, i just don't put them on anymore!

[XJK]

hey fast 64 do you think we could get a close up pic of how the new hindges look mounted.

-Kyle

[fast64]

Originally Posted by Kyle Deidrick

hey fast 64 do you think we could get a close up pic of how the new hindges look mounted.

-Kyle

I'm on it.

[fast64]

Here ya go. This is the passenger side door.

Top hinge:


Bottom hinge:

[XJK]

whats stopping the door from just falling to the floor with the bottom of the pins being open?

-Kyle

[fast64]

What do you mean?

[XJK]

Originally Posted by fast64

What do you mean?

unless those picks are upside down...

but the bottom of the hindge is cut off so what is supporting the doors weight?

-Kyle

[fast64]

All of the weight is on the top part of the door-side of the hinge. The door is on the right side of the picture and the Jeep is on the left.

[XJK]

oh wow, i guess i need some coffee. now it makes perfect sence, it seemed like everything was backwards so i guess it was and i was looking at it wrong.

-Kyle