[XJ2000]

Thanks for those pics!

[red_01_xj]

Originally Posted by EricsXJ

Today I finished up removing the passenger side doors. I was very concerned all last week that I might regret this mod. But I re-worked the hinges and am very happy to report that the doors close near perfect, just as good as they did before I cut the pins.

I'll post some tips for that in one of the other doorless threads a bit later. But for this thread heres a few pics.

I won't go into too much detail with this since there is already a write-up about it. Here's the door side of the hinges. Bottom part has been cut off. New pins (5/16" bolts) welded in.


Top hinge.


Bottom hinge. These are here just to show how they go on. If you want to do this, make sure you bolt the hinge back onto the door, then slide them on. Don't try and bolt the door to the hinges...


On tap for tomorrow - sheet metal cutting.

are you not worried about the brackets bending....on my half door i have the hinges set up like this....

what did you use for your pin?

[srmitchell]

Wow, really want doorless.

Do you just disconnect the wiring... or what?

[EricsXJ]

I'm not worried about the hinges bending really because I am not the first to do this. Others have done it and if it works for them I see no reason it won't for me.

As far as how to do it, just search - there are lots of threads and write-ups on how to do it.

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Originally Posted by EricsXJ

I'm not worried about the hinges bending really because I am not the first to do this. Others have done it and if it works for them I see no reason it won't for me.

As far as how to do it, just search - there are lots of threads and write-ups on how to do it.

I wouldn't worry about it either...
and I haven't looked closely enough but if one was really worried about it I'm pretty sure you could weld some kind of gusset from the door stopper thing down the backside...
I don't know if that makes sense or not.

[EricsXJ]

Made some more progress worthy of an update...

So after taking off my old rock rails, I didn't feel like reworking the mounts to be able to use them with my "new" frame rails. I decided to cut out the rockers and weld in box steel. I also decided to go a bit extreme and go all the way up to the door sills. Theres some other people that have done this and there is a good write-up on madxj.com that I followed, but of course I did some things a bit differently.

So here are the rockers cut out.



Then I cleaned up all the edges and cut out the door sill, leaving basically just the bases of the pillars.



Then I welded in 1.5" x 1/8" angle iron to strengthen the corner of the floor. This is important because not only will the floor be lower than my rockers, this piece will be used to help tie everything together.



I have the interior herculined and the heat from the welds melted the herculiner. Let me tell you - melting herculiner smokes bad and smells horrible! Luckily it only caught fire once...

Here is the underside:



I'm using 2" x 6" x 3/16" rectangular box steel for the rockers. Primed and prepped for welding:



Capped the ends:



And I also decided that I may as well use the driver side one as an air tank. If it works I can get rid of the 2.5 gallon tank I have that is under the Jeep. Simpler is better! So I tapped in threads for a hose barb.



I then hooked it up to my OBA to test it.



I am glad I did this before I welded the rocker on because to my dismay I had about a dozen leaks in my welds. I totally under-estimated how hard it is to make air-tight welds! So I had to try and plug the leaks and after a few tries I think I have it sealed up enough to use.

[EricsXJ]

Here is the rocker welded in place.



Here's a shot from underneath. You can see how high up this thing is compared to the floor boards.



Here's where I deviate from what others have done. They usually weld in another piece of angle iron to the bottom of the rocker and to the other piece of angle welded to the floor. I decided to weld in 3" x 3/16" flat stock between the rocker and angle iron instead. I think this will be stronger against upward hits, like when coming down hard on a rock. At least I hope so. I gave up a little clearance to do it this way, but it is clearance in a not so critical spot so it shouldn't be so bad.



I then put my attention to the A pillar. There is a flat length of it right at the front and this is where a friend of mine bent his pillar with his weld-in rocker replacements before he tied them in to his rock rails. Prepped for welding:



I welded in a length of 1/8" flat stock to support the pillar and also tied it into the fender piece above it.



And to top it off, I then added two braces to tie all this in to the frame rails. Luckily the best places for these are about under the A and B pillars, which seem like the most ideal location.



A side view:



So that is the driver side completed other than adding paint and some silicone to seal up some areas I don't want water to get to. Measuring from the ground to the bottom of the rocker, I gained 4" of clearance over my old setup with the bolt-on rock rails!!!

[ddeadserious]

Man that's exactly what i was thinking of doing when i get the steel to weld in my rockers! thief!

Nice work, do you plan on running doors? It seems like you'd have to clearance those up with the rockers ties up so high.

[Sierra Drifter]

Well how about that, something new that I haven't seen before. Very nice work, looks great, and 4 inches more clearance under the rockers. Very cool.

[red_01_xj]

Originally Posted by ddeadserious

Man that's exactly what i was thinking of doing when i get the steel to weld in my rockers! thief!

Nice work, do you plan on running doors? It seems like you'd have to clearance those up with the rockers ties up so high.

I am assuming he will be triming the doors if that is the case...

Eric-Looks good real nice overhaul...when I had my rockers welded in it really helped to stiffen the unibody, I still have to make some supports to tie them to the frame

[jeeposaurus]

Once again beautiful work. I hacked out my rockers last summer and still haven't welded in box beam...mind you I dont wheel over the sharp pointy things known as rocks. No major smack ups yet. Great idea with the flat bar. I was always going to go the angle iron, angle iron, box beam route...but if I ever do get around to it I am defiantly going to steal your flat bar method! Looks stronger in my view as well.

[EricsXJ]

Thanks for the comments guys. I am planning on putting the doors back on but I'll need to trim 1" to 2" off the bottom of the doors to do it.

[HeavyMetal]

Quality work.

[89warwagon]

Is that a floor drain plug I see?
Where did you get it?
You are da man!!!What welder are you using?

[Fred99TJ]

I have seen Comp Buggies not built this well!!! WOW this is fun build to watch