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Doorless

tommyboy said:
plus idk what to do with the front door speakers yet when i take the doors off:D
Click to expand...

speakers672.jpg


Robert
 
WrenchMonkey said:
...Doesn't prove a lot to me, I guess you could try the same flex with the doors on, and pop the hatch, and see how it compares...

Robert
Click to expand...

Done!

Had my girlfriend drive up an embankment so I could check measurments for shocks. Unfortunately I forgot the tape measure in the back of the Jeep. Popped the hatch, grabbed the tape, tried to close the hatch.....

If doors are supposed to provide support, they suck at it!!!!!
 
Ok guys, lets look at the position of the doors and the hatch relative to the stress and strain put on the unibody by flexing. When you flex out the suspension, it wants to put lots of "torsion" on the unibody. Picture a line drawn down the very center of the body from the mechanical fan center to the center of the rear license plate. The unibody twists around that axis when flexing.

Check out where the front doors are and where the 3 mounting points (2 hinges, one latch) are located compared to that axis. They are off to the side somewhere and this twisting has hardly any effect on the doors at all. They might be a tad harder to open than normal, but essentially all three mounts have the same force on them, so they don't really move out of position relative to each other.

Now look at how the rear hatch and its mounting points relate to the torsion axis. The hatch itself is a plane perpendicular to the axis, and the axis runs right through the middle of the hatch. Now since the 3 hatch mounts are all around this axis, they are going to get twisted to the point where the hatch will have trouble opening and closing. The torsion on the unibody wants to make the square 'shell' of the Jeep into a parallelogram. The hatch resists these forces when closed, but doesn't help when open. The hinges on top want to move the opposite way as the latch on the bottom, making the hatch not line up anymore.


That being said, have fun with the doors off, just be careful on the street. I drove around for a week straight in the Outer Banks last year with the front doors off, all over the roads and on the rough beach sand. Never had a problem with flexing and the doors were cake to put back on. I hope to have all four doors off this year.
 
i think it should be pretty obvious by now. the HATCH is the only thing that has any structural support. everyone complaining about problems are people that had theyre trunk open while flexing and now it doesnt close right and they blame it on having no doors. u cant wheel hatchless without a cage. have all the fun u want doorless
 
NJblackdeath4x4 said:
i think it should be pretty obvious by now. the HATCH is the only thing that has any structural support. everyone complaining about problems are people that had theyre trunk open while flexing and now it doesnt close right and they blame it on having no doors. u cant wheel hatchless without a cage. have all the fun u want doorless
Click to expand...

ding ding ding- we have a winner!
 
there is one negative to going doorless in a two door....they are so F'in heavy!!!! maybe I am weak but I still am yet to get them on by myself and in the northwest there is no removing them long term. even during the summer it rains quite a bit.
 
Only thing stopping me is hearing that the doors won't line up, and it will leak. Leaking is my nightmare. I had a wrangler that leaked water like it was a seaworld attraction, and it wasn't fun.
 
WrenchMonkey said:
You mean off?

Doesn't prove a lot to me, I guess you could try the same flex with the doors on, and pop the hatch, and see how it compares.

But I'm going to guess that a 20 year old unibody is going to flex a bit when you twist it up, regardless.

And looking at the design of the door, hinge, and striker, I'm not inclined to believe that they reinforce the body a bit.

Robert
Click to expand...


no I meant on, now that I read my statement it really has no argument.

I drove up an RTI ramp with my doors on and it twisted the unibody(my rear latch tells it all as it closed and opened easily before)
I dont think the doors do anything to strengthen the "frame" but they will help in the case of a roll over.
 
So for the speaker problem if anyone cares have you tried to mount one of those speaker holders that go across the top back just right behind where you sit in the front cause this is something i have thought about doing if i was to go doorless
 
It works great too..My doors DO NOT LEAK..When you re-install them after you get it all cut (hinges), TAKE your time to line the doors back up..My body lines are inline..These are my other doors, they are manual windows off a 88..
frontview-1.jpg

These leak around the window seals under pressure washing..HTH
 
Last edited:
I know the hindge pin needs to be removed/modified, but has anyone been able to come up with a setup for a 97+ that does not involve cutting/grinding your door hindge in half? I've searched and found the write-ups for cutting the bottom half of the hindge off, but that looks like it weakens the hindge more then I'd like. Please post pic's if you got something different. It might help the rest of us make-up our minds.
Thank you
 
She sure looks purdy in pink Scott......









I know I know it's "red"
 
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