chris_conant
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- New Jersey
Just took front doors off of my jeep. Anyone in Nj do this and have problems with police. What is the law on doors off in NJ. I did put sideview mirrors on
law in NJ with no doors
- Thread starter chris_conant
- Start date
snail
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- North Jersey
Me and my buddy both ran doorless all last year up in Passaic County. Neither local police nor county sheriffs ever gave us a second glance even though they clearly saw us. I also had my xj down in Essex county a bunch of times at school and no problems there. One officer I know simply said, 'well i dont see a problem, wranglers can do it, just make sure you have approved mirrors.'
chris_conant
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- New Jersey
Thanks for the insite. Yea I passed a few cops, couple looks did not get pulled over. Have a friend that is a cop and he asked some other cops and they stated they did not know if it was illegal but said they would not bother pullin over cause it is a jeep.
snail
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- North Jersey
yeah exactly, even if there is a rule, i doubt any cops know of it. maybe something along the lines of --illegal to modify factory blah blah blah--. now that i think about it, i only know of one instance where police hassled someone. this one kid i know always was getting in trouble with the cops in his town (riding dirtbikes on the street, running no mufflers on his cars, speeding, evading, etc), so the cops straight up told him he needs doors back on his xj. id say that incident was just from his bad rep though
OverlandZJ
NAXJA Member # 101
- Location
- Bristol,PA
The LEO's in my family tell me that the reason a Wrangler is permitted is because the doors were removable from the factory, whereas the XJ was not.
Guess it will come down to the LEO and what his interpretation of the law is.
Bet you can find something on the DMV website.
Guess it will come down to the LEO and what his interpretation of the law is.
Bet you can find something on the DMV website.
dennis461
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Waterford Township, NJ
Seems like "they" don't know either...
http://forums.officer.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-38763.html
http://forums.officer.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-38763.html
- Location
- long branch, nj
I've never been able to find anything through the DMV and no one can ever answer my question about this. Talked to a couple of LEO's about this and they have never been able to find anything for me that says you can't take the doors off. The one thing I do know about is there is a law that requires a minimum of 2 mirrors on it at all times. You need either both side mirrors or the drivers mirror and rearview.
I know I live in pa and your asking about nj, but I just got pulled over with my doors off of my xj the other night, and according to the cop, not even wranglers are alowed to run with the doors off? I have heard many things for pa law, and the laws for any other state, its hard to know what to believe
WrEkLEsSXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Honey Brook, PA
all depends on your local police. if theyre gonna nit pick they will. i know ive drove past cops without the doors on my XJ without getting stopped. but i live in the middle of nowhere
vetteboy
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- morganville, nj
No one in any official capacity is going to tell you it's OK, because no one wants the liability that comes along with that in case something does go wrong.
I built a tube door for the driver side of my XJ years ago. I brought it with me to the Winslow inspection station, and the guys there thought it was neat. They said they probably wouldn't pass it though, under a blanket 'unapproved equipment' or something like that, because while they can approve aftermarket suspension components & steering as it relates to the lift laws, alterations to other parts of the vehicle don't fall within their purvue.
I got a ticket for the same tube door - it was written when I wasn't in the truck, and left under my windshield wiper. The offense was 'unsafe vehicle - no driver door'. I also got a ticket for no inspection (sticker was expired).
I went to court with a bunch of pictures of the tube door installed, along with some printouts of the federal side-impact crash test standards giving dimensions of the test rig, where & how it impacts the vehicle, what the vehicle is expected to handle, etc. I showed all this to the prosecutor and they dropped the ticket as long as I paid the one for the expired inspection that day.
They did not drop the ticket based on the merits of my case - honestly I really had no case, I just went in there with a bunch of information to wade through in the hopes that it would confuse the process enough to make them drop it. Anyone who's ever been to traffic court in NJ knows that you can get things dropped/reduced for no reason other than expediency. However, I carried the ticket around in my glove box just in case, and the one other time I did get pulled over for the tube door, I showed it to the officer and said "I got this ticket in Aberdeen for the door, and it got dismissed in court." Still earned me a mudflap ticket though.
Not saying that everyone's experience will turn out this way...just giving another perspective.
I built a tube door for the driver side of my XJ years ago. I brought it with me to the Winslow inspection station, and the guys there thought it was neat. They said they probably wouldn't pass it though, under a blanket 'unapproved equipment' or something like that, because while they can approve aftermarket suspension components & steering as it relates to the lift laws, alterations to other parts of the vehicle don't fall within their purvue.
I got a ticket for the same tube door - it was written when I wasn't in the truck, and left under my windshield wiper. The offense was 'unsafe vehicle - no driver door'. I also got a ticket for no inspection (sticker was expired).
I went to court with a bunch of pictures of the tube door installed, along with some printouts of the federal side-impact crash test standards giving dimensions of the test rig, where & how it impacts the vehicle, what the vehicle is expected to handle, etc. I showed all this to the prosecutor and they dropped the ticket as long as I paid the one for the expired inspection that day.
They did not drop the ticket based on the merits of my case - honestly I really had no case, I just went in there with a bunch of information to wade through in the hopes that it would confuse the process enough to make them drop it. Anyone who's ever been to traffic court in NJ knows that you can get things dropped/reduced for no reason other than expediency. However, I carried the ticket around in my glove box just in case, and the one other time I did get pulled over for the tube door, I showed it to the officer and said "I got this ticket in Aberdeen for the door, and it got dismissed in court." Still earned me a mudflap ticket though.
Not saying that everyone's experience will turn out this way...just giving another perspective.
- Location
- Southern Maryland
PA has the strictest laws
xjphil18
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Bergen County, NJ
i know in nj it is legal to run with your doors off but you need a side view mirror on the driver side and if the back windows have any tint then you need to have a mirror on the pass side as well. In PA i dont think you can run doorless if the vehicle doesnt have a "tub" im assuming like a wrangler where the body has the lip on the bottom.
snail
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- North Jersey
Hahah exactly, I've been through court a few times back in the day. As long as you "talk to the prosecutor," its basically guaranteed that the charges will be decreased.
Oo thanks for the heads-up about the mudflap, first time I've heard about someone getting the shaft for that here in jersey
chris_conant
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- New Jersey
Yea since the post talked to a friend who talked to a couple more nj cops both local and state. There feeling is that if you have the mirrors you will be alright. However said that depending on the cop, and there are a couple jerk cops in my area, that would get pulled over due to the doors being off, hassle you and will write a ticket for anything else that is wrong. I know my tires stick out to far, do not have mud flapps, exhaust is probably to loud, and headlights because they are superwhite with blueish color. Since driving have past cops, so far no problem.
- Location
- Southern Maryland
The best thing you can do is find the NJ Vehicle Code and read through it. All of this he-said/she-said shit isn't going to get you out of a ticket. Most of the time it's only a couple of dozen pages and the hardest part is actually finding it online.
- Location
- long branch, nj
rules containing vehicle codes are all in title 39 and start at 39-3-46 if anyone cares to look it up
I run tube doors on mine and have for the past year, ...even went thru a couple of sobriety checks with it...I have working latches and mirrors...anyone who starts that "doors must be removable from the factory" crap dont have much of a clue about cars in general...all doors are removable from the factory...as to the excuse that Wrangler doors simply "lift off" ??? uh, no, sorry, ..they dont...the bottom nut must still be removed. take your doors off, make sure you have at least the interior mirror, plus an exterior rearview mirror on the drivers' side (per the NJ MV code, which I do posess), and you can remain in compliance, period.
Pedro7
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Morristown, NJ
I never had a problem in jersey with going doorless and I know cops saw me. I never put mirrors on and never had fender flares either.
NJblackdeath4x4
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Fords NJ
chris_conant
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- New Jersey
Have passed many cops before, but got pulled over with the doors off the other day. I had 2 side mirrors on it. Basicly the cop felt it was a safety issue. Did not give me a ticket. Cop stated that he would ticket me and possibley tow jeep if he saw me doing it again unless I had an inside roll cage or tube doors on. He was cool about it said he owns a wrangler and they are built to have the doors off and are safe due to there cunstruction and roll bars. So IDK what the story is. He also said that needed both driverside and passenger mirrors.
