TYphoon

Just thought I would share. I made this writeup today on how to go doorless.

This is on a pre 97 XJ. They changed the hinges in 98 so that may be slightly different

Anyways. Tools you will need
Grinder
Hammer
Punch
Torx Bit (forget what size)
Vice Grips
Sharpie
Drill+Drillbit (not needed but I prefer it)
Patience (most important tool in this project)

Ok, first you start off with taking your door off. Easy right? WRONG. Atleast for me. My ratchet+torx bit did not fit in the door jamb enough to get the bolts out. So I had to crack them with a pair of vice grips, then clamp on the torx socket and take them out like that. This takes the most time IMO. Oh, and before you unbolt it, outline the thing behind the bolts so you know how it was lined up. It will save you tons of time later

Ok now that your door is unbolted (i am working with the passenger side) and you are looking at your hinge, get your grinder and make a cut like so.

NOTICE. On the passenger side the pin is pressed in from the bottom. We will talk about that later


Now that it is cut, you want to take your punch and punch the pin out like so

I find it MUCH easier to punch it out if you drill a little dimple for your punch to sit in because its not exactly a 90 degree angle you are punching at


Okay now you have your hinge off. You have the main part of the hinge with the 3 bolt holes and the top part that you didnt cut, and you have what you cut off. Take the "cut off" piece to the vise and hammer the pin out.


It will slide out the top with some persuading


Now, take your pin and punch it into the top of the other piece of hinge that you have

Now, most people say it needs to be tack welded, but mine pretty much pressed back in and is VERY tight. I am still gunna hit it with a tack or 2 but I am 99% positive you can get away with it because it doesnt move at all.

Now, you have your pin pressed in from the top (like on the drivers side) and you are ready to cut the pin.

CUT THE TOP ONE SHORTER A BIT THAN THE BOTTOM. I didnt do this on my drivers side and MAN it makes life 100x easier. My door was back on before i even looked to line it up it just fell on. It was awesome.

Here is a picture of the cut pin. You will be able to see where to cut. You are basically cutting it flush with where the hinge started to curve out (where you cut off to get it off). you will see



Then take a file or grinder and round it off.

Next, take the piece behind the bolts and cut this little chunk out. It kinda gets in the way (atleast it did for my messed up drivers door...damn tree...so i just did it to this side too). You are taking it out of the bottom of the piece closest to the inside of the jeep (you will also see when you do it)



Another few things to note on.
I drilled out the weird mesh sleeve inside my hinge pin holes just because it got in the way. it didnt make any slop either


Also, dont forget that once you disconnect the speaker wire (green for me...and i have no power windows or locks) that it is still held in there with this rubber grommet. I didnt realize this the first time and i ripped the wires outta my speaker when i tried walking away with my door :roll:

Cut her off


Thats pretty much it! It takes some finnageling but its totally worth it in the end. They will come on and off in no time. And as for the drivers side...its the same thing but you dont need to do anything with the pin since it is already pressed in from the top. Easy right?

Enjoy

Deathwagon

Thanks! Looks great! I coulda used this write up two days ago, when I was having the same torx/ratchet fitment issues. So after I destroyed my torx bit I too whipped out my vice grips. Worked great! I didn't have the pin coming in from the bottom on mine though. ('87)

mwdouglas

very nice write up simple but informative i like it

88grayxj

very good right up lots of pics. and information good job.

TYphoon

Started my half doors today. Just need some sheet metal, some fab and welding

mwdouglas

looking good so far

TYphoon

Thank you

mwdouglas

keep us updated im wanting to do the samething i have a chance to get doors to make half doors out of but just lost my job and dont have the money right now to purchase them

TYphoon

I got mine for free

And I took a bunch more pics but dont have them yet. I'll make a writeup

mwdouglas

thats cool

EUGENE the JEEP

looks good ,but mine has a barrel pin it's alot smaller. any ideas on that please let me know if it's the same ?

mwdouglas

they should be the same i have a 90 and my hinges look exactly like his

EUGENE the JEEP

no my pin is a barrel pin .hold on i will take a pic of them ok

EUGENE the JEEP

here's the barrel pin . now wiil that be strong enough for that or do i need to replace it ?

McNamara

Im starting mine out of actual doors this weekend, last weekend i attempted to weld up some tube half doors but they just dont look right, so gonna pick up a set of doors from the junk yard and get to work