2000XJOffRoad

I just bought a 2000 Jeep Cherokee, I had one prior to it( a 97 XJ) loved it to death and made the mistake of trading it for a Camaro... bad mistake. I am wanting to do something different to this one tho.

I want to see if anybody has ever swapped the XJ hinges with a Wrangler hinge so that it is on the exterior of the door. I have been doing some thinking and the 2005 model, not sure what years that all includes, had the bottom hinges on the out side of the door, meaning the one that is bolted to the outside of the door and the out side fender. The newer body style had the hinges on the out side on the door but tucked in and mounted to the inside of the frame work instead of mounting on the fender.

I figure that if I got two of the bottom hinges off a 2005 Wrangler or earlier model it would bolt on pretty nicely, of course I would either have to weld the hinge on or weld a plate on the back of the door and the fender it would be strong enough. Also I noticed that the Wrangler doors are straight where the hinges are and the Cherokee's are a little rounded, not much, but I know that will play a huge factor in it. my goal is not to be able to take the doors of and on easily but that will be one of the perks of doing so, I just want to be different!

Has anybody seen or heard of some crazy XJ lover modifying the hinged before? I tried to search the internet but either nobody has tried it because it simple will not work or I am searching under the wrong thing. If somebody would help me out with this i would appreciate it!

d50

thats funny there was a thread exactly like this a few days ago. most people said it would look ugly but if you wanted to do it you would have the reinforce both the door and fender where your going to mount the hinge. they didnt just slap those on a wrangler so you cant just slap them on a cherokee. well you could but your door would proably fall off.

Cherokee9t8

Not to mention a Cherokee door really isn't near as light as a TJ's! I think I lifted mine on/off atleast a hundred times this summer.. lol

2000XJOffRoad

That is why I was thinking about having to weld a plate on the back side of the door and fender.

Cherokee9t8

It's just after you get into welding and doing that, you'll have to do something about paint on those panels as the heat will probably affect it through the metal. I'm definitely sure it can be done, just may not be the easiest option out there, which may be more reason to do it.

2000XJOffRoad

Ya I did not think about it jacking up the paint when you weld it. Would there be a different route to go? I just am looking for something that's going to get people to think " wow that's cool never seen anything like that before". Thanks for all the responses so far!