? for those with removeable doors

[FatXJ]

I took my doors off a couple days ago and went wheeling today. The problem is that it takes forever to unbolt the hinges from the door and then to reattach looks like it will be a hassle too.

So I was thinking I could buy pins to put in the hinges so I could pull them off faster, or I also thought about cutting the lower plate off the hinge and welding a bolt to the upper plate so that i could drop the door on the hinge and then put a nut on it to hold it in place.

What did you all do? Also how the heck did you get the roll pin out of the hinge? I have tried everything but a press to get them out and have accomplished nothing.

[CheapXJ]

I haven't done it yet, But i've seen PLENTY of people cut the lower eye off of the door side of the hinge. so all you have to do is open the door and lift up.

unless you're wheelin' on the moon, there's no need to spin a nut on the bottom to hold it on.

I'm probably just going to cut my roll pin through the separations of the hinge and then drill it out of the top of the door.

[Static-XJ]

I cut the lower part of my hinge, so the doors just lift off. On my XJ the drivers side pins were pressed in from the top and the pass side fromt he bottom. So I trimmed down the drivers side and kept them, used bolts fro the pass side. If you're going to cut the hinge, the easiest way to do it would be to unbolt the doors again (since you already did that once, the doors proabably aren't perfectly aligned), and cut the lower part of the hinge. Then you can seperate the hinge and trim all the excess off the pin. Bolt the hinges to the dorrs and put the doors back on. It's easier adjusting the door position by removing it to position the hinge, at least I think it is. My drivers side hinge pin and the bolts for the pass side aren't even long enough to get a nut on. Any longer and I couldn't get the doors on and off. If the hinge pin or bolt is too long then when you try to lift the door off it will hit the fender or a-pillar (can't remember which off the top of my head), and the door won't come off or go back on.

[DurangoXJ]

We actually have a write up on this subject right here on the NAXJA site. It is in our Tech Repository section

http://www.naxja.org/techArticles.html

It is called Doorless Writeup
By Jay "Trail Blazer" Nikola

Pretty Good Article about what he did.

Happy Wheelin
DurangoXJ
NAXJA Memeber #432

[forgiven]

I slotted the lower front hinges so I can leave the pin in place on the door. In the top hinge, I use a quick release pin. For the rears I cut off the lower ear of each/door side, because full height pins can not pass through the hinges because of door sheetmetal.
Welding a pin in the lower ear of each hinge is a good idea. I wanted to modify the front hinges as little as possible, I had little choice with the rears. I can rtemove all four doors in about a minute. Putting them on takes a few minutes more, thank God I don't have pw's and dl's, only speakers.
Now it's time to fab some tube doors!

[Economos]

Originally posted by CheapXJ
I haven't done it yet, But i've seen PLENTY of people cut the lower eye off of the door side of the hinge. so all you have to do is open the door and lift up.


I urge you to do it this way; I did mine a long time ago when not many had done it before, so I literally unbolted everything and had to get it all to line back up - which was next to impossible, so my doors don't sit like they use to. Cut the lower part of the door side hinge off and make them lift-able. And please don't cut and splice the wires in the doors; if you remove the "kick panels under the dash by your feet, you'll notice the wires leading in from the doors. Here, they plug into another harnass so all you need to do is unplug them from the harnass and feed them back through the pillars.

I've got a mess on my hands with the wiring. I think I'm gonna hafta call Rossor Jeep and order 2 new door-to-pillar harnasses and ditch the ones I cut up.:anon:

[gearwhine]

Listen to economos....I've had mine done for about a year. Cut the bottom part of the hinge off just as he said. I then found all those removable harness's under the kick panel. You do not need to cut ANY wires, even speakers wires, however I relocated mine into the kick panel anyway.

[FatXJ]

thanks for the info

I don't have power locks or windows so the wiring wasn't an issue especially since I knew the speaker connector was there. I removed most of the plastic trim so access to wires is easy.

I guess I will be cutting the hinges off as soon as I can get the weather to cooperate, it's 70 today and by wednesday they say mid 30's and snow :mad:

I will have to get the roll pins out because I have one broken already and they aren't it great shape so a solid pin looks to be my answer, I can then put a cotter pin in it to hold it in place for those moments of airtime.

[Static-XJ]

I only had speakers in the doors. What I did was relocate them to the liftgate. They screwer right in and my XJ had the connectors for speakers there anyways. This way I don't have to deal with any wires int he doors, and can listen to my stereo with the doors off (only have two speakers, good enough).

For the door ajar buzzer there is a connector behind the kick panels that feeds four wires into the buzzer switch in the door jamb. Just disco the connector to disable the buzzer. It will disable the door ajar buzzer, dome light, and headlight buzzer. You can reconnect it with the doors on and everything works fine.

[Hunter-Lynchburg,Va]

so what did you guys use to cut the bottom part of the hinge off with?

Hunter

[Bender]

I used an angle grinder to take the lower portion of the hing off ... with the door off of course :D.

As for the pins, only one punched out in my case so I had to use a hacksaw blade by hand to chop the others into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces punched out easily.


You might want to consider re-locating your speakers down to the kickpanels.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/64838123/64838216wDiqpU

Having no music all summer long can really be terrible... especially if you're a bad singer like myself

[gearwhine]

air powered cutting wheel did it very quickly, it's soft metal. Oh imporant note...wash the jeep off after you cut. It's a lot of metal shavings, that I neglected to wash off, and the next rain showed rust specks all over my hood. It's not noticable until you get up close, but you will notice it all the time and hate yourself for it. A compounding took some out, but not all. :)

[FatXJ]

Speakers, I don't need no stinking speakers.

I have 6x9's in the rear hatch so it works enough even though I can hardly hear them over the exhaust noise and wind rushing by. I don't listen to music while wheeling anyway unless I'm sitting and watching the action.

[JeepFreak21]

Originally posted by FatXJ
I took my doors off a couple days ago and went wheeling today. The problem is that it takes forever to unbolt the hinges from the door and then to reattach looks like it will be a hassle too.

So I was thinking I could buy pins to put in the hinges so I could pull them off faster, or I also thought about cutting the lower plate off the hinge and welding a bolt to the upper plate so that i could drop the door on the hinge and then put a nut on it to hold it in place.

What did you all do? Also how the heck did you get the roll pin out of the hinge? I have tried everything but a press to get them out and have accomplished nothing.

I have a '95 and mine wasn't a roll pin... it was a steel pin that was pressed into the hinge. I took a thin cutting wheel on an air saw and cut the pin in between the hinges (after removing the door to gain access). Once I cut the top and bottom the 2 sides of the hinge seperated. The bottom of the pin came out fairly easy, but the top was a real PITA! I had to get it red hot with a torch and then pound it out with the BFH (Make sure it doesn't land in your shoe when it finally comes out ;)). After that, I put the 2 sides back together w/ a 1/4" bolt and put the door back on. Now I can take my door off just by removing the bolt.

[Casper]

I just read the post on door removal, and it sounds and looks great. My question is, under XJ rules and regulations with NAXJA, is the stock seat belts acceptable with door removal? It would appear that installing new seat belts with a criss-cross design (sorry I do not know the name of the better performance belts), would be a good idea, even if they are not required. I know that this modification is becoming more and more popular, but I would like to know what the safety requirements are for this design, so that when I show up at Moab this year I wont be unprepared....
Thank you,

Casper

[bbaker80]

Are you refering to 5 point harnesses? I've been considering them when I replace my seats,but does anyone know if you would you be able to run just the lap belts? For most of the stuff I do, there is no need to be fully strapped in, and I would think it would be quicker to throw on a lap belt running from one section to another than to put on a full harness. Also, witout a roll cage, is it safe to install something like that? With a standard lap/shoulder belt, you can still lean down and in to protect yourself if the roof gives way, where with the 5 point you're pretty much SOL.

[FlxnXJ]

I cut mine off with a sawzaw and threw them away :D

[ashmanjeepxj]

Originally posted by DurangoXJ
We actually have a write up on this subject right here on the NAXJA site. It is in our Tech Repository section

http://www.naxja.org/techArticles.html

It is called Doorless Writeup
By Jay "Trail Blazer" Nikola

Pretty Good Article about what he did.

Happy Wheelin
DurangoXJ
NAXJA Memeber #432

Why are these tech articles limited to NAXJA Members?!:mad:

[GSequoia]

Gots to have some reason to get people to be a member. There's a wealth of free information on NAXJA, it only makes sense that we keep some of it for members only.

[ashmanjeepxj]

Originally posted by Bender

You might want to consider re-locating your speakers down to the kickpanels.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/64838123/64838216wDiqpU


Or make some of these pods...

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=showMyPhoto&albumID=67743019&photoID=67749711&security=KOTvbv

[gearwhine]

Hey ashman...I bought some q-logic pods to relocate my speaker to the kick panel, but they are too big to be used with a manual tranmission (gets in the way of the pedal). I have them and am looking to sell them...they are gray, with JL speakers in them. Let me know if you're interested. You can see them at sounddomain.com and jsut search for them. I can also send you pics of my own. _nicko_

[Andrew T]

Can someone show me a pic of their hinge that shows where they cut and put the pin? It's hard to visualize. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but never got around to it. A pic of both methods (lift off and unbolt) would be aweosome. Thanks in advance.

Andrew

[ashmanjeepxj]

Originally posted by gearwhine
Hey ashman...I bought some q-logic pods to relocate my speaker to the kick panel, but they are too big to be used with a manual tranmission (gets in the way of the pedal). I have them and am looking to sell them...they are gray, with JL speakers in them. Let me know if you're interested. You can see them at sounddomain.com and jsut search for them. I can also send you pics of my own. _nicko_

I dont need them, The ones I made work..

I have a 5sp also and have a 6in, 4in, and tweeter in my pods, there even seprate chambers for the 4in and teh 6in speakers.

I dotn have a good pic of the drivers side, but If you wanted to you codul cut adn add fiberglass tothe ones you have.. unless there plastic...I thing the Q-logics are plastic?

Toss them on ebay...

Heres another pic during the fiberglass stage, but again you cant see the drivers side one verry well.

I guess if you had like a 13.5in shoe even my pods wouldent work?!:D

[andyr354]

BTT

Me to!:)

[Uglygreenxj]

I just modified my doors about two weeks ago. I have a 93 XJ. Before getting out the tools, I took some model paint and painted all the way around my door hinges and shims. Once the paint was dry, I unbolted and removed the doors. Then I used a Dremel tool with a small cutting disc and cut off the lower ear of the hinge. I was then able to knock down and off the lower ear and then pull the hinge up and out leaving the entire pin untouched. At that point I simply cleaned up my Dremel cut , painted the bare metal, and rounded the end of the hinge pin so it would center in the hole and slide in easier. On the passenger side the pin is driven in up from the bottom so after you cut the lower ear you will lift the hinge up and off and then pull the lower ear (with the pin in it) down and out. Then I used a grinder and a very thin cutting wheel and cut the ear almost to the pin on both sides and broke the ear in half leaving the pin untouched. Then simply drive the pin into the hinge from the top (matching the driver side). Then I reinstalled the hinges on the doors using the model paint as a guide to align them (the doors are aligned like I never touched them)

[ashmanjeepxj]

Originally posted by David Tucker
I just modified my doors about two weeks ago.

David Tucker... your name sounds familiar?

[utahxjer]

anyone got any pics of theirs, during cutting or finished?

[andyr354]

I have been hashing this mod over some more since the weather is finally starting to warm up out here. I hate to cut the hinges up and I am thinking of taking the pins out and replaceing them with a bolt of the right size, ground a little maybe to fit..... dunno, will have to see what I find. Has been raining so much though I need the doors to stay dry!

[utahxjer]

well, it's hotter than heck here this week, and I wanna do this right for the weekend! So anyone got any pics?

[Static-XJ]

Here's a pic:
http://pics.montypics.com/staticxj/2003-05-21/1053580527_doorjamb2.jpg

Don't pay attention to the greenish arrow. The red arrow is the cut hinge (not the greates pic, I know). The red circle is a bolt I use (don't use a nut on the bottom anymore) to keep the door catch working. To deactivate the buzzer with the doors off, pull the kick panlel off then look for the wires going into the switch. Trace it back to a connector. Unplug it and the buzzer goes off. I hang mine out over the kickpanel for easy access, they do not get in the way, even when working the clutch.

[Static-XJ]

Oh and you have to trim the hinge pin down. If it's too long the doors won't come off. On mine the pins were pressed in from the top on the drivers side, the from the bottom on the pass side. I had to use bolts on the pass side.

[utahxjer]

thanks for the help! I'll be tackling this in about an hr!

[MistWolf]

Cut bottom of hinges, trim forward edge of bucket, use stock pins, leave upper a little longer than the bottom. Don't need nuts or bolts or anything to hold modified doors in place- just close them before driving off. That's all I got time for right now. I've had removable doors for a couple years now and that's how we done it

[XJ4PINOY]

How the hek are you guys able to get to the bolt heads to remove the hinges???:confused: I tried to do mine over the weekend and couldn't get to the rear bolts to remove em.

[MistWolf]

By being more stubborn and determined to get the bolts out than the bolts were to stay in

Try a universal? I think I may have also resorted to using Vise Grips onthe head in a couple of places

[Static-XJ]

I had to break out the visegrips when I did mine.

[Beezil]

Why are these tech articles limited to Members?!

to piss of freeloaders!!!

:D

come awn man!

think seriously about being a member!

ashman, have you ever attended a Naxja event? I swear, there's no finer, better organized and fun-as-hell jeep event you can attend.....and that's just ONE of the benefits of membership.

and then you have the excellent tech articles!

[RyanSullivan]

I've tryed to become a member but I'm not old enough :confused: :(

[mcraindog]

anyone who has just unbolted the hinges...what did you use that was small enough to get in there?

[CanMan]

anyone who has just unbolted the hinges...what did you use that was small enough to get in there?

T40 torx bit, on a ratcheting wrench.

[mcraindog]

yea i got it but now i can't get it to fit in the door jam...any help?

[rag]

http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/OilAdaptor%20003.jpg

a set like that will do the trick.

source: http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoOilAdaptorOrings.htm

[mcraindog]

wow yes a set of those would definatly do the trick but finding that is the problem...i have searched for some L shaped ones like alan wrenches but can't find those either

[rag]

wow yes a set of those would definatly do the trick but finding that is the problem...i have searched for some L shaped ones like alan wrenches but can't find those either

http://www.wihatools.com/images/sockets/761anglpx200.jpg
notice the hex shaped shaft this torx bit has

http://www.tooled-up.com/artwork/ProdImage/STA489907.jpg
find a ratcheting wrench that matches the size of the torx bit shaft.

then just push on the chrome part so the bit doesnt come out and ratchet the wrench

it is a good idea to own a decent set of torx bits and ratcheting wrenches if you own an xj.

cheers:viking: