My 96 Jeep and I had a rough day HEEEELP!!!!

Long story short. I was chauffer for my Fiancee' and family for Black Friday this AM. Any ways I had a deer run into the left rear quarter panel. A guy bump and break my passenger mirror and I closed my Drivers seat belt into the latch mechanism strike bolt area. The seat belt is seriously jammed in there. I pulled the interior trim and tried moving the rods with no luck. I tried a big freaking bar to pry it open while pushing the button. I tried kicking it open with my daughter pulling the handle. I tried shouldering the door.(I'm not a small guy,260lbs)It is not fully closed yet I cannot figure out what else to try. I plan on getting a t-case for it Sunday and am not wanting to do much to a vehicle that the door will not work. I don't know what else to do. I can see the strike bolt and the 3 torx for the latch mechanism. I was thinking of pulling the fender and pulling the hinges but remembered there is a bolt that is to be removed with the door off.

Any help would be greatly appreciatted. Don't want the inside getting full of snow.

Someone has to have an idea on how to get the door open. Please at at wits end and getting ready to scrap this thing too my other Jeep.

The only thing I can think of is heat.

The belt has bound up the latch mech and unless you can get rid of the belt, you're kinda screwed.

I had a rear latch bind up a couple of winters ago, and it did not free up come spring. I spent 4 hours and had to carve a hole in the door so I could destroy the latch assembly and open the door.

The only other limited Idea I can think of is to melt the belt. You said the door was ajar... I duno, sounds like it would ruin more than if you cut a hole in the door and destroyed the latch assembly.

Brilliant idea putting the screws on the door frame side and using plastic in the latch assembly.

Thanks for the idea Zuki-Ron. I'll try that tommorrow PM.

Sounds like you did a number to your door.

The only other thing I can think of, is to try to get to the hinges through your front fender. I'm not sure if you can reach it by taking off the plastic shield or even if you can take off your fender without opening the door.

If you can remove the hinges, it might be enough to free it.

E

Thanks for the replies
Bad part is I just finished painting it this past summer. I need to repair it without damaging the door or the woman wants me to sell it and get her a Toyota Highlander. Trying to avoid the oh so fun car payment and still give her a reliable mid-size SUV. She now doubts the darn things reliability. :gonnablow

You need a body guy to rescue your door. They know all the tricks, and could probably free it rather easily. I was brainstorming when you first posted, but I have never been deep enough into an XJ door yet to offer any good suggestion except that a guy who specializes in bodywork might be able to do it rather easily and inexpensively. I would call around and try to get a little sympathy from a local guy who might be able to help you without raping your wallet... We all know the guys who want you to drop it off and "we'll see how long it takes my guy to fix the mess" Thats not the guy you want. Try to find a guy who will be more like "That doesn't sound too bad... you're not the first person who has gotten his door jammed."

GOOD LUCK!

Something you can try.
Unbolt the driver's seat and pull it out the back.
Remove the inner door panel.
See if you can open the door by apply extra force to the door latch mechanism by reaching into the interior of the door.

I've been looking at this and have tried a number of things. I had my Fiancee' glance at it and she noticed the door unlock mechanism will not go all the way back to the unlock position. I'll look at it when A. (It gets a few degrees warmer then 16 for a high) or B.( I get off my fat arss and finish hooking up my garage wood burner). Saturday looks like the day. Thank God this is not my DD yet.

The only thing I can think of is unbolt or drill out the bolts of the latch from inside the door, or drill out the hinge bolts... if you can do either

Ok the door is open. I ended up making my own wrench to back out the stikebolt some and then using the sawzall to cut it. Now I need a new strike bolt and door latch for the drivers door.

Glad to hear you finally got it open... That was the hard part!

New latch and strike bolt go in today. Hopefully the transfercase too.