Converting a factory JK/JKU hardtop to modular

[harrisonrmatt]

Jeff, wanted to pick your brain on hinge pin alignment for those with the wider upper. My brain tells me that as long as the far right edge of the barn door (the right edge of the upper) is left of the centerline of the hinge pin, then the swing operation should be fine. I went back and tried some investigation into what you did for Tom's, but wanted to confirm I am on the right path. Otherwise, disregard the placement of the washer (I know it will need to be further from the body).

 

[jscherb]

Jeff, wanted to pick your brain on hinge pin alignment for those with the wider upper. My brain tells me that as long as the far right edge of the barn door (the right edge of the upper) is left of the centerline of the hinge pin, then the swing operation should be fine. I went back and tried some investigation into what you did for Tom's, but wanted to confirm I am on the right path. Otherwise, disregard the placement of the washer (I know it will need to be further from the body).

View attachment 764069View attachment 764071

That is correct - the right edge of the barn door needs to be to the left of the hinge pin.

I made these hinges for the wide barn door; they're basically the same as the HD hinges I designed for MORryde, but with the hinge pin moved to the right. In this next photo you can compare the hinge pin location of the stock hinge with the "wide swing" hinges.

For the earlier hardtops with the liftgate the same width as the tailgate, the stock hinges work fine for a barn door.

 

[harrisonrmatt]

That is correct - the right edge of the barn door needs to be to the left of the hinge pin.

Thanks Jeff. I ended up knocking these out yesterday. I still need to trim back the the body side bracket, clean everything up, and then get them powder coated. Swings like it came from the factory.

 

[jscherb]

Thanks Jeff. I ended up knocking these out yesterday. I still need to trim back the the body side bracket, clean everything up, and then get them powder coated. Swings like it came from the factory.

View attachment 764321

Very nice! And it looks like they'll accept MORryde accessories like the Rotopax and HiLift carriers .

 

[jscherb]

Seven years ago this month (!) I started this thread to show people how to convert a JK hardtop to modular. Hopefully the info in this thread has helped at least one person who wanted to modify their hardtop or do repairs to it.

After I finished the conversion, my son bought a 2dr JK with only a soft top so he used the modular top for the several years he owned the Jeep. When he moved to NYC for work he no longer needed the Jeep, so he returned the hardtop to me and sold the Jeep with the soft top (BTW he sold it to Carvana for several thousand more than he paid for it!).

Since he sold his Jeep the hardtop has been sitting in my basement taking up space. I don't have any plans to ever own a 2-dr JK and I'm running short on space, so I'm thinking maybe I should part with the hardtop.

Is anyone is interested in having a modular hardtop for a 2-dr JK?

 

[wrbrd]

Jeff if no one takes the top I will. But shipping would have to be the way I would have to do it considering I am in North Alabama. Modular is what I’m looking for. Message me if you’re interested in doing something with it I sure would appreciate it greatly. James


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[jscherb]

Jeff if no one takes the top I will. But shipping would have to be the way I would have to do it considering I am in North Alabama. Modular is what I’m looking for. Message me if you’re interested in doing something with it I sure would appreciate it greatly. James


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I don't know how much it would cost to crate and ship - even though it's modular, the pieces are still a big thing to ship. Probably would be expensive.

I haven't listed the top locally yet, I'll get to that soon. Really would be easiest if someone could just come by and pick it up.

 

[wrbrd]

You give me the freight cost including insurance and I’ll pay it within reason . I am into it now because of a Gr8tops deal on a part’s site scam and I am trying to get my money back from so I will pay you for the cost.


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[jscherb]

You give me the freight cost including insurance and I’ll pay it within reason . I am into it now because of a Gr8tops deal on a part’s site scam and I am trying to get my money back from so I will pay you for the cost.


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I'm not willing to go through the effort of crating/preparing the hardtop for shipment, sorry. I will be offering it locally and if nobody wants to come pick it up, it'll be disposed of. I need the space. I also have a JKU hardtop (stock, not modified) that I'll be offering locally and disposing of if nobody wants it.

 

[jscherb]

There being no interest here, I posted the 2dr modular hardtop on the local Facebook marketplace today for $350. Includes the top with Freedom panels, plus an extra bolt-on skylight roof panel and an extra side panel.

I don't need this and I don't want to move it to our new house in our upcoming move so I've priced it to go.

 

[wrbrd]

$500 shipped to me in Alabama.


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[jscherb]

$500 shipped to me in Alabama.


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It's too much time, trouble and cost to pack for shipping. Pick up only, sorry.

 

[jscherb]

Hardtop is sold. Who would have thought you could fit a Wrangler hardtop inside a Grand Cherokee?

 

[Robbertseboerbok]

Factory hardtops are awkward - being one piece (ignoring the freedom panels for the moment) they're big, bulky and very hard for one person to lift off or install safely or easily. They can also be very stuffy inside - the side windows are bonded in place and don't open. I think there's a better way - going modular.

I've been designing and building modular Jeep hardtops for the past 6 years. It all started back in 2010 with my LJ "Safari Cab" hardtop project. The modular design of the LJ Safari has worked out extremely well over the years - being assembled from multiple smaller parts, it's easier for one person to install, remove and store than a traditional hardtop, and the modular design has also allowed a range of configurations, including swapping the hard sides/glass windows for soft sides that roll up.

Recently a company asked me to design a slider window retrofit kit for them to market for the JK, the idea is to replace the factory bonded-on side windows of the JK hardtop with opening windows. I finished up that project for the JKU and the next step was to do the JK 2dr version. To do that I needed a 2dr hardtop to work with, so I picked up a 2dr hardtop shell I found on Craigslist.

I decided that shell would also make a good candidate for an idea I've had for a long time, which is to convert a factory hardtop to modular. Converting it to modular would also make my window retrofit project easier because I could work on the hardtop side panel on my workbench rather than having to always work on the one-piece hardtop. So I cut the hardtop into pieces:

I came up with a design and DIY-process for converting factory JK/JKU hardtops to modular assembly, and the purpose of this thread is to share that process in case anyone wants to convert their hardtop.

This is awesome thanks for sharing!! I am just curious, what software do you use for your design. I'm thinking off building something for the 2 door JL. Thanks Gerrie

 

[jscherb]

This is awesome thanks for sharing!! I am just curious, what software do you use for your design. I'm thinking off building something for the 2 door JL. Thanks Gerrie

I've been using Microsoft Visio for my drawings for many years. Most people think of it as a business graphics program, but it's far more capable than that. I do all of my design work with it, here are a few examples:

When I was building my LJ-based "Retro Wrangler" pickup, I did all the dimensioning and frame modification design with Visio:

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And here's something much simpler, this is part of an ammo can/battery tray design that goes inside over the rear inner fenders of an LJ, I carry and ammo can on in one on the passenger side and my auxiliary/kitchen battery in one on the driver's side:

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I do lots of concept images using a combination of Visio and Paint Shop Pro, this image was one of the first ones I did when designing the Safari Cab hardtop:

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Funny thing about the image above, back when I did it I was involved in some things with Microsoft and I shared the image with them. They couldn't believe it was done in Visio and asked me to serve on their Visio Customer Advisory Council, which I did for a couple of years.

A few other concepts - this TJ photo was sent to me by someone who was considering buying a TJ Safari Cab from Gr8Tops, in the original image the TJ had a soft top. I replaced the soft top with a Visio-drawn Safari Cab...

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In Visio you can draw shapes using lines and other basic elements like all other drawing programs, but a nice feature of the program is the ability to create palettes of shapes that you can drag and drop onto your drawing. In this screen shot, a palette of Jeep and Safari Cab parts is at left, those shapes can be dragged/dropped onto the drawing to quickly create a drawing of any TJ/YJ/CJ with any Safari Cab configuration. In this image I'm in the process of dragging a half door from the palette to the drawing (the mouse pointer didn't show up in the screen shot but it's over the half door):

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And finally, I've done dozens of illustrations for magazines and since I generally get paid for those illustrations I guess that makes me a semi-professional illustrator. Here's an example, this drawing of locomotives was for a railroad magazine; they're narrow gauge locomotives on the Welsh Highland Railway in Wales:



I suppose one of these days I'll give up Visio for a 3d CAD program, but Visio is so capable I hesitate to give it up.