mrw

Impressive Jeff. I did not see any flex at all in the rack. Well done.

Update on the JK8 Top: I have all the structrual work done so it is all in one piece now. I ended up sectioning pieces from the 4 door top to create the front window opening. In this pic the pieces are epoxied together but this past weekend I did all the fiberglass work on the interior. My work was not as neat as yours but I plan on making insulated panels that will cover it up. Next weekend I will start on the cosmetic work on the exterior and then on to the windows. I am going to try polycarbonate so I can match the curve of the rear glass. If I am not satisfied or it scratches too easy I will have some flat safety glass cut.

jscherb

I received an early production test slider window retrofit kit today; this one is for late model JKU factory hardtops.

A window just out of the box:



The windows come with screens; these can be removed easily if they're not wanted.



The fit of the windows is great and the overall quality is excellent. There are one or two very minor tweaks I'll ask the window company for before approving these for full production, but the changes are very minor and won't delay the startup of production.

In this next photo the slider is inserted into the retrofit kit mounting ring, which fills the window opening in the hardtop and provides a flat mounting surface for the window.



Tomorrow I'll do an install in one of my test hardtop panels, photos to come.

Four Low

Beautiful ! Is the company going to produce sliders for the 2dr hard top ?
K9s want to know !

jscherb

Assuming that the kit for the late model JKU sells reasonably well, the company tells me they plan to release a kit for the late model 2dr next. I've already done most of the work to get the 2dr kit ready to turn over to production.

Four Low

Great, I'll look forward to that !

jscherb

I was asked if the slider windows are tinted. Yes, they're a match for the factory tint.

d. gage

Very cool option, that would make getting fresh air in the cabin a breeze for camping. Hahaha

jscherb

The slider and retrofit kit installed in a test hardtop panel.





A factory window for comparison:

jscherb

A few weeks ago I posted a concept drawing of a design for true flat fenders for the JK:



Since it's so unseasonably warm today and I can ready the garage for fiberglass work with very minimal heating, I started work on the flat fenders today.

The first step is to build master fenders from which molds will be made. Once the molds are done, fenders can be made in those molds.

The master fenders are parts that are an exact replica of the end product, but with a few adjustments so molds can be made from them. Being an exact replica, the master parts need to bolt up to the Jeep just as the final fenders will, so I'm starting by making the mounting flanges. I'm using a pair of factory fenders as the molds for the flanges, in this photo I've masked off the parts of the fenders that won't be part of the flanges and I'm in the process of prepping the fenders with mold release.



Next I'll shoot gelcoat and then lay up fiberglass to form the flanges. When it's cured I'll have perfectly-shaped flanges which will become part of the master flat fenders.

The tape also shows what the outline of the finished flat fenders will be.

I'll do the fiberglass today and it will be cured by tomorrow morning, so photos of the finished flanges then.

ReconJeep

Can I suggest you make a +2" version. The vast majority of fenders out there don't cover the wheels properly with aftermarket wheels. In my case I finally found one manufacturer that did so on request. Took a while to get them but was worth it. Especially in winter months. The ones I got were steel and quite heavy. I would much rather something like yours that would not add so much weight to the truck.

"Ex Umbris Venimus"