OR-FAB Front Rock Door Kit Installation
Thread Starter
JK Freak
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 702
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From: Blodgett, OR
OR-FAB Front Rock Door Kit Installation
I bought my first Jeep, a JK Unlimited X, in May 2008 and found the JK-Forum shortly thereafter.
While still very much a newbie, I won a set of OR-FAB Front Rock Doors on a JK-Forum drawing.
At the time, I didn't have a well formed modification plan and Rock Doors weren't anywhere on the
list. My only Mod to date was a donated Sahara front bumper with factory fogs and tow hooks.
But I thought, "What the heck, they're FREE", so I went for it. OR-FAB got in touch with me
right away and a few days later the kit arrived. Everything was well packed and the box was filled
with some kind of expanded foam that sets up fairly solid so nothing gets bumped or shifts around
during shipping. I practically had to destroy the cardboard shipping box to get everything out.
The instructions were six pages long and generally addressed every OR-FAB Rock Door kit from
1980 CJs to YJs, TJs and JKs. I had to jump around quite a bit just to be sure I was looking at the
specific JK instructions. There were plenty of photos, but they are relatively small and the
contrast varies greatly, making some things hard for me to make out. The first task was to
remove the stock doors. I used a Torx 50 driver to remove the nut from the bottom of each of
the four front door hinges. As a side note, I have never reinstalled them when I put the stock
doors back on as the doors seem secure enough when closed and don't come off easily unless
the door is about halfway open.
Before the stock doors can be lifted off, they have to be opened, the fabric restraint has to be
unhooked from the clip on the body and wiring harness disconnected. I had to follow the
harness up under the dash with my hand and finally figured out that there is a red slide lock that
has to be pushed to one side before the harness unplugs. The fabric restraint and door wiring
harness stay with the stock door. I just stuffed them in the storage pocket on the door so they
wouldn't get snagged on something.
The doors can then be opened about half way and carefully lifted off. I found they were easier
to handle if the window was down, so do this before you unplug the wiring harness if you have
power windows!
By the way, be sure to at least reattach the restraint when you remove your rock doors to
reinstall your stock doors or there will be nothing to prevent your stock door from opening right
to the point where the mirror outside the door embeds itself into your JKs body!
The instructions indicate that you are supposed to install two kit hinges onto the driver's tube
door with 5/16"x1" kit bolts. The bolts should be snug, but not tight to allow for later adjustment.
Those of you not in the UK will notice that I installed the passenger door first because I couldn't
tell the difference just looking at them. The hinges all seem to be the same and must be
symmetrical because it didn't seem to matter which side I put them on.
The next step is to insert two end caps per door into the open tubing on the end of the door
opposite the hinges.
If I had it to do over again, I would do this before installing the hinges because quite a bit of force
is involved in inserting the caps and I ended up using my feet to keep the hinges from digging
into the floor while I tapped the caps into the open tube ends using a soft faced mallet. Even
then they came out kind of distorted, although I have never really noticed this when the doors are
being used.
The tube doors can then be attached to the JK using supplied bolts, nuts and nylon washers on
top of the factory hinge and rock door hinge, just under the bolt head. There is a nyloc nut in the
kit for the bottom of the hinge assembly, so there is no need to over tighten the hinge bolt, This
allows the rock doors to operate smoothly.
The hinges can now be adjusted for alignment by installing the kit latch and checking it's position
relative to the door jamb striker.
When it all seems to fit, open and close the rock door to ensure everything is working smoothly
before tightening the hinge bolts. I have the latch removed for this picture to better show the
alignment with the striker on the door jamb.
OR-FAB supplies some weather stripping and tube padding in the kit. The weather stripping is
the key to preventing the doors from rattling and making you CRAZY
. So far, it has
worked well for me with nary a rattle after hundreds of miles use on and off the trail. I installed
the padding with the notch out as shown in the picture below.
The final step is to install the OR-FAB cover with inside pocket over the tube padding. It attaches
using a strong strip of velcro. The first door took me about an hour to install by myself and the
second a mere 20 minutes. I constantly get complemented about the rock doors everywhere I
take the JK.
Finally, be sure to do something about the rear view mirror situation. I bought a Mopar accessory
mirror designed for operating without any door and it works for me. There are numerous other
solutions for rear view mirrors posted on this forum and most are more ccst effective than the
Mopar mirror that I choose, but, what the heck, the doors were free.
Thank you OR-FAB and JK-Forum. If I hadn't won these doors, I would have ended up missing
out on a lot. Highly Recommended and David at Northridge 4x4, a JK-Forum sponsor, will fix
you up with a set so reasonably priced and ship them for free so you can be a winner too!
-meljr
While still very much a newbie, I won a set of OR-FAB Front Rock Doors on a JK-Forum drawing.
At the time, I didn't have a well formed modification plan and Rock Doors weren't anywhere on the
list. My only Mod to date was a donated Sahara front bumper with factory fogs and tow hooks.
But I thought, "What the heck, they're FREE", so I went for it. OR-FAB got in touch with me
right away and a few days later the kit arrived. Everything was well packed and the box was filled
with some kind of expanded foam that sets up fairly solid so nothing gets bumped or shifts around
during shipping. I practically had to destroy the cardboard shipping box to get everything out.
The instructions were six pages long and generally addressed every OR-FAB Rock Door kit from
1980 CJs to YJs, TJs and JKs. I had to jump around quite a bit just to be sure I was looking at the
specific JK instructions. There were plenty of photos, but they are relatively small and the
contrast varies greatly, making some things hard for me to make out. The first task was to
remove the stock doors. I used a Torx 50 driver to remove the nut from the bottom of each of
the four front door hinges. As a side note, I have never reinstalled them when I put the stock
doors back on as the doors seem secure enough when closed and don't come off easily unless
the door is about halfway open.
Before the stock doors can be lifted off, they have to be opened, the fabric restraint has to be
unhooked from the clip on the body and wiring harness disconnected. I had to follow the
harness up under the dash with my hand and finally figured out that there is a red slide lock that
has to be pushed to one side before the harness unplugs. The fabric restraint and door wiring
harness stay with the stock door. I just stuffed them in the storage pocket on the door so they
wouldn't get snagged on something.
The doors can then be opened about half way and carefully lifted off. I found they were easier
to handle if the window was down, so do this before you unplug the wiring harness if you have
power windows!
By the way, be sure to at least reattach the restraint when you remove your rock doors to
reinstall your stock doors or there will be nothing to prevent your stock door from opening right
to the point where the mirror outside the door embeds itself into your JKs body!
The instructions indicate that you are supposed to install two kit hinges onto the driver's tube
door with 5/16"x1" kit bolts. The bolts should be snug, but not tight to allow for later adjustment.
Those of you not in the UK will notice that I installed the passenger door first because I couldn't
tell the difference just looking at them. The hinges all seem to be the same and must be
symmetrical because it didn't seem to matter which side I put them on.
The next step is to insert two end caps per door into the open tubing on the end of the door
opposite the hinges.
If I had it to do over again, I would do this before installing the hinges because quite a bit of force
is involved in inserting the caps and I ended up using my feet to keep the hinges from digging
into the floor while I tapped the caps into the open tube ends using a soft faced mallet. Even
then they came out kind of distorted, although I have never really noticed this when the doors are
being used.
The tube doors can then be attached to the JK using supplied bolts, nuts and nylon washers on
top of the factory hinge and rock door hinge, just under the bolt head. There is a nyloc nut in the
kit for the bottom of the hinge assembly, so there is no need to over tighten the hinge bolt, This
allows the rock doors to operate smoothly.
The hinges can now be adjusted for alignment by installing the kit latch and checking it's position
relative to the door jamb striker.
When it all seems to fit, open and close the rock door to ensure everything is working smoothly
before tightening the hinge bolts. I have the latch removed for this picture to better show the
alignment with the striker on the door jamb.
OR-FAB supplies some weather stripping and tube padding in the kit. The weather stripping is
the key to preventing the doors from rattling and making you CRAZY
. So far, it hasworked well for me with nary a rattle after hundreds of miles use on and off the trail. I installed
the padding with the notch out as shown in the picture below.
The final step is to install the OR-FAB cover with inside pocket over the tube padding. It attaches
using a strong strip of velcro. The first door took me about an hour to install by myself and the
second a mere 20 minutes. I constantly get complemented about the rock doors everywhere I
take the JK.
Finally, be sure to do something about the rear view mirror situation. I bought a Mopar accessory
mirror designed for operating without any door and it works for me. There are numerous other
solutions for rear view mirrors posted on this forum and most are more ccst effective than the
Mopar mirror that I choose, but, what the heck, the doors were free.
Thank you OR-FAB and JK-Forum. If I hadn't won these doors, I would have ended up missing
out on a lot. Highly Recommended and David at Northridge 4x4, a JK-Forum sponsor, will fix
you up with a set so reasonably priced and ship them for free so you can be a winner too!
-meljr
