after market half doors??
Thread Starter
JK Newbie
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
From: Fort Worth, TX
after market half doors??
who's got 'em, and what do you like/dislike about them?? got any pics?
i'm a letter carrier, and the full doors are a burden, when trying to reach lower mailboxes. i usually just take the door off, but that's a pain when i have to put the door back on to lock up the Jeep. (anytime i'm out of sight, the Jeep HAS to be locked up, for security reasons.)
i'm wondering how secure aftermarket half doors are. i know someone could just use a knife and cut through plastic windows, but other than that...
thanks for any help/pics/etc.
i'm a letter carrier, and the full doors are a burden, when trying to reach lower mailboxes. i usually just take the door off, but that's a pain when i have to put the door back on to lock up the Jeep. (anytime i'm out of sight, the Jeep HAS to be locked up, for security reasons.)
i'm wondering how secure aftermarket half doors are. i know someone could just use a knife and cut through plastic windows, but other than that...
thanks for any help/pics/etc.
JK Super Freak
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,176
Likes: 2
From: Springfield, MO
There really aren't any true aftermarket half doors other than the Bestop Elements doors, of which I think I am the only person with a full set right now. I was an early adopter so to speak, and got the whole setup piece by piece for my four door. I really like the doors, but the handles kind of stink. (tough to open) The enclosures are made from solid plate, so you don't have to worry too much about denting them. The tube doors look and feel awesome, although I had to do a little bending on the "hinge pins" to get them to fit right.
They came in black as the first picture, but I painted them Flame Red using rattle can paint and they look pretty good unless you really look close. Weather seal is about 95%. The areas around the hinges have gaps, and it is not overly tight around the doors. The uppers seal amazingly well and don't pull away from the door. I have not yet put Velcro on the door for the bottom of the uppers to seal against, but I had it on there before painting them and it really made them quite good. Still a little wind noise, but they seal well enough to keep me dry.
My favorite part about them as compared to the factory half doors is that the uppers stack flat, so I can fit all four uppers in my bestop flexitrunk along with my gym bag and some other stuff. Here are two pics and there are a bunch more in my profile.
I will warn you that I had a few problems with the fit of the holes for the uppers and when I called Bestop about it, they let me know the elements were on hold until later this year. Apparently they are trying to re-engineer some of the problems out of them. They did allow me to modify the doors to make everything work, and I was able to redrill and use brass bushings to mostly resolve my problems.
They came in black as the first picture, but I painted them Flame Red using rattle can paint and they look pretty good unless you really look close. Weather seal is about 95%. The areas around the hinges have gaps, and it is not overly tight around the doors. The uppers seal amazingly well and don't pull away from the door. I have not yet put Velcro on the door for the bottom of the uppers to seal against, but I had it on there before painting them and it really made them quite good. Still a little wind noise, but they seal well enough to keep me dry.
My favorite part about them as compared to the factory half doors is that the uppers stack flat, so I can fit all four uppers in my bestop flexitrunk along with my gym bag and some other stuff. Here are two pics and there are a bunch more in my profile.
I will warn you that I had a few problems with the fit of the holes for the uppers and when I called Bestop about it, they let me know the elements were on hold until later this year. Apparently they are trying to re-engineer some of the problems out of them. They did allow me to modify the doors to make everything work, and I was able to redrill and use brass bushings to mostly resolve my problems.
JK Freak
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 523
Likes: 0
From: Fresno, CA
There really aren't any true aftermarket half doors other than the Bestop Elements doors, of which I think I am the only person with a full set right now. I was an early adopter so to speak, and got the whole setup piece by piece for my four door. I really like the doors, but the handles kind of stink. (tough to open) The enclosures are made from solid plate, so you don't have to worry too much about denting them. The tube doors look and feel awesome, although I had to do a little bending on the "hinge pins" to get them to fit right.
They came in black as the first picture, but I painted them Flame Red using rattle can paint and they look pretty good unless you really look close. Weather seal is about 95%. The areas around the hinges have gaps, and it is not overly tight around the doors. The uppers seal amazingly well and don't pull away from the door. I have not yet put Velcro on the door for the bottom of the uppers to seal against, but I had it on there before painting them and it really made them quite good. Still a little wind noise, but they seal well enough to keep me dry.
My favorite part about them as compared to the factory half doors is that the uppers stack flat, so I can fit all four uppers in my bestop flexitrunk along with my gym bag and some other stuff. Here are two pics and there are a bunch more in my profile.
I will warn you that I had a few problems with the fit of the holes for the uppers and when I called Bestop about it, they let me know the elements were on hold until later this year. Apparently they are trying to re-engineer some of the problems out of them. They did allow me to modify the doors to make everything work, and I was able to redrill and use brass bushings to mostly resolve my problems.
They came in black as the first picture, but I painted them Flame Red using rattle can paint and they look pretty good unless you really look close. Weather seal is about 95%. The areas around the hinges have gaps, and it is not overly tight around the doors. The uppers seal amazingly well and don't pull away from the door. I have not yet put Velcro on the door for the bottom of the uppers to seal against, but I had it on there before painting them and it really made them quite good. Still a little wind noise, but they seal well enough to keep me dry.
My favorite part about them as compared to the factory half doors is that the uppers stack flat, so I can fit all four uppers in my bestop flexitrunk along with my gym bag and some other stuff. Here are two pics and there are a bunch more in my profile.
I will warn you that I had a few problems with the fit of the holes for the uppers and when I called Bestop about it, they let me know the elements were on hold until later this year. Apparently they are trying to re-engineer some of the problems out of them. They did allow me to modify the doors to make everything work, and I was able to redrill and use brass bushings to mostly resolve my problems.
I have the full soft doors from bestop. I was planning on welding an outer skin to them this winter. I did not know about these hard half doors. Pretty cool!
JK Super Freak
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,176
Likes: 2
From: Springfield, MO
Also, I'd be curious to see if a creative person could find a way to mount the enclosures onto the soft door lowers. I'm not sure if the frame would hold up, though, because the enclosures are made of some pretty stout metal. I need to get my mic out and figure out how thick it is...