Until very recently, soft doors were not available
for the Jeep TJ. I happened to run across a set of Kayline YJ doors
that a friend never used. He gave them to me real cheap to try out
on my TJ.From the looks of things when I picked up the doors, all was going to be good. They seemed to be very close in size to the door opening. The doors went into the garage for a few months until spring broke, at which time I pulled them out and removed the hardtop for the summer.
After removing the full hard doors I assembled the lower sections soft doors and hung them on the TJ hinges. The profile of the door is a real good match, they fit great. The problem is the latch assembly; which is located high on the door, higher than the tub as a matter of fact. This posed somewhat of a challenge since I am not a fan of holding the doors closed with my left arm while cruising down the street.
I took a closer look at the setup, and decided that I could fabricate a small bracket on which I could mount a striker. This would most likely involve a small amount of thin metal and the striker hardware that Kayline provided with the doors. I got to work.
The forewardmost holes in the tub that are
designed as bolt holes for the hardtop worked perfectly as a mount
for the brackets. I even discovered that the hardtop mounting
hardware could be used to secure the brackets to the body of the
TJ.I began by cutting a small piece of angle iron (1/16" thick) and drilling a hole a bit larger than the hardtop mounting bolt. This piece of metal gets bolted to the tub with the hardtop hardware, and hangs over the inside edge of the tub, helping to keep the bracket straight.
I cut another piece of metal, almost
the same size, to weld onto the first piece. This one faces the
front of the Jeep, and has a hole in it for the striker hardware. I
bolted down the first piece and guessitimated on where to weld the
second. After welding, I used a dremel tool to enlarge the mounting
hole so that the whole bracket could be adjusted fore and
aft. I bolted in the striker hardware and bolted the bracket to the TJ. I really tightened it down hard, knowing that doors get closed with force all the time, even soft doors. I put the door back on and ta da! The door closed and latched very securely. It is a bit hard to open from the outside, but the inside latch release is easy due to its long handle.
I painted the brackets black and covered the striker hardware with electrical tape to keep the metal from squeaking. So with about an hour and a welder, you can use those old Kayline YJ doors on your TJ!
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