Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[rubicon91]

You and Robert will have something in common now - your Jeep and his are the only two Jeeps besides mine that have parts I personally made on them. Lots of Jeeps (thousands actually) have parts on them that I designed, but only mine, yours and Roberts have parts I made myself .

And I am truly honored to be in that category my friend. The 2 door even has your sliders on it for the half doors so both jeeps have been scherbified ha!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

Today I made a prototype ammo can carrier for the 2-door. It's design to hold the larger Fat 50 cans, as well as 2 30 cal cans, one standard 50 cal or a Tall 50.

A Fat 50 ammo can:

The tray and can do not interfere with putting the rear seat down.

Plenty of clearance:

Two 30 cal cans:

A "Tall 50":

Two bolts hold the tray to the mounting bracket, so if it's not needed either those two bolts can be removed and the bracket left on the tub, or the entire assembly can be removed by removing two hardtop bolts.

The parts are ambidextrous - the same parts can be installed on either side of the Jeep. I did that mostly to make them less expensive for a company to manufacture and market.

Need to do some load testing on it, but I'm pretty sure it'll be fine - I've done a similar design for my LJ; I have one on each side in that Jeep and one of them is used to carry the battery for my Trail Kitchen, it's seen lots of Trail Miles and it's performed very well. The LJ version:

 

[jscherb]

From time to time companies contact me, offering to send me a product if I'll review it. This time it's a switch control panel. When it arrives and I test it I'll post a review.

 

[ITTOG]

The grill looked great but I can't help but wonder if it would have been even better if the accents were the same as the body color. Oh well, it still turned out great.

 

[jscherb]

The grill looked great but I can't help but wonder if it would have been even better if the accents were the same as the body color. Oh well, it still turned out great.

Here's a very quick photo edit to show what that might look like.

I chose the gunmetal color because it was a subtle contrast to the black of the grille - just enough, I think, to highlight the inserts but not so much as to change the overall black look of the grille.

Robert and I are very happy with how the gunmetal color looks against the black grille.

 

[jscherb]

Memorial Day Sales...

I got an email from Gr8Tops announcing a Memorial Day Sale - 15% Off All Heavy Duty Tailgate Accessories. This includes the MORryde Tailgate Reinforcement, HD Spare Carrier and HD hinges for the JK/JKU. Code is 15Off, Expires 5/28/2019. (www.gr8tops.com).

Also got an email today from OK4WD, their sale is $50 off orders of $500 or more, so you could get a Trail Kitchen (https://ok4wd.com/morryde-jeep-trail-kitchen-kit-mhdjp54-038) for $567.99, which is a killer deal. Their sale ends 5/26.

 

[ITTOG]

Here's a very quick photo edit to show what that might look like.

I chose the gunmetal color because it was a subtle contrast to the black of the grille - just enough, I think, to highlight the inserts but not so much as to change the overall black look of the grille.

Robert and I are very happy with how the gunmetal color looks against the black grille.

Well, they both look great. Not sure if I like one anymore than the other. Thanks for the mock-up.

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[jscherb]

I like to take a few tools with me on every long trip so what I do now is keep a basic set of tools in a tool roll that I store in an Overland Outfitters Rollbag. I move the Rollbag from whatever Jeep it's in to the Jeep I'm taking on the trip. I drove the 2dr to Boston last weekend my daughter's law school graduation so the Rollbag with the tools is in the 2dr now.

This is a preproduction sample Rollbag; I'm told the sewing of the first production run is underway.

I've been using a cheap Harbor Freight tool roll in the Rollbag, and it works ok but the other day I received photos of a preproduction sample tool roll to be coming from Overland Outfitters. The lighting for these photos is bad - they told me they took these photos during a power failure at the factory, so they're just illuminated with a cell phone flash.

In this photo the flap is open, showing all the tool pockets and the small parts pocket to the right.

Leather straps hold the roll closed.

The tool roll is heavy canvas with leather accents to match the Overland Outfitters Rollbag, and they look ready for production.

BTW here's the cheap HF tool roll I've been using and a photo of it on the roll bar of my LJ where it was for the trip to Easter Jeep Safari.

 

[jscherb]

Another storage solution soon to be available from Overland Outfitters , they call it the Backpack bag. It hangs on the back of a front seat.
This bag is heavy cotton duck with leather accents.

I've posted about this design before but this is an updated prototype which attaches differently to the seat. The bag can be quickly installed/removed with the attachment zipper.

The bag will also come with straps for wearing as a backpack or a shoulder bag, these photos are of an earlier prototype that is all leather.

I'm not sure when they'll get this one in production, they've been focusing on the Rollbag, the tool roll and the Grab-and-Go bags for the tailgate Molle panel recently.

 

[jscherb]

I finished the prototype lockbox for the Overhead Molle rack.

Just like the Molle panel without the loockbox, When stowed it's out of sight.

For this prototype I installed simple latches instead of locks, but keyed locks fit in the same holes.

It's a toy gun BTW.

 

[jscherb]

I made one final change to the 2dr ammo can tray; it's now finished and ready for use (or for production, if a company wants it). Here it is with a Fat 50 in it; the change is an improvement to the front foot.

A few weeks ago I test-fit the Trail Kitchen in the 2dr.

I like to run a separate fridge battery so there's no chance of the main battery being discharged. This new tray is perfect, the fridge battery would be in the unused space over the inner fender right next to where the fridge/kitchen. (Unlike in these photos, the seat would be out when the kitchen/fridge was installed).

The only thing I haven't done is paint or powder coat it, but other than that this is a final design ready to go.

Features:

- No drill installation
- Same parts fit on either side of the Jeep
- Holds a Fat 50, a Tall 50, 2 x 30 cal cans, a standard 50 cal or a fridge battery
- Rear seat fold and tumble clears the cans
- Works with hardtop, no top and soft top (can and tray must be removed to put the top down)

I've emailed photos of it to a company that may be interested in showing some love to the 2dr folks and I have a meeting with them next week so I'll discuss it with them then. If they want to go ahead I'll leave this prototype with them so they can do their production engineering. If they're not interested there's another company that I'm pretty sure will be.

 

[jscherb]

It's brainstorming time... sometimes I'll make a quick prototype of something just to see if there's a good idea hiding in the prototype somewhere. I sewed this fitted headrest cover the other day to see what ideas might come out of it. It's not finished around the bottom, but it does form-fit well to the headrest all around.

Some things that could be done with this:

- Put Molle webbing on the sides and back so pouches could be hung on it.

- Sew pockets onto it, they could be on the sides or the back or both.

- Sew Velcro on it and then sew some matching pouches that attach to Velcro.

- sew a pocket on the back that has a clear window in the pocket, the pocket could be used to hold a tablet to entertain back seat passengers.

- Sew a pocket on the front intended to hold a cushion for people who want the support of their head to be further forward.

Obviously things that could fly around and hit someone in the head during an impact wouldn't be good candidates to put on the headrest, but maybe there are other uses for something like this other than what I've listed above.

I'm leaving this on the headrest for now so that every time I get in the Jeep I think about what it could be used for. Maybe it's a dumb idea and I should just toss this prototype out, but I'll leave it a while longer to see what else I might come up with.

BTW I did this one in desert camo because I've got lots of that fabric on hand but it could be done in black to match the seats, or any other color or pattern.

Anyone else have any thoughts about this? If you've got a great idea I'll do a prototype so we can see how it works in practice. Feel free to tell me it's a dumb idea and that I should toss the prototype.

 

[Zeep]

I wish you would go back and submit your CB radio bracket, to one of the companies your dealing with. Incorporated in the design, to fit various radio widths,as well as
different year consoles.( TJ, JK, JL)
I'd be first in line to buy that!
I've personally given up on CB's, due to their lack of range, and the hassle of antenna tuning. FRS/GMRS units like those from Midland, are far superior out of the box.
One of these, combined with your bracket, would be the cats a** for me.

 

[jscherb]

I wish you would go back and submit your CB radio bracket, to one of the companies your dealing with. Incorporated in the design, to fit various radio widths,as well as
different year consoles.( TJ, JK, JL)
I'd be first in line to buy that!
I've personally given up on CB's, due to their lack of range, and the hassle of antenna tuning. FRS/GMRS units like those from Midland, are far superior out of the box.
One of these, combined with your bracket, would be the cats a** for me.

I've done an updated version of the design that's adjustable to fit TJ and JK consoles (haven't looked at the JL console yet) and fits any size CB or other radio but haven't done anything with it yet.

 

[jscherb]

It's brainstorming time... sometimes I'll make a quick prototype of something just to see if there's a good idea hiding in the prototype somewhere. I sewed this fitted headrest cover the other day to see what ideas might come out of it. It's not finished around the bottom, but it does form-fit well to the headrest all around.

Some things that could be done with this:

- Put Molle webbing on the sides and back so pouches could be hung on it.

- Sew pockets onto it, they could be on the sides or the back or both.

- Sew Velcro on it and then sew some matching pouches that attach to Velcro.

- sew a pocket on the back that has a clear window in the pocket, the pocket could be used to hold a tablet to entertain back seat passengers.

- Sew a pocket on the front intended to hold a cushion for people who want the support of their head to be further forward.

Obviously things that could fly around and hit someone in the head during an impact wouldn't be good candidates to put on the headrest, but maybe there are other uses for something like this other than what I've listed above.

I'm leaving this on the headrest for now so that every time I get in the Jeep I think about what it could be used for. Maybe it's a dumb idea and I should just toss this prototype out, but I'll leave it a while longer to see what else I might come up with.

BTW I did this one in desert camo because I've got lots of that fabric on hand but it could be done in black to match the seats, or any other color or pattern.

Anyone else have any thoughts about this? If you've got a great idea I'll do a prototype so we can see how it works in practice. Feel free to tell me it's a dumb idea and that I should toss the prototype.

One suggestion that came in (a friend called me after seeing the post) was for a simple pocket in the back, so I drew this concept: