Now we need to see a picture with them on your Jeep.
The 'on the Jeep' reveal, at last:
First, I picked up a set of these hinge nuts from Summit, as I figured I would screw up the paint on the door hinge nuts removing them...they are stainless steel, and install with a hex key I will keep in the TJ:
The nuts actually came off fairly easily after using some Liquid Wrench, and the doors also. Not bad for probably not ever being taken off in 14 years. The install was fairly straightforward, started with the passenger side. It takes more effort to close the half door, as the weather stripping on the front of the door is different, and tends to bunch up a bit. But it fits fine, and latches as it should.
Driver's side, no such luck. Got it on ok, but the door striker hit above the slot in the door. Word of advice to anyone painting doors from another TJ - make any fitment adjustments BEFORE PAINTING. I should have realized this, I mistakenly figured all doors fit all TJs the same. Stupid assumption. In this case however, it worked out ok. I had to take off the mirror, then loosen the (newly painted) hinge bolts (messing up the paint
) to adjust the door up in the back by moving the top of the door forward. It acually worked out ok, as the hinge bolts are covered by the mirror, and you cannot see them at all. Now the door closes just fine, but the gap at the back of the door is a bit bigger than at the front, which you can see in the following photos. The better solution would have been to fit the door unpainted, and moved the bottom of the door back slightly, and the top forward slightly. Then the gaps in the front and rear would have been more even. All in all, a successful half door paint project, and it looks great to me.
The paint is ever so slightly darker, but you really have to look closely to see it. The tint actually changes depending on the angle you look from...my wife said she cannot see the difference.
