Half-door saga; am I going to regret getting into this?

TRevs

TRevs

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I've wanted to find OEM half doors for awhile but since they're expensive and hard-to-find, I didn't have my heart set on it. I was open to getting aftermarket aluminum versions. However, I randomly came across a pair on Car-part for $275 each and looked into it. Shipping added $200 but they were rated 'A' condition so I figured it was a decent deal.

They arrived yesterday and while there's some rust to deal with, they're in pretty good shape... except they have NO inner trim panels! I called the auto recycler and they said "industry standard" to sell the trim panel separately from the door. So now I'm in the market for trim panels.
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Yes. Your gunna regret it!!

With that being said.. I found 4 sets in the past year.. looking daily.. and one set had no panels which took daily looking to find the panels!.. it can be done.. I would get thin material not wood but fiberglass or something waterproof.. cut to fit.. attach to the door and either get carpet to match(outdoor type) the flooring or dash and attach to fiberglass.. add a handle.. or do it in aluminum.
 
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Damn, that sucks. I feel I’m in the same boat with some full doors I bought last year. I’ve been slowly replacing the internals on them and have yet to use them for the winter season. Good luck finding internal panels.
 
I'm not in a hurry; I have good full doors and the LJ is a very part-time vehicle. I don't mind painting the trim panels and doing some of the fixes in other threads in here.

My first question is whether trim panels from all TJ years should fit these doors. I think the doors are from a '97 or '98; will half-door panels from '97 - '06 fit? Same dimensions and attachment points?
 
TRevs said:
I'm not in a hurry; I have good full doors and the LJ is a very part-time vehicle. I don't mind painting the trim panels and doing some of the fixes in other threads in here.

My first question is whether trim panels from all TJ years should fit these doors. I think the doors are from a '97 or '98; will half-door panels from '97 - '06 fit? Same dimensions and attachment points?
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All TJ half door interior panels will fit them.

If the rubber weatherstrip around the door is a plastic track with the rubber seal slid into it, they are from a ‘97.

I bought some ’97 doors back in 2017, worked on them on and off and finally got them on my ‘06 this past spring.
 
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TRevs said:
I've wanted to find OEM half doors for awhile but since they're expensive and hard-to-find, I didn't have my heart set on it. I was open to getting aftermarket aluminum versions. However, I randomly came across a pair on Car-part for $275 each and looked into it. Shipping added $200 but they were rated 'A' condition so I figured it was a decent deal.

They arrived yesterday and while there's some rust to deal with, they're in pretty good shape... except they have NO inner trim panels! I called the auto recycler and they said "industry standard" to sell the trim panel separately from the door. So now I'm in the market for trim panels. View attachment 282076View attachment 282074View attachment 282075

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Jegs sells the mopar reproduction for 240.00,I had to buy one.my set cost me 275.00 and one was too rusty,but you have to figure the guts are worth the price of admission,they don’t make that stuff anymore
 
MountaineerTom said:
All TJ half door interior panels will fit them.

If the rubber weatherstrip around the door is a plastic track with the rubber seal slid into it, they are from a ‘97.

I bought some ’97 doors back in 2017, worked on them on and off and finally got them on my ‘06 this past spring.
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They do have the seal running through a track so i guess they’re ’97. Crazy to think they’re 24 years old.

Glad to hear all the trim panels are compatible. It may take me 4 years to get these into service too!
 
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TRevs said:
They do have the seal running through a track so i guess they’re ’97. Crazy to think they’re 24 years old.

Glad to hear all the trim panels are compatible. It may take me 4 years to get these into service too!
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If the seals are bad,Just rip that track off,it’s just on with tape,your new seal will have plastic studs just drill holes where needed
 
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Good to know. I search almost daily for a set and anything I find here is ridiculously expensive (800-1000 dollars) or they are rusty. Some are both :rolleyes:

Been thinking on trying the car-part idea too. I do occasionally see interior panels on the marketplace.
 
When I was looking, I found a lot of half doors listed, but none with the right interior panel color. Knowing this would be the hard part to locate, I set out to find the right interior and address the exterior after. Bought mine off a local guy who was looking for full doors. They were khaki, so I stripped them down and had them painted when the body shop replaced my rusty fender. I'm in for way too much money on half doors, but I love them. Now I need to clean up my full doors too...
 
I almost ran into the same problem when I finally found my half-doors on car-parts.com. I called the junkyard, I think it was in PA, and I specifically said complete half doors with everything still attached including trim and mirrors. Lady on the phone agreed but before they put it on a pallet to ship, I got pictures with the trim all gone, I called again, she told me that would be extra but I reminded her I had asked for the complete doors with panels, so I got the panels for free but had to reinstall them myself.
 
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Pretty sure there’s some half door panels for sale on this forum right now.
Makes me happy about my deal…
450$ and they came with soft uppers.

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I always find it strange that they sell reproduction 1/2 door panels for the YJ but not the TJ. It seems like there are enough of us out there that would jump at a new set to make it worth the production.
 
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Not trying to be too much of a downer, but that was way pricey for that set in that condition, however I think you can make this work out without regretting the cost.

I bought my first set of half doors with uppers for $450 that looked okay, but as I stripped them down, they were pretty terrible condition. But it was a complete set at least and the door panels were decent. I ended up buying a second set, that I split the cost with my plant manager since he needed some inner parts and the door panels and I kept the shells. Parted out what I did not need from first set of doors and sold the old crappy shells and with no internals for $200 and ended up only being $200 into a much nicer set that I just got back from paint.

You can choose however to by the brand new half doors made by Key Parts. Might set you back $6-700 but they are brand new and e-coated, then sell your shells and find the door panels.

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