Was half doors an option?

Chris

Chris

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Just curious, but when you bought a TJ brand new back in the day, was half doors standard on certain models or were they just an accessory or option you could purchase?

My understanding was that full doors came on ALL TJs unless you ordered the half door option.
 
My 97 Sahara has half doors that look like they came factory as the door panels match the rest of the interior, but i thought all Saharas came with full doors.
 
UPJOHN said:
My 97 Sahara has half doors that look like they came factory as the door panels match the rest of the interior, but i thought all Saharas came with full doors.
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I thought so as well... All of the TJ Saharas I've seen around here have full doors so my hope is that someone on here at some point was looking at TJs brand new on the showroom floor and hopefully would remember.
 
UPJOHN said:
My 97 Sahara has half doors that look like they came factory as the door panels match the rest of the interior, but i thought all Saharas came with full doors.
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My 2001 Sahara came with half doors.
 
Jerry Bransford said:
Full doors were an option, my '97 TJ came with half doors from the factory.
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No kidding? So I would assume that all the lower models (i.e. SE, X, Sport) came with half doors, but I would also assume the the higher end models (i.e. Sahara and Rubicon models) came with full doors standard?

Or was it simply that full doors were an option on ALL TJs, regardless of model?
 
badlieutenant said:
I figured the half doors was an option with the full doors being standard as I'd seen way more TJ's with full doors when they were brand new on the lots.
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Dealers order the configurations they figure will sell best in their area... though some are clueless and don't really understand the pluses and minuses of the various options available to them. Some didn't even understand the benefit to the Dana 44 option so virtually all of the Jeeps on their lots only had Dana 35 axles.

I used to have 6-8 Jeep dealerships as customers and some mostly ordered 3.07 axle ratios and some mostly ordered 3.73 ratios. It took me a while to get the ones who ordered 3.07 to stop doing that and order 3.73 since we were installing 2-3" suspension lifts with bigger tires for them. :)
 
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I'm sure in the colder regions the dealers were more likely to order full doors, probably why my Rubicon came with them.
 
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Do people up north drive around without doors during the warmer months? People in the local Jeep club make a huge deal about "riding naked". Since I have the half doors, I really don't feel any need to remove them.
 
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Serbonze said:
Do people up north drive around without doors during the warmer months? People in the local Jeep club make a huge deal about "riding naked". Since I have the half doors, I really don't feel any need to remove them.
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I don't know if Northwest counts, but I can tell you up here during the Summer I ALWAYS drive without a top or doors, always.

I will say though that I don't see too many other Wranglers here in the Summer with their doors off, mostly just tops.

The funniest thing is the JK guys though. I very rarely ever see any JK guys (even in the dead of Summer) with their doors or tops off, ever.
 
Chris said:
I'm sure in the colder regions the dealers were more likely to order full doors, probably why my Rubicon came with them.
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Full doors were an option with the soft top and standard with the hard top. EARLY 2000 half doors went away completely. Safety, I believe.

Chris said:
I don't know if Northwest counts, but I can tell you up here during the Summer I ALWAYS drive without a top or doors, always.
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Love my Best Top soft doors. You can run half or all, plus you can store them unger the Duster cover while wheeling, and then put them back on for the freeway.
 
Chris said:
I don't know if Northwest counts, but I can tell you up here during the Summer I ALWAYS drive without a top or doors, always.

I will say though that I don't see too many other Wranglers here in the Summer with their doors off, mostly just tops.

The funniest thing is the JK guys though. I very rarely ever see any JK guys (even in the dead of Summer) with their doors or tops off, ever.
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Chris said:
I thought so as well... All of the TJ Saharas I've seen around here have full doors so my hope is that someone on here at some point was looking at TJs brand new on the showroom floor and hopefully would remember.
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Nope. Hard top and Dana 44 still an option for the Sahara.
 
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My 2003 SE came new with half doors.

My 2003 Sport's build sheet says it came with the full steel doors, does not say anything about deleting half doors or whether this was some sort of option. (Note that it also came with the 30" tire and wheel package with a Dana 44/3.73 gears and says nothing about a Dana 35 delete, and I *know* this was an optional upgrade for the Sport and not standard, so who knows with the doors? I am assuming they were an upgrade.)
 
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It sounds like the half doors may have been a dealer preference depending on where the dealer was located and what was most popular. For instance, I can't imagine half doors being a wise idea in one of the mid-west states where it gets colder more often.
 
Dealers order vehicles for their lot. Makes sense that they would go soft top and half doors on an SE to use as a 'loss leader'.
 
Were sliders ever a factory option?
I have a set made by Steel Horse on mine.
(I meant to say slider windows for half doors).
 
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Serbonze said:
Do people up north drive around without doors during the warmer months?
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Yes, Yellowknife, where the sun sets but it never gets dark during June or July... Doors off in May... Back on in September. And most years... absolutely NO rain in June or July.

Summer are incredible in the land of the midnight sun.

DSC_0015 (1).jpg
 
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