Thats a good point on the locks. I am looking for a set to buy so I will have both.
What are the disadvantages of half doors?
- Thread starter Mrprez
- Start date
I just rekeyed my half doors. I've been reading about Jeeps being left in the parking lot for a few minutes with the owners coming back to the half doors gone. I removed the locking mechanism that locks/unlocks from inside.
I will lock my half doors when leaving my Jeep in parking lots, not to protect what's inside, but to make it a little more difficult for someone to take them. Thieves are realizing half doors are worth a good chunk of money now.
I re-keyed my half doors and they will soon go back on for a couple months. No worry about thieves in the UAE. Thievery is not a survival trait here. For some reason the US judicial system prefers to have their thieves well fed and roaming the streets.
crackedcornish
TJ Enthusiast
I've got half doors on both the YJ and the TJ..they're the most versatile way to go
I also have both full and half. I prefer full doors in the winter as I just prefer to look out a glass window rather than plastic. It’s also easier to just roll the window down a crack for some air as opposed to unzipping and having a small flap in your face. Other than that I’d run my half doors as soon as it gets warmer. Love my halfs. IMO they look better than full doors on a TJ. And like others have said, much better on the trails as well.
Fughuert
TJ Enthusiast
You do know that with half doors you can reach inside and unlock them
that's why I went with these https://shop.mcgard.com/products/automotive/jeep-door-locks
Lol. Yes, I do know that. That's why I said " I removed the locking mechanism that locks/unlocks from inside." Haha.You do know that with half doors you can reach inside and unlock them
https://shop.mcgard.com/products/automotive/jeep-door-locks
View attachment 130369
I also have those McGards... and the Tuffy door locks. Lol. Call me paranoid a little.
My half doors have cost me a lot of time and money putting them together. They are in near perfect condition.
Oh I know the feeling, I had mine repainted after I bought them off CL and keep my doors in a Bestop holderLol. Yes, I do know that. That's why I said " I removed the locking mechanism that locks/unlocks from inside." Haha.
I also have those McGards... and the Tuffy door locks. Lol. Call me paranoid a little.
Very nice!!! Half doors in good shape are becoming rare. The ones available cost so much money. I'm so glad I found the panels in amazing shape. I'm telling you, a lot of time and money and the reason why I protect them like they are rare animals.
I disabled the interior door locks on my half doors. I lock the doors from the outside with the key when I leave my LJ sitting. You can still reach in of course but when you push the door lock button the doors won't unlock. The real benefit of this is that if you can't open the doors you can't steal them.You do know that with half doors you can reach inside and unlock them
I have to be honest. I'm not a big fan of half doors. I had them from the PO on my Jeep when I bought it. I'm taller. So they don't fit as an armrest very well. But the worst part was trying to see left and right when driving. Looking thru my plastic soft top windows left me in a dangerous position. It severely limited my peripheral vision. And although I don't particularly care for the glass sliders - they may work better. IDK. I still think your giving up a good percentage of your peripheral vision even with the sliders.
They are also noisy. And tend to leak along the top of the seal on the door when it rained. This can be limited by bending the soft upper frame. But I could never get it right.
You can't crack the window to let some air in. You have to unzip the soft upper while driving and fold the top down some. Again, this may work better with the glass sliders. Just not a big fan of those either.
In the end I switched to full doors and couldn't be happier. I can roll my window down now! Which is a godsend. It's much quieter. And unless your rock crawling and really need to lean out to see things. I'd say take your doors off. Half doors just suck. - for me.
They are also noisy. And tend to leak along the top of the seal on the door when it rained. This can be limited by bending the soft upper frame. But I could never get it right.
You can't crack the window to let some air in. You have to unzip the soft upper while driving and fold the top down some. Again, this may work better with the glass sliders. Just not a big fan of those either.
In the end I switched to full doors and couldn't be happier. I can roll my window down now! Which is a godsend. It's much quieter. And unless your rock crawling and really need to lean out to see things. I'd say take your doors off. Half doors just suck. - for me.
I wouldn't want windows on mine. I'd only use them in warmer weather when I have the windows out of the soft top anyway.
TheGanzman
TJ Enthusiast
A Jeep is all about "options" - Soft top, Bikini top, Hardtop, No top; back seat in, back seat out; soft top windows in, soft top windows out; full doors, half doors WITH your choice of windows, half doors with NO windows...
It's this very "convertibility" that I have always treasured regardless of what year/series Jeep you happen to have, which is why I'm on my fourth Wrangler now. As such, I absolutely HAD to have BOTH sets of doors, full & half. Mine came with full doors; I lucked up and found a set of the same year (2004) half doors w/in driving distance of me, albeit in silver rather than black. I took EVERY single piece that could be removed from each door and had them professionally painted inside and out, then reassembled them, including having the door locks re-keyed so that they all match - even that I NEVER lock the doors, being that I'm soft top only (the OCD in me, LOL). Hell, I even bought a 2nd set of stock mirrors and attached them as well, so I don't have to diddle-dick around with R&R'ing them...
As others have stated, the half doors look more "proper" on a Wrangler - the body lines remain unbroken. I just switched back to the full doors (a bit tearfully, I might add) last weekend for "the winter" here in SoCal. I'll get around to buying a set of Bulldawg fiberglass upper half doors some day; even then, I will still keep my full doors - It's better to have 'em and not NEED 'em than to NEED 'em and not HAVE 'em….
It's this very "convertibility" that I have always treasured regardless of what year/series Jeep you happen to have, which is why I'm on my fourth Wrangler now. As such, I absolutely HAD to have BOTH sets of doors, full & half. Mine came with full doors; I lucked up and found a set of the same year (2004) half doors w/in driving distance of me, albeit in silver rather than black. I took EVERY single piece that could be removed from each door and had them professionally painted inside and out, then reassembled them, including having the door locks re-keyed so that they all match - even that I NEVER lock the doors, being that I'm soft top only (the OCD in me, LOL). Hell, I even bought a 2nd set of stock mirrors and attached them as well, so I don't have to diddle-dick around with R&R'ing them...
As others have stated, the half doors look more "proper" on a Wrangler - the body lines remain unbroken. I just switched back to the full doors (a bit tearfully, I might add) last weekend for "the winter" here in SoCal. I'll get around to buying a set of Bulldawg fiberglass upper half doors some day; even then, I will still keep my full doors - It's better to have 'em and not NEED 'em than to NEED 'em and not HAVE 'em….
I agree with this. The only problem with so many options is that they take up so much space! I can't think of any other vehicle I've owned that has generated so much "stuff" taking up space in my garage. Not complaining ... just always searching for better and more places to hide things.
I have what I believe is a set of Bulldawg (Bull Dog?) hard uppers. There is nothing on them that indicates that they are, I'm just going with pics that I've seen on line. They're great! They fit well and are leak and wind free. I bought them from a guy who thought they would fit his YJ. He paid $200 CDN for them and simply wanted his money back.
Regarding half doors in general, I've paid in the $200 to $250 range for everything I've bought. That would be the separate cost for 3 sets of half doors in perfect condition, a set of MOPAR soft uppers, a set of Best Top soft uppers and a complete set of soft doors for a YJ. YJ soft bottoms fit if you change the paddles to ones for a TJ (about $80 from Best Top). I also picked up a pair of new TJ soft upper skins in a private sale for $50. With these I can modify the YJ uppers to fit a TJ. The nice thing about the soft doors that I have is that they are gray (not common) and the tops, once modified, will be black which is the same combination for both my TJ & LJ.
I'm so disappointed I passed on a set of half doors that were for sale on this forum when I joined. That had to be over a year ago and have not seen a set that nice for sale anywhere.
It's funny how things happen. I looked for quite a while too. A set of perfect hard bottoms came up on Kijiji in a town about 70 miles from where I live. We agreed to meet at a Tim Horton's coffee shop in that town. The guy said he'd been looking for a set of soft uppers with no luck. He decided to sell the half doors and move on. I then found a set of Best Top uppers also on Kijiji that had never been used. I met THAT guy 2 weeks later in the same coffee shop! The 2 guys lived about 2 miles from each other and of course had never met.
Anyone have any experience with the Bestop Element doors and skins? Just over $500 with a mirror on Amazon.
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